Mike Dow

From 1911 to the 1980s, the city had a city commission government, with commissioners elected at-large.

It returned to a mayor-council government to provide more representation by a breadth of city voters.

Michael Craig Dow (born 1947) is an American politician who served as the 106th mayor of Mobile, Alabama from 1989 to 2005.

He is widely credited with leading the redevelopment of downtown Mobile.

Outlaw was affiliated with Spring Hill College and active in the Mobile Carnival Association (he was a member of the 1948 MCA court); he was considered to be part of the traditional Mobile establishment.

During this period, he also served as Chairman of the Alabama Republican Party.

(Municipal elections in Alabama are non-partisan.)

Dow intended to run for City Council from District 6 in the southwestern portion of the city.

Joe Bullard, who owned an auto dealership, was pondering his own run for the mayoralty.

Early in the season, former mayor Lambert C. Mims was indicted for ethics violations while in office.

He was considered the primary competitor to Outlaw.

Mims suggested that Dow run for mayor, and said he would give him strong support from his base.

At the urging of Bullard and Mims, businessman Dow decided to run for Mayor.

He promoted himself as a new style candidate, reaching out to both black and white voters.

Dow's campaign included a coalition of African-American ministers and he frequently attended mass at African-American churches throughout the city.

He campaigned against the convention center.

He ran as a 'statesman' candidate, based on his having served terms on the city commission in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.

In 1979, Dow co-founded QMS (Quality Micro Systems) with his brother-in-law, Jim Busby.

Dow took on a variety of roles, serving as Vice President of Sales, Marketing, and Accounting for the company.

Quality Micro Systems, a printer manufacturing company, at one time competed with giants like Hewlett Packard, Canon, Xerox, and Tektronix and was listed in the Fortune 500.

Dow is credited with creating the company's European distribution network.

Arthur Outlaw was elected as mayor in 1985, for the first time since 1911 as a direct candidate, by a comfortable margin.

During his term, he worked with the city's first directly elected council in 1987 to pass an historic 15-year master plan.

It proposed construction of a convention center on the Mobile River to stimulate downtown development.

Gradually opposition to the convention center mounted.

He ran as a candidate in 1989 for city council from District 6.

After Black Monday, the company was forced to downsize and was eventually purchased by Minolta to become Minolta-QMS in 2000.

Prior to this, Dow left QMS and entered electoral politics, joining the Democratic Party.

He was mentioned as a potential gubernatorial candidate in 2010, but declined to run.

Dow was born in South Carolina and was raised as a foster child.

He had a troubled childhood.

His father left his family when he was ten and his mother suffered from mental illness.

As a consequence, Mike became a ward of the state.

Later, at about the age of 14, he was taken in by his maternal grandfather, Henry Gainous.

Dow joined the U.S. Army, serving as a paratrooper in his first tour of duty and as a door gunner for subsequent tours in Vietnam.

He survived several helicopter crashes but, in his fourth flight, his pilot and best friend, Johnny Legg, was killed.

Dow was following his friend in another helicopter at the time of the incident.

After Legg's death, Dow decided to leave the military.

He still keeps a rubbing of Mr. Legg's name from the Vietnam memorial in his office.

After leaving Vietnam and the military, Dow returned to college, earning a master's degree in accounting from the University of South Alabama.