tony-williams-2.jpg Tony Williams, the mayor of Washington, D.C., announced yesterday that he will not run for re-election. No one really expected him to, as he admitted back in April that he lacked "the energy, the tenacity, the discipline, the focus" for a third term.
Williams had been the CFO of the D.C. Control Board--an agency set up by Congress to run the city after it fell into a mire of bad budgets, stinking schools and general bureaucratic incompetence. Williams did a great job in that role and his image of professional competence was enough to win the support of the Washington Post and ultimately the voters as he sought the city's top job--despite being a newcomer to Washington.
The city is undeniably in better shape now than it was when Williams arrived. It's true that any city would benefit from being the place where one-fifth of the nation's wealth gets spent by the federal government. But that has long been the case. On Williams' watch, property values have skyrocketed, the amount of office space has ballooned and the local economy has prospered and become less dependent on the feds.
Yet it feels as if Williams is already gone. He's become a frequent-flier away from Washington on city business and as president of the National League of Cities. The end of his time here feels anti-climactic, with Williams leaving the stage quietly rather than taking much of a victory lap for all he's done.
Contrast all this with Martin O'Malley, the mayor of Baltimore. O'Malley announced omalley.jpgWednesday that he will run for governor of Maryland--something many Democrats wish he had done back in 2002, when they lost the post for the first time since 1966. Why are they so hot on this particular prospect?
O'Malley has done some good things as mayor, demanding new levels of accountability from agency managers with his "Citistat" program. But ever since his election as mayor, O'Malley's rising-star image has rested more on intangibles.
He's young, handsome and until recently he played guitar and sang vocals in a band. O'Malley is charismatic and an adept public speaker. The one thing he's not is a turnaround artist. It may be asking too much from any five-year mayor, but the fact remains that Baltimore remains the site of some of the worst crime and other urban problems in the nation.
Williams, a lackluster personality, presided over a growing city but is leaving without much fanfare. O'Malley, a natural charmer, leads a city that continues to stagnate, yet remains the probable favorite as nominee of the state's dominant party for the state's top job.
It's possible that O'Malley could have done even better in D.C. during the current boom years--a born salesman in a city on the make. As things stand, it's hard not to conclude that he's getting ahead in politics more because of personal style than substantive achievement.
MORE: For Williams, a Contested Legacy (Washington Post 9/30)
