For Kaine, Richmond Record Cuts Both Ways

Murtaugh pointed out that the city of Richmond was given a C+ rating by Governing Magazine in 2000. The grade assesses the effectiveness of the Richmond City Council.

Other longtime leaders who closely watched the city under Kaine's tenure said Kaine was hamstrung by his limited powers and difficult colleagues on the City Council.

"He was like a salmon swimming upstream," said Wilder, who became Richmond's first popularly elected mayor in November, after the city's charter was changed to a "strong mayor" form of government. Wilder called Richmond a "cesspool of ineffiency" last year and forced out the city manager whom Kaine strongly supported in 1998. But Wilder has said that he did not think Kaine was part of the problem.

"He did pretty much all he could do with what he had in terms of the authority under that form of government," Wilder said.

On issues such as reducing the city's crime rate, colleagues say Kaine was more of a supporter and an advocate who worked as part of a team.

Kaine's role in other successful projects was indirect, even though he has noted his involvement with them, according to people who were city officials at the time. For instance, opponents challenge his role in Project Exile, a tough program to fight illegal guns that has been credited with helping Richmond reduce its violent crime rate.

During the campaign's first debate in July, Kaine said he "was a leader in a very significant proposal: Project Exile, which has been copied by cities and states around the country." Kaine has suggested that it was his leadership that helped the city cut its homicide rate over seven years by 55 percent.

Some close to the development of Project Exile say that he was not at the table when the initiative was developed and that he had a limited role in its implementation.

"Many people . . . contributed to Project Exile's success, but I am certainly not aware of anything Tim did," James B. Comey, an assistant U.S. attorney at the time who helped design the program, wrote to Kilgore last month.

Several Kaine colleagues said in interviews that he played an important part of the selling of the program to City Council leaders -- and later articulating its benefits -- even if he wasn't a part of the actual creation of the program.

"He gave us cover on the City Council to get things . . . done," said Jerry Oliver, Richmond's police chief at the time, who is now a state official in Arizona. He added that Project Exile was created by law enforcement officials. "While he couldn't have been at the table [in creating Project Exile], I do believe he helped set a tone that caused us to be quite successful."

Kaine said overall Richmond was a better city -- while not a perfect one -- when he left.

"I don't mind getting judged. In fact, I hope I'm being judged, he said in a final explanation during the August news conference with Wilder. "I hope I'm being judged by my time in service. To ask not to be judged for that would be a horrible thing."