The return of boy mayor Tom Bradshaw

by Rob Christensen, News and Observer, August 12, 2014.

Usually people who have stretches of interstate highway named after them do not embark on state Senate careers, especially, knowing that if they win, they would be starting out as a freshman of the minority party.

But Thomas W. Bradshaw Jr., a Democrat seeking the seat held by retiring Republican Sen. Neal Hunt, would be no ordinary backbencher. He has been a key player in North Carolina political and business circles since he was elected Raleigh mayor in 1971 at the tender age of 32.

So why at age 75, is he running for the Senate?

“I don’t mind sitting on the back bench,’’ Bradshaw said. “I just want to have a civil conversation.’’

And that conversation, Bradshaw made clear over coffee at a North Raleigh McDonald’s, is about the close connection between business and education, and how without good schools, good teachers and an educated work force, North Carolina will not have a healthy economy.

It’s a message he has been working on nearly all his adult life, since Raleigh banker Cliff Cameron tasked him with pushing a Raleigh school bond issue in 1960.

Bradshaw was among the first political figures that I covered as a reporter 41 years ago – a tall, fast-talking, Raleigh-bred, high-energy salesman with a pinball-like mind. If you let your thoughts wander 20 seconds, you would miss three important points and two good stories.

The fact that he made it from a Raleigh public housing project to a top job on Wall Street says everything about his smarts and his drive.

But what you may not know is his role in creating the modern Raleigh. As mayor, he helped set the stage for Raleigh’s enormous growth. He was instrumental in the beginning of downtown revitalization efforts, securing a future water supply at Falls Lake, starting a greenway system, and helping snag the N.C. Symphony for Raleigh. Claude Sitton, The News & Observer’s editor, who knew Dixie like the back of his hand, called Bradshaw one of the South’s best mayors.

Many saw for him a bright political future, and while Bradshaw never sought higher political office, everybody recognized his leadership potential. Democratic Gov. Jim Hunt made him his first Transportation Secretary in 1977. After he left DOT, the southern leg of the Raleigh Beltline was named for him.

As a businessman, he served as chairman of the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce and then the group that is now the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce. He has also headed pro education groups, like the Public School Forum.

Education legacy

There is hardly an education cause with which Bradshaw has not been involved, including programs such as Smart Start. It is a legacy of having been mentored by public school teachers as a poor kid, and having recruited many industries to the area and having heard the executives stress the importance of good schools.

While commuting from Raleigh, Bradshaw spent most of his career working on Wall Street. He was the co-head of the Transportation Group for Citigroup Global Markets, where he traveled around the country helping state and local governments finance various projects. He worked with a wide range of officials, including Texas Gov. George W. Bush and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

What his work reinforced, Bradshaw said, was the critical link between education and economic growth. He is very worried that efforts to build up North Carolina’s public schools over the last 40 years are being dismantled. But he is not worried about being a freshman.

As former Governor and Duke University President Terry Sanford once quipped when he was running for the U.S. Senate in 1986 at age 69 – he would not so much be a freshman as a transfer student.

http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/08/12/4067677/christensen-the-return-of-the.html?sp=/99/102/