CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- In his Charleston office, Andy Richardson proudly displays a color drawing of his alma mater, Charleston High School, beside prints of West Virginia University and the WVU College of Law.

In a desk drawer, Richardson still has the program from his 20-year high school class reunion.

He says he's not nostalgic, though friends would disagree.

Richardson, 52, is running for the office of Kanawha County commissioner, challenging incumbent Dave Hardy in the May 11 Democratic primary election.

Richardson, senior vice president for Wells Fargo Disability Management, said county officials need to look forward while planning the county's future path. But that doesn't mean there aren't lessons to be learned from the past.

"I remember what Charleston and the Kanawha Valley were, and that's a good thing," Richardson said. "That also reminds us of what we can be.

"We need a sense of urgency to grow Kanawha County again," he said, pointing out that the county has lost 60,000 people over the last 50 years.

"My God, that's the size of Mountaineer Field!"

Richardson grew up in South Ruffner hollow, in a house he owns today. "I live in a neighborhood where some of the people have known me my entire life," he said. "It's comfortable and familiar. It keeps you grounded."

The area is not known as one of Charleston's wealthiest neighborhoods.

"We were one of the old Kanawha Valley families, but never one of the more affluent Kanawha Valley families," Richardson said. His father spent 41 years working in the chemical industry, and Richardson's mother worked for a time as a secretary at Piedmont Elementary School on Charleston's East End.

Richardson went to Charleston High School, which was one of the state's most racially diverse schools during the 1970s and 1980s. Graduating in 1976, Richardson played baritone horn in the Mountain Lion band and managed the school basketball team.

"Who you are is a lot about your environment," Richardson said. "[Charleston High] was a melting pot." He said kids at Charleston High became adept at getting along, no matter their backgrounds.

The result, he said, is that "I am pretty comfortable with pretty much anybody."

His parents, South Ruffner and Charleston High "framed who I am," Richardson said. "If you try to live by the Golden Rule, you'll have a pretty good life."

A former assistant county prosecutor and member of South Charleston City Council, Richardson served as commissioner of the Bureau of Employment Programs under former Gov. Gaston Caperton. His responsibilities included oversight of the state workers' compensation system.

Newspaper articles of the 1990s credit Richardson with ironing out problems with the state Workers' Compensation Fund and bringing the system back from the brink of financial disaster. Richardson sued companies that were thumbing their noses at paying workers' comp premiums and started straightening out a $2.2 billion deficit.

But critics charge that Richardson did it at the expense of raising premiums and slashing benefits.

"I've never shied away from hard decisions," Richardson said. "The fund got on track toward financial solvency and the state of West Virginia eventually got a clean audit finding. That finding led to an increase in the state's bonding capacity for the first time in 20 years."

Richardson's employer, Wells Fargo, sometimes does business with Kanawha County officials. "I'm completely divorced from any of that kind of activity," Richardson said.

He said he would abstain from any votes involving Wells Fargo if he's elected to the commission.

"I would have to do that," he said. "I would avoid even the appearance of impropriety."

Richardson believes county officials need to focus more on economic development to bring business and residents back to the county. He doesn't necessarily think Hardy and County Commissioners Kent Carper and Hoppy Shores have done anything wrong in recent years, but feels county officials have gotten used to doing things a certain way.

"It's an entrenched culture," he said. "It's time for a change, and to have a fresh perspective and a new voice.

"I think we've got a great story in the Kanawha Valley. Let's take a new approach and find another way to tell it."

Reach Rusty Marks at rustyma...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1215.