Editing Douglas Wilder (section)

== Tenure as Governor of Virginia ==
Douglas Wilder was sworn in on January 13, 1990, by former [[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court|U.S. Supreme Court Justice]] [[Lewis F. Powell, Jr.]] In recognition of his landmark achievement as the first elected African-American governor, the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]] awarded Wilder the [[Spingarn Medal]] for 1990.

During his tenure as governor, Wilder worked on crime and gun control initiatives. He also worked to fund Virginia's transportation initiatives, effectively lobbying Congress to reallocate highway money to the states with the greatest needs.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/21/cnn25.tan.wilder/index.html "Then & Now: Douglas Wilder"], CNN, June 19, 2005. Retrieved March 4, 2009.</ref> Much residential and office development had taken place in Northern Virginia without its receiving sufficient federal money for infrastructure improvements to keep up. He also succeeded in passing state bond issues to support improving transportation. In May 1990 Wilder ordered state agencies and universities to divest themselves of any investments in [[South Africa]] because of its policy of [[apartheid]].

Wilder made a failed attempt to enter into an agreement with the [[Washington Commanders|Washington Redskins]] to build a stadium at Potomac Yard in Alexandria. Wilder and Washington Redskins owner [[Jack Kent Cooke]] had made an agreement for the move which entailed a $130 million subsidy by the state of the Virginia. However, legislators revised the agreement to reduce the cost to taxpayers by $40 million (relative to the original plan by Cooke and Wilder), which led Cooke to pull out of the agreement.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1992 |title=WashingtonPost.com: Cooke, Wilder Give Up on Stadium |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/redskins/longterm/1997/stadium/timeline/1992/alexaban.htm |website=www.washingtonpost.com}}</ref>

=== Capital punishment ===
During his term, Wilder carried out Virginia's law on capital punishment, although he had opposed the death penalty when he served in the [[Virginia Senate]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Fiske |first1=Warren |title=Some Fear Wilder Plays Politics with Death Penalty |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1991/rt9102/910217/02170103.htm |access-date=July 6, 2024 |work=scholar.lib.vt.edu |agency=[[The Roanoke Times]] |date=February 17, 1991}}</ref> A total of 14 executions were carried out in the state's [[electric chair]], including the controversial case of [[Roger Keith Coleman]]. In January 1994 Wilder commuted the sentence of [[Earl Washington Jr.]], an [[intellectually disabled]] man, to life in prison based on testing of DNA evidence that raised questions about his guilt. Virginia law has strict time limits on when such new evidence can be introduced post-conviction. But in 2000, under a new governor, an STR-based DNA test led to the exclusion of Washington as the perpetrator of the murder for which he had been sentenced. He was fully exonerated by Governor [[Jim Gilmore]] for the capital murder and he was released from prison.

As Virginia limits consecutive gubernatorial terms, Wilder was succeeded in 1994 by [[George Allen (U.S. politician)|George Allen]].