October 27, 2009 News & Views » Cover

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Mayor Pat leaves the building 

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click to enlarge ILLUSTRATION BY MARCUS KISER

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The men who would be the city's new mayor certainly admire McCrory's political skill, while displaying some of their own. How do you chart your own path while staying on your predecessor's good side? Hey, they know he's not leaving town.

Republican John Lassiter is a friend and ran McCrory's first city council campaign in 1989. "There are things that Pat McCrory has done and ways that he has handled himself that I will try to model," he said. "I think he very clearly articulates the needs of this city on a state and national scale. He understands Charlotte better than anyone in the city. But everyone has their own style. And Pat's style is much more bully pulpit in the sense that he's very comfortable making a speech, trying to rally the troops, trying to define the message more externally.

"Not to say he hasn't been successful behind the scenes. He is defined more by his ability to work and rally people, whether it's getting support for the half-cent sales tax for light rail or getting funding for various needs for criminal justice. My style is different." Lassiter said. "It may mean that other members of council are cutting the ribbons."

Democrat Anthony Foxx, who knows he's not getting an endorsement from McCrory, still said: "Pat McCrory has poured his heart and soul into the job of mayor. I may quibble with him over a position he takes or one thing or another or in some cases the style he uses to make his points, but I don't think anyone can take away from him the amount of time and energy he's put into the job.

"Now my impression is -- I don't hang around with him a whole lot -- much of the time he's spent as mayor has been helping with economic development issues, and occasionally diving into some policy. The job of mayor has grown beyond that.

"He's got something that the next mayor won't have. He's a known commodity." When he "blows off" about Raleigh, said Foxx, people say "that's just Pat." The next mayor isn't going to have "14 years of personality" to rest on in tough times.

McCrory had the great luck to preside over Charlotte in its boomtown phase, when some might say the hard work had already been done. But there are three things he's particularly proud of. "We've had 14 years of clean government," he said, "with no scandals, no ethics violations, no embarrassments." It's a promise he made to his father, Mac, who lived to see him elected but not sworn in.

"We set a vision of how to grow and develop for the future," he said, involving "transportation and land use and economic development."

"We've handled crisis, one of the major roles of the mayor." He listed ice storms, snowstorms, drought, an influx of new residents after Hurricane Katrina, Sept. 11, and the shootings of three citizens by police in his first term. He said the city was "one brick" away from a riot, avoided with the cooperation of ministers, the business community, neighborhood leaders and the media.

McCrory, who said that "every time there's a crime report, I take it personally," has been tough on young people he thinks could turn into troublemakers, a popular move in a law-and-order city but one that sometimes made him sound like the dad-in-chief, checking to see if blue jeans were sagging too low. "We had to show the kids we had to take control," he said. "If the adults don't do it, our police will." Then he talks about the four kids he mentored, and his Mayor's Mentoring Alliance. "It's something I have a passion for," he said. "My wife and I couldn't have children, so when I see parents not taking responsibility ... these parents don't realize how lucky they are."

A conversation with Pat McCrory can be exhausting. He has the ability to talk about everything with the exact same amount of enthusiasm -- from energy opportunities that could energize the city to the boxing gloves his acquaintance George Foreman sent him when McCrory lost the governor's race. ("I got up, brushed off my pants and came back," reads the inscription, recalling the fighter's loss in Zaire to Muhammad Ali. "You will.") It's a singular quality that's kind of weird yet indomitable. Is that how McCrory sits through city government meetings?

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