Home Security
together to bring about an
end to injustice and discrim-
ination. They marched arm-
in-arm together, demon-
strated together, protested
together. The Civil Rights
movement was not
monochromatic."
Gov. Wilder is a
deliberate, contemplative
speaker, often pausing
—hands clasped in thought
— to ensure that his rhetoric
is as meticulously tailored as
his gray herringbone suit.
Some Jews and blacks say
they consider the governor a
"calming influence in black-
Jewish relations." He is a
welcome contrast, they say,
to yesterday's Stokely Car-
michaels or today's Louis
Farrahkans or Al Sharptons.
A Wilder presidency
"would be good for the Jew-
ish community," according
to Ann F. Lewis, former po-
litical director of the Dem-
ocratic National Committee
and a lay leader of the
American Jewish Congress.
But for voters in general,
would a Wilder presidency
be good for the country at
large?
And political insiders are
asking themselves a parallel
question: Would a Wilder
candidacy be good for the
Democratic Party, a party
whose chances of unseating
-President Bush have all but
been dismissed before the
first primary?
D
ouglas Wilder is very
much the product of
two communities.
Born in Richmond in 1931,
he was named for black poet
Can
Wilder
Win?
As Labor Day —Virginia
Gov. L. Douglas Wilder's
self-imposed deadline for
announcing his candidacy
— neared, pundits
debated the merits of the
man who may try to
unseat George Bush.
The governor claims his
greatest assets are his
fiscal management and
administrative skills.
These, he said, are
"obviously missing in
Washington., And not just
missing in the Bush ad-
ministration. Missing,
period."
He blasts senators for
raising their salary dur-
ing a recession, boasting
that, at the same time,
Virginia held its taxes
steady, avoided "massive
layoff's" and accumulated
a budget surplus.
Mr. Wilder was elected
governor largely on the
abortion issue, and be-
lieves that government
has no right to interfere
with an individual's right
to an abortion. The stand
will likely win him the
support of national pro-
choice groups, and could
also be a chink in the ar-
mor of a pro-life President
Bush.
President Bush will likely
reap the spoils of the
Gulf War in the '92 election.
While the governor
lacks experience in for-
eign policy, he claims that
the next president should
emphasize domestic
issues over an interna-
tional agenda.
Wary of Mr. Wilder's
penchant for political in-
fighting, the Democratic
national leadership
"won't be enthusiastic
about him — he would
have to prove himself,"
said Anne Lewis, a former
political director of the
Democratic National
Committee.
And politically, Gov.
Wilder's private life — as
a divorced bachelor who is
pro-choice — "will be
terrible for him," one
observer commented.
However, Mr. Wilder's
relationship with his
three children appears
excellent, putting him
ahead of at least one re-
cent Republican presi-
dent.0
_Jay Lechtman
Paul Lawrence Dunbar and
Frederick Douglass, the
freed-slave abolitionist
leader. He attended
segregated schools and
graduated from Virginia
Union University and
Howard University's School
of Law.
But he did not participate
in the civil rights battles of
the 1960s.
"I'm not an activist," he
said.
Instead, he became a suc-
cessful criminal defense
lawyer, a politician, and a
self-made millionaire.
He was elected to the State
Senate in 1969. During his
four terms, he helped estab-
lish Martin Luther King
Jr.'s birthday as a state
holiday, fought to remove
"Carry Me Back To Old
Virginny" as the state song
because it nostalgically re-
ferred to slaves, and
strengthened the state's
criminal and educational
code.
He was elected lieutenant
governor in 1985. Four years
later, he became governor.
His ties to Richmond's
Jewish community are
rooted in his desire, as a
young black lawyer, to suc-
ceed in a white, southern
society.
Helping him meet that
goal were Jewish attorneys
and political activists — all
professionally successful,
reform-minded, and, like
him, outsiders.
His circle of Jewish friends
and advisers includes:
• Irving Joul — one of the
world's largest hat manufac-
turers and a close friend of
the late Malcolm Forbes.
*Stuart Siegel — chief ex-
ecutive officer of S & K
Famous Brands, a discount
clothing chain.
• Tommy Baer, the inter-
national senior vice presi-
dent of B'nai B'rith.
•H. Louis Salomonsky --
an architect and real estate
developer said to have been
the governor's personal in-
vestments adviser.
• Irving M. Blank —
chairman of the community
relations committee of
Richmond's Jewish Com-
munity Federation, a former
member of AIPAC's national
council and current ex-
ecutive committee member
of the National Jewish
Community Relations Ad-
visory Council.
Plus, the governor's chief
political adviser and head of
his presidential exploratory
committee — Virginia Dem-
ocratic Party Chairman
Paul Goldman — is Jewish.
These personal and profes-
sional relationships con-
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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
55