The Shadow Mayor of Walla Walla
A biting editorial exposes the financial entanglement between the sitting mayor and the local bank.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Back of Mayor Gilbert Hunt, whom we all concede to be a good, affable, kind-hearted man, of irreproachable private life, stands Boss Burford of the First National Bank, also a good man in his way, who has several selfish schemes to put through for the bank at the expense of the city. One of these is the proposed purchase by the city for twenty-five thousand dollars of half the Thomas ranch, now practically owned by the bank. If this scheme goes through the bank will get back the money loaned on the land with big interest and will have half the ranch left as clear profit. Another scheme of the bank is to continue in power an administration that will throw off a third or more of the taxes levied against its stock. To reelect Gilbert Hunt is to continue Cashier Burford in power as the mayor de facto of this city.
“To reelect Gilbert Hunt is to continue Cashier Burford in power as the mayor de facto of this city.”
Public corruption in small cities often hinges on the cozy, behind-the-scenes relationship between local bank leadership and municipal real estate policy. This 1903 conflict over the Thomas ranch echoes modern debates about how municipal tax incentives and city land acquisitions can serve as private bailouts for well-connected local lenders.
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