Anthony A. Williams facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Tony Williams
Mayor of the District of Columbia
In office January 2, 1999 – January 2, 2007
Preceded by	Marion Barry
Succeeded by	Adrian Fenty
Personal details
Born	Anthony Stephen Eggleton (1951-07-28) July 28, 1951 (age 74) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Diane Simmons
Children	1
Education	Santa Clara University U.S. Air Force Academy Preparatory School Yale University (BA) Harvard University (MPP, JD)
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Air Force
Years of service	1971–1974
Unit	93rd Bombardment Group

Anthony Allen Williams (born Anthony Stephen Eggleton; July 28, 1951) is an American politician. He served as the Mayor of the District of Columbia for two terms, from 1999 to 2007. Before becoming mayor, Williams was the chief financial officer for the District. In that role, he helped balance the city's budget and even created a surplus. He also worked in leadership roles in other cities and states. Since 2012, he has been the chief executive officer of the Federal City Council.

Early Life and Education

Anthony Stephen Eggleton was born in Los Angeles on July 28, 1951. When he was three years old, he was adopted by Virginia and Lewis Williams. They raised him and seven other children in their home in the West Adams area of Los Angeles.

Williams attended Loyola High School and then Santa Clara University. At college, he was involved in the movement against the Vietnam War. He was also president of his sophomore class. However, his grades were not good, and he left school.

Military Service and College

After leaving college, Williams joined the Air Force. He wanted to go to Vietnam, but he stayed in the U.S. and worked as an aide. He tried to get into the United States Air Force Academy. Instead, he went to the academy's prep school because of his earlier grades. He did very well there.

In 1974, Williams received an honorable discharge from the Air Force. After that, he taught piano and art to blind children. He also counseled veterans of the Vietnam War in Los Angeles. In 1975, he enrolled at Yale University. He used his veteran's benefits to help pay for his studies.

He left Yale briefly to start a map business, but it did not succeed. He returned to Yale in 1979. In 1982, he graduated with high honors, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science. Later, in 1987, he earned two more degrees from Harvard University: a law degree (J.D.) from Harvard Law School and a Master of Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Public Service Career

Before working in Washington, D.C., Williams held several important positions. He was the Deputy State Comptroller for Connecticut. He also served as the executive director of the Community Development Agency in St. Louis, Missouri. In addition, he was an assistant director for the Boston Redevelopment Authority. He also taught as a professor at Columbia University.

President Bill Clinton appointed Williams to be the first Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for the US Department of Agriculture. The United States Senate confirmed his appointment. He also helped start and served as Vice Chairman of the U.S. CFO Council.

Early Political Steps

Williams first ran for office in 1979 while he was a student at Yale. He was elected to the New Haven, Connecticut, Board of Aldermen. He served there until 1982 and was even President Pro-Tempore during that time.

Williams became well-known in Washington, D.C., as the city's Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Mayor Marion Barry nominated him for this role in September 1995. At that time, Washington, D.C., was facing a big money crisis. Congress had created a special financial control board to oversee the city's money.

The CFO position was also created by this law. The CFO had direct control over the daily money operations of city agencies. This role was independent from the mayor's office. While Mayor Barry could appoint Williams, only the Control Board could fire him. This gave Williams a lot of power. He often disagreed with the mayor, but Williams usually won these disagreements because he had the support of the Control Board and Congress.

In 1996, Williams gained even more power to hire and fire city staff who worked with the budget. With this influence, Williams began to fix D.C.'s finances. The city went from a $355 million deficit (meaning it owed more money than it had) in 1995 to a $185 million surplus (meaning it had more money than it owed) by 1997.

Running for Mayor

Williams' success with the city's money made him popular. In January 1998, local news reported that he might run for mayor. He first said no, but then a "Draft Anthony Williams" movement started. When Mayor Barry decided not to run for a fifth term, Williams finally entered the race. He resigned as CFO to campaign.

Williams quickly became the favorite to win. In September, he won the Democratic primary election with 50% of the votes. Then, on November 3, he won the general election by a large margin. He had not held an elected office since 1982. After he was elected, the Control Board announced it would start giving back much of the power it had taken from the mayor's office during Barry's time.

First Term as Mayor (1999-2003)

During his first term, Mayor Williams brought the city back to good financial health. The city had budget surpluses every year. This allowed the financial control board to end its work two years earlier than planned. He helped bring about $40 billion in investments to the city.

Many new projects and better services also came to some less wealthy neighborhoods under Williams' leadership. There was a controversy when Williams accepted the resignation of an aide after the aide used a word that caused offense.

By 2001, property values were rising steadily. Washington, D.C., was experiencing a boom in real estate investment for homes, businesses, and stores. Congress officially dissolved the Financial Control Board in September 2001. In 2002, an international group of real estate investors named Washington, D.C., the best city in the world for real estate investment. It held this top spot in 2003 and 2004 as well.

However, some lower-income residents felt left out. During his first term, the city began to change, with new people moving in and property values going up. Long-time residents sometimes felt they could no longer afford their homes and had to move to nearby areas. Also, one of Williams' budget decisions was to close the inpatient services at D.C. General Hospital. This was the city's only public hospital. The D.C. Council voted against the closure in 2001, but the Control Board overturned their decision.

Second Term as Mayor (2003-2007)

In 2002, Williams ran for re-election. His campaign faced a challenge when the company he hired to collect signatures for his name on the ballot had issues with hundreds of names. Because of these problems, Williams' name was removed from the Democratic Primary ballot. He had to run as a write-in candidate. Despite this, he won both the Democratic and Republican primaries as a write-in candidate. He then won the general election and was re-elected.

During his second term, Williams continued to make the District's finances stable. The city balanced its budget for ten years in a row, from 1997 to 2006. The city's total money went from a deficit of $518 million in 1996 to a surplus of almost $1.6 billion in 2005. During this time, the District's bond ratings improved greatly, showing it was a good place to invest.

Williams played a key role in bringing the Montreal Expos, a Major League Baseball (MLB) team, to Washington, D.C. The team was having financial problems. Even though many members of the D.C. Council were against it, Williams eventually succeeded. In late 2004, the Council approved a plan to pay for a new stadium by just one vote. The new team, the Washington Nationals, started playing in April 2005. This was the first time since 1971 that the nation's capital had its own MLB team.

While in office, Williams was elected president of the National League of Cities in December 2004. In January 2005, he was elected Vice Chair of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG).

Not everyone agreed with Williams. Some criticized his international travels. Others pointed out that he did not buy a home in D.C. himself, even though he encouraged residents to buy homes in the city. Some residents and D.C. Council members also criticized his deal with Major League Baseball. They felt it gave too much away and did not limit how much public money would be spent on the new baseball park.

Williams was the first sitting mayor of Washington since 1973 to speak at a Presidential funeral. He spoke at Ronald Reagan's funeral in 2004. His final speech as mayor was also given at the Washington National Cathedral in 2006.

On September 28, 2005, Williams announced he would not seek re-election in 2006. He supported Council Chair Linda W. Cropp as his successor. However, Cropp lost to Ward 4 Councilmember Adrian Fenty in the Democratic primary. Fenty then won the general election.

After Being Mayor

In 2018, Williams was a co-chair for a campaign for S. Kathryn Allen, who wanted a seat on the Council. An investigation found that more than half of the signatures collected for her campaign had issues, and her name was not put on the ballot. Williams did not comment publicly on this incident.

Legacy and Honors

Williams was generally seen as a moderate leader. He had good relationships with Congress, the White House, businesses, and the community. He was known for being an intellectual and a careful planner, especially when compared to the more colorful Mayor Barry. He is also known for wearing a signature bow tie.

In 1997, Governing Magazine named him "Public Official of the Year."

Thanks to growth in local income and sales taxes, Williams managed the District's money well. He improved services, lowered tax rates, made city agencies work better, and invested in infrastructure and human services. This big change required major improvements in how money was managed and collected. After many years of losing residents, the District began to have a steady growth in population. In July 2004, Black Enterprise magazine named Washington, D.C., the second-best city in the country for African Americans to live and work. This was based on housing, jobs, health care, and economic development.

Under Williams' leadership, the District's crime rate dropped significantly. By the end of his time as mayor, hotels reported very few empty rooms. Real estate values in the District stayed high, even when they were going down in other areas.

On Williams' last day in office in 2006, a columnist for The Washington Post, Colbert I. King, wrote about his achievements. He said Williams left the city with good finances, plenty of cash, better healthcare for those who needed it, and many promising neighborhood projects. He also mentioned the major league baseball team and a new stadium being built. The columnist noted that the city was no longer "the laughingstock of the nation." He added that under Williams, the District went through its biggest transformation in generations. Williams encouraged investments that helped clean up a city that had become run down.

Williams is recognized for setting the stage for the city's continued improvement. His last day as mayor happened to be the same day as the Washington funeral of Gerald Ford.

Personal Life

In 1999, journalist Gene Weingarten interviewed Williams. He wrote an article called "A Funny Thing About the Mayor ... He's Funny" for The Washington Post. In 2016, Weingarten met Williams again during jury duty. He later wrote that Williams had a sense of humor that no one knew about. He described Williams as "an incredibly, organically, wryly funny man who has turned self deprecation into an art form. He also believes deeply in civic responsibility."

In January 2007, Williams partnered with an investment bank to create Primum Public Realty Trust. This company focused on buying and leasing back government and non-profit real estate. In 2009, Williams announced he was stepping down as CEO, and the company would close. He then joined a D.C. law firm, Arent Fox, in May 2009. He worked there as Director of State and Local Practice, helping governments manage their budgets and get stimulus money.

Williams has also been involved in local education efforts. He served on the boards of non-profit groups like D.C. Children First and the national non-profit Alliance for School Choice.

In March 2008, Williams made news by buying a home in D.C. It was a condominium in the improving H Street NE area of the city.

Williams was a member of the Debt Reduction Task Force at the Bipartisan Policy Center. In 2012, he joined the board of directors for the Bank of Georgetown.

In April 2012, Williams was appointed the chief executive officer of the Federal City Council. This private organization was founded in 1954. It is made up of business, civic, and education leaders who want to improve economic development and living conditions in Washington, D.C. It is considered one of the most influential groups in the city.

Williams is Catholic.

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  Tony Williams