Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 4, 1993 TAG: 9312040273
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
There could be 12 candidates - maybe more - for four seats.
A citizens' group said Friday it still intends to field a nonpartisan slate, despite plans by the Democratic and Republican parties to run their own tickets.
"More than likely we will have our own slate," said Dale Allen, chairman of Action '94, the group which is promoting a nonpartisan approach.
There has been speculation that the group might drop its plans if both political parties were going to run slates. Democrats will choose their candidates in a March 1 primary, and the GOP will select its nominees at a mass meeting.
Allen said the citizens group' won't abandon its plan. The group has already begun compiling a list of candidates and created a selection committee to screen them. "We've got a list of potential candidates - both long and short," Allen said.
He wouldn't identify them, but other sources said several names have been mentioned: Bittle Porterfield, the Rev. Nelson Harris, Bayard Harris and Beverly Lambert.
Nelson Harris said he has been approached by both the nonpartisan group and the Democrats about running.
Harris, a member of the School Board and pastor of the Ridgewood Baptist Church, said Friday he will decide within the next few weeks whether he will run and whether it will be as a Democrat or an independent.
Lambert, a former aide to Del. Steve Agee, R-Salem, said she may run but she has not been contacted by the nonpartisan organization. She ran for council last year as a Republican and is thinking of running on the GOP ticket this time around.
Porterfield is a civic leader and private investor who has been mentioned in the past as a potential council candidate. He could not be reached for comment Friday.
Bayard Harris, a lawyer, is chairman of the candidate-selection committee for the nonpartisan group. He said he's not interested in running for council, although his name has been mentioned.
Harris said he got interested in the nonpartisan group because of his participation in the New Century Council, which is developing a regional economic development plan for the Roanoke and New River valleys.
There has been speculation that Allen might run for council himself, but he said that is unlikely.
Action '94 is drafting an issues platform which will be used in selecting candidates. Until the issues are defined, the group says it can't decide whom it might support.
Leaders of the new group say they hope to represent a broad cross-section of the community and that it won't be seen as a patriarchal organization.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB