GOVERNMENT

(1) Gary O’Connell — City Manager, Charlottesville

In local government, elected officials come and go in four and eight year increments. But through it all, one man remains: Gary O’Connell. Critics call him a bureaucrat who rules the city through backchannels. Defenders cite the fiscal stability of Charlottesville, even in a time of economic turmoil. Whatever your view of O’Connell, there is no denying his position of influence in city government.

O’Connell has worked for the city for 28 years, rising through the ranks at City Hall to the position of city manager in 1995. At that point, there was a movement afoot to dissolve the city into Albemarle County, and it was far from clear whether the Downtown Mall would be the success that it is. Fourteen years later, Charlottesville has a Triple-A bond rating, a growing tax base and enough spare cash to toss more than $7 million towards enhancing the Mall.

Part of O’Connell’s power comes with the position. With no elected, full-time mayor, the city manager runs the day-to-day operations, oversees the $127 million operating budget, and is boss to 900-plus full-time employees.

But O’Connell, who is the highest paid local government employee, earning $174,657, is a particularly hands-on leader. While he stays quiet during Council meetings, some former city councilors have grumbled about the degree to which O’Connell steers that body, particularly in budgeting. That’s not to say that O’Connell is completely unresponsive to city councilors—he has found more room in the budget for the affordable housing measures pushed by Dave Norris, for instance, as well as for the dialogue on race that councilors requested—but O’Connell was there before them and will likely be there after them.

Not quite 60 years old, it’s uncertain how much more time O’Connell has on the job. But until he decides to retire, it’s doubtful that O’Connell will fall from his prominent perch.

(2) Bob Tucker — County Executive, Albemarle County

He might not have the micro-managing reputation of O’Connell, but like his city counterpart, Bob Tucker is a longtime government employee who has risen up the ranks to the county’s highest full-time post.

By nature of the office, the county executive is powerful, and in some respects the position is bigger than the city manager’s. Albemarle County, both in terms of population and budget, is bigger than Charlottesville, with 90,000 residents and a $224 million general fund budget. Tucker, who makes $177,721 a year, also oversees 655 county employees, without counting those in the school system.

And Tucker has a lot of experience working for Albemarle County. He started in 1973 as an assistant director in the planning and community development office, and worked his way up until he was appointed county executive in 1990.

Tucker, however, doesn’t flex his metaphorical muscles with the same regularity that O’Connell is purported to. The Board of Supervisors clearly runs the show at meetings, in part because it is a more divided board politically—in other words, there are clear watchdogs to keep close account of his work as opposed to the all-Democratic City Council. Even away from the spotlight, Tucker has a reputation for trusting his subordinates more than O’Connell.

(3) Dave Norris — Mayor, City of Charlottesville

Elected officials have some power. And of all the locally elected officials, Dave Norris is most prone to throw his weight—and, so far, he’s done a pretty good job at getting what he wants.

Of the current Council, Norris is the only member to regularly challenge Gary O’Connell directly. And unlike his predecessors in that department—former councilors Kevin Lynch and Rob Schilling—Norris can usually muster at least two other votes on Council to back him up.

Without Norris to lead it, Council’s current reconsideration of the water supply plan would have stalled a year ago—certainly a request for dredging proposals wouldn’t be on the table, as it is today. And while he hasn’t gotten everything that he wanted on the issue of affordable housing, Norris has pushed O’Connell into putting more than $1 million toward his pet effort.

How has Norris, who is about to leave his job as executive director of a homeless shelter, been able to make such an impact? Largely by being willing to express his opinion. When members of the press call, Norris doesn’t shy away from stating his view on the subject, whether it’s for an article on the city high school dropout rates or a proposed botanical garden.

He also views his role as mayor as the bully pulpit that it can be. When he was selected as mayor in January 2008, he read a proclamation laying out his various goals: “The question that I’m going to be asking myself in the next two years is, how expansive is our vision and our understanding of the commons, and how can we broaden our definition of the commons? …And I think our challenge is really to render visible that and they who are currently invisible in our public discourse.”

Helping Norris get away with such chutzpah is that, unlike some other opinionated elected officials (cough, David Slutzky, cough), he admits his mistakes and miscalculations, as he did over the YMCA controversy.

(4) Rob Bell — Republican State Delegate

To hear some Democrats talk, you might think that local Republicans are doomed to extinction as sure as the dodo. Tell that to the 20,500 Albemarle County residents who cast ballots for John McCain in 2008. While the county has undoubtedly purpled with Democratic supporters moving in over the past decade, the local GOP organization is still strong enough to draw a perennially anti-tax majority to county budget hearings and keep Rob Schilling on the air.

Ultimately, the job of leading the party faithful falls to Rob Bell, whose district includes the county’s more heavily red quadrants on the eastern edge as well as Greene County and parts of Orange and Fluvanna. Bell’s organization and support helped Republican Ken Boyd hang on to his seat on the county Board of Supervisors in 2007, and his clout is strong enough to ward off a challenge this year from David Slutzky.

Part of Bell’s strength is that he limits his battles. While he votes the party line most of the time in Richmond, he’s not the sort of guy who takes every opportunity to rip Democrats. Liberal activists know to approach Bell—while they may not get his vote, they at least know they’ll get prized feedback to help guide future pitches. That —as well as his $480,854 cash on hand—should help Bell maintain his seat in a district that might become increasingly blue, and he should handily fend off Democratic challenger Cynthia Neff in November.

(5) John Grisham — Political Donor and Fundraiser

Even though Grisham hung up his own political career when he left the Mississippi State House of Representatives in 1990 for a writing career, that doesn’t mean the man has given up the government bug. It’s just that he now uses his checkbook rather than his legislative vote to steer the political system.

While political donations at the federal level are constrained to $2,400 per cycle, donors to Virginia campaigns can give as much as they like. And Grisham—he likes to give a lot. Grisham has been particularly active when it comes to the state governor race, tossing $100,000 to Tim Kaine in 2005 and $50,000 to Terry McAuliffe so far this year.

It’s a lot of money, though it should be noted that Grisham isn’t the biggest local donor—Mark Fried of Crozet, for instance, gave $200,000 to Kaine and, recently, $75,000 to Brian Moran in his bid for governor. But Grisham’s power extends to his ability to host fundraising events, such as the Paramount conversation with Hillary Clinton in 2007 that brought in about $200,000.

Because donation tracking isn’t consistent at the local level, it’s less certain how much of a role Grisham plays in local races. He gave $2,500 to Connie Brennan in her failed 2007 state delegate bid, and donated $2,500 to David Toscano when he first ran in 1997 —chump change on the Grisham scale.

But if the author ever did decide to write the big one for a local candidate, heaven help the other office seeker.

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