 Before being elected mayor, Wetherington served the city of Columbus as chief of police, and the state of Georgia as commissioner of the Georgia Department of Corrections, where he led the sixth largest prison system in the United States.He was elected 67th mayor of that city in 2006, after defeating incumbent mayor Bob Poydasheff.As mayor, Wetherington raised taxes to increase the size of the Columbus police force, and worked to improve the mayor's office's relationships between with the mayor's office and the county school district.