RALEIGH -- Editor's note: This is the final profile of Raleigh's three mayoral candidates. A profile of Nancy McFarlane ran on Sept. 21. And a profile of Billie Redmond ran on Sept. 26.
At 5:45 a.m., Randall Williams steps out of his GMC Yukon sporting a Broughton High Schoo lT-shirt, baggy shorts and a pair of Brooks running shoes - the early-rising, would-be mayor out for his pre-dawn jog.
He greets a panhandler on Fayetteville Street and apologizes for not having any change. He passes the police building on Cabarrus Street and laments its cramped conditions.
He lopes down Lee Street and passes overstuffed cans of garbage.
"This is kind of who I am," explains candidate Williams, 54, puffing along South Person Street. "These are kind of my rounds. If you drive down this street in a car, it's not the same. You don't hear the dogs barking."
If elected, this fiscally conservative, world-traveling Raleigh gynecologist promises to jog with anybody, any day from 5:45 to 6:15 a.m. If that's too strenuous, he'll meet all nonjoggers afterward at City Hall until 7 a.m. - no topic off-limits.
With no political experience, and no hard-set ideology on which to campaign, the Republican doctor touts his ability to talk, listen and lead.
As a physician, he's traveled eight times to Iraq, three times to Haiti and once to Afghanistan, training medical staff in countries where eight-pound babies die of sepsis and doctors are sometimes targets for kidnappers.
He's also run marathons in Boston, Paris and Jerusalem.
If he can get Iraqi Shiites and Sunnis to cooperate in an operating room, Williams figures he can get all factions in City Hall to agree on how to bring more jobs to Raleigh.
Williams considers a humble nature one of his best traits, and if elected Raleigh mayor, the first thing he'll do is take an all-night ride-along with the police.
The second thing: Sit down with City Manager Russell Allen and talk about how to get employers moving here quickly.
He sees hundreds of patients from all types of neighborhoods in his office on Computer Drive, and he jogs down crime-troubled streets in Southeast Raleigh that rarely see candidates.
His résumé is heavy on street smarts.
Williams prides himself on being hard to pin down.
He opposes the proposed $205 million public safety center as too extravagant for Raleigh in this economy, but he supports a $40 million transportation bond to the chagrin of some conservatives.
"I am not an ideologue," Williams explained. "I'm trained as a surgeon. As a surgeon, we take a history. We look at the data. We look at the possibilities, and we make a decision."
Bringing people together
Born in Concord and raised in Burlington, Williams knew from age 4 he wanted to be a doctor.
By age 9, he was begging his mother to take him to the biological supply store to buy frogs to dissect.
As a teen, he became the only male candy-striper at Memorial Hospital in Alamance County.
Today, he greets patients in a bow tie and white lab coat, holding court in an office that shows as many pictures of Baghdad as Raleigh. But although a world globe sits on Williams' desk, you can see the Beltline out his office window, and his son's Wolfpack soccer jersey hangs framed on the wall.
Raleigh is home.
He decided to run for mayor gradually, toying with the idea. But when he saw colleagues in Iraq overcome huge differences to form a national medical society, he wanted to build the same bridges at home.
He will face Councilwoman Nancy McFarlane and Raleigh real estate executive Billie Redmond in the mayoral race.
He worries about Raleigh's debt load being too heavy. He wants to keep taxes low. But Williams said he wouldn't take his election as a mandate, and he wouldn't walk into City Hall considering any of his ideas a fait accompli.
"He talks a lot about bringing people together and he recognizes that we live in a diverse city," said George DeLoache, a Raleigh real estate broker and longtime friend. "For him to say, 'Here's the things I'll do on Day 1 would be a little disingenuous."
Williams dislikes the tone of the debate in Raleigh, especially over school assignments. He admires Superintendent Tony Tata for his ability to speak plainly to people who disagree with him, sometimes passionately.
So when he decided to run, Williams sought the advice of another long-distance runner: Mayor Charles Meeker, who is stepping down after his fifth term.
Jogging together, Meeker told Williams, "Randall, you're going to be asked to go to groups that they're not going to like you. They're not going to endorse you. There's just something about you they don't like. Go. It'll show courage."
So if he locks horns with Councilman Thomas Crowder, as sometimes happens with conservatives on the council, he promises to remember that Crowder represents a broad constituency, and to respect where they're coming from.
As a doctor, Williams delivered 2,400 babies in Wake and Orange counties, all while raising two boys and a girl. So he shrugs when people talk about the rigors of the mayor's office.
He knows Meeker has a reputation for answering anybody's call by the second ring, and he congratulates Meeker for being so available.
He admits he can't always take calls during the day, but he explains that he no longer delivers babies, and his gynecology appointments are tightly scheduled.
Supporters don't worry that he doesn't know the ins and outs of City Hall, or that he hasn't attended many meetings recently.
"That's a quick learning curve to that," said Mark Scruggs, a former councilman whose family runs Briggs Hardware. "He's run a business, his volunteerism in going overseas, applying his medical trade in Afghanistan and Iraq. It just shows how dedicated he is to people. I don't see that as a weakness. I almost see it as a freshness."
Ready to listen
At 6:15 a.m., Williams trots back into Nash Square, his run finished. He passes the statue of Josephus Daniels and waves.
"Hey, Joe."
If Williams were mayor, he'd be sweaty, and maybe breathing a little hard, but he'd be waiting to hear from all comers.
This park in the middle of downtown Raleigh is his office, and the doors open early.
