Peace in the Valley?
“How sweet it is!” shouted Mayor Bernard Kincaid, with something less than Jackie Gleason’s enthusiasm, to a cheering throng of supporters after City Councilor Carole Smitherman conceded defeat in her bid to unseat Kincaid in the November 4 mayoral runoff election. Pointing to local businessman and attorney Donald Watkins, who stood out conspicuously in the crowd as he flashed a “V sign” back in the Mayor’s direction, Kincaid admitted that he could not have been competitive without the $150,000 he received from Watkins and former Mayor Richard Arrington’s Voter News Network (VNN) political organization. Kincaid had earlier turned down VNN’s $17,500 offer for the general election, but for the runoff wasted no time snatching up the funds once they reached six figures.The VNN support was just one more fascinating twist in the ongoing dysfunctional soap opera that is Birmingham politics. Arrington was the Mayor’s perceived archenemy four years ago when Kincaid shockingly upset the former mayor’s chosen successor, William Bell. Donald Watkins was no bit player in the Arrington administration, having earned up to $1 million per year as a consulting attorney for the city. The tired cliché of politics creating strange bedfellows was dragged out for one more curtain call.

The scene was not so joyful only a few blocks south at Carole Smitherman’s election gathering. Trailing the incumbent mayor by approximately 3,000 votes over the course of the evening, eventually losing 46 percent to 54 percent, Smitherman finally appeared for her concession speech after supporters had gloomily watched a huge projection screen that was showing “Fear Factor” as vote tallies flashed across the screen. Even more surreal was the presence of former councilor Aldrich Gunn, who looked dapper in white slacks and a floral print shirt as he ruminated in his unique philosophical manner to a reporter who inquired if Gunn will enter politics again. “I’m not trying to get five votes now, all I need is one to make my decisions,” he said with a laugh, noting that he preferred being low-key. When I told him that he probably had a good shot at taking back the seat he lost to Councilor Gwen Sykes, who has been a lightning rod of controversy in recent months, Gunn replied: “I don’t kick a dog when they’re down—and I’m not calling her a dog—but I would never step on nobody when they’re down.” Gunn was not surprised that Kincaid accepted the VNN money. “You have to do what you have to do to win . . . Don’t let nobody tell you who you make a coalition with,” he said. “I think it’s nice and if it’s working, it’s working. And you sit there and don’t want this and don’t want that, sometimes you just have to chew your gum and go on.”

City Councilor Valerie Abbott was asked if mayor-council gridlock would persist with Kincaid’s looming re-election. “Well, I can’t really speak for the rest of the council,” Abbott responded. “I guess I would like to say that I’m optimistic that the Mayor will actually start to work with the council like he said he would in the media a few weeks ago, and that we will start having regular dialogue, regular conversations, that he will stop by to visit us every once in a while and talk about stuff, because it hasn’t been happening so far.” Abbott said she had seen Kincaid on the council side of City Hall twice. “I feel like we (councilors) are a lot more loose than he is about people dropping in. He could walk down our hall and drop into my office anytime . . . and it would be just fine. But if I went over and wandered up and down his hall and tried to drop in on him, I’m not sure that I would be welcome. He has a regular ‘bulldog’ at the door that keeps you from going through without an invitation. So some things are going to have to change.”

Back at Kincaid headquarters, Donald Watkins fielded questions from reporters who approached him one by one. “I think the VNN support allowed us to level the playing field so that it could be a competitive race,” the attorney said with more than a hint of pride when asked about the role his organization played. Watkins added that the only expectation he has of the Mayor is “that he continue to lead in a progressive fashion. If he does that, he’ll be a good person for us to have supported.”

When asked if the council and mayor could set aside their bitter differences, Councilor Carol Reynolds echoed Abbott’s sentiments, though in less skeptical tones. “It’s going to be hard to forgive the past, but I think rather than forgetting it we need to forgive it and move forward.” Reynolds said she has crossed the hall in the past to meet with Kincaid and will encourage him to do the same.

Promising a “spirit of reconciliation and a spirit of coming together,” Kincaid told the assembled crowd that he promised to “get started tomorrow” in reaching out to the city council. In an interview following his acceptance speech, the Mayor revealed his priorities. “First thing is to see if we can redefine our relationship with the council. I’m very concerned about that,” he admitted, adding that he promised to “visit the council side (of City Hall) to find common ground” now that his relationship will not be defined by half of the council seeking his job (four councilors ran for mayor). Indeed, the Mayor made good on his pledge by visiting the “council side” the next day, but reportedly, no councilors could be found. This is not unusual, as council seats are part-time positions, forcing most to hold steady employment in addition to legislative duties. It’s not unusual to find councilors away from their desks on Wednesdays if meetings are not scheduled, so Kincaid’s olive branch gesture seemed empty.

Will the brief honeymoon that followed the “cooperative government” vows Kincaid and the current city council exchanged two years ago finally return? Don’t hold your breath. Kincaid was nowhere to be found at the first council meeting following his re-election. Perhaps something urgent came up, but if such was the case, two of his close aides either weren’t aware or didn’t let on. When asked why Kincaid was absent, Public Information Officer Vivian Gossett said that the Mayor was in town but “had other commitments.” Another mayoral staff member’s (one of Valerie Abbott’s perceived “bulldogs”) explanation of the Mayor’s truancy was even more intriguing. “I don’t know where he is,” the staffer responded. “He’s probably some place chillin’.” &