Gordon Wilson (Napoleon's World)

Gordon Wilson (born January 2, 1949) is a retired American politician who served as the Attorney General of Pacifica from 1991 to 1995 and Governor of Pacifica from 1995 until his resignation in April of 2000 after a corruption investigation that consumed the Pacifica Democratic Party in the late 1990s mushroomed into allegations of an extramarital affair on the part of Wilson, who had been divorced the year before. Wilson was replaced as Governor by his Lieutenant Governor, Dan Miller. Wilson also at one time served as a State Representative representing western Sahalee. His victory in 1994 over Cliff Serwa was controversial, as it included a recount that overturned Serwa's initially-called win in Wilson's favor.

Political Career
Wilson was elected to the Pacifica House of Representatives in 1980, winning election to District 18C, based around the neighborhoods adjacent to the University of Pacifica. In the House, he became known as a staunch liberal, belying his student-heavy district. Wilson, safe in his House seat, ran for Mayor of Sahalee in 1985 after Mike Harcourt forewent reelection to a second term. In an ugly primary race, he was narrowly defeated in the Democratic runoff by real estate developer and political neophyte Gordon Campbell, who went on to win election that fall in a landslide. Wilson next got involved in an ugly primary as he backed Harcourt in the 1986 Democratic primary (both first round and runoff) over Lieutenant Governor Ray Skelly, and Wilson was one of Harcourt's most prominent supporters.

Harcourt returned the favor in 1990 as he helped clear the field for Wilson to run for Attorney General in 1990 against incumbent Tom Greco. Democrats had not won the Attorney General's office since the 1940s and Wilson, at the time considered polarizing within the state party, was a prohibitive underdog. Wilson's energetic campaign caught Greco sleeping, however, and he narrowly defeated him as Harcourt won a landslide reelection over businessman Chris Durst and then-Lieutenant Governor Charlie Posey defeat incumbent US Senator and former Governor Bill Bennett.

Wilson moderated his tone once in statewide office and made an effort to prosecute pedophiles, logging companies that had not supplied pensions or health care benefits to their employees, and government contractors who mistreated employees. Wilson earned a reputation as a "bulldog," as the press called him, and he quickly emerged as the frontrunner for Governor in 1994.