ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 22, 1996 TAG: 9602220044
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: VIRGINIA EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
ALVIN NASH, an executive with Total Action Against Poverty, announced Wednesday his candidacy for Roanoke City Council.
Alvin Nash showed Wednesday that he can think fast on his feet.
When he stepped up to the microphone to declare his candidacy for Roanoke City Council, there was no sound.
"If I'm elected, I'll make sure this thing works," he quipped, drawing a burst of laughter from 25 of his supporters gathered inside City Council chambers.
Nash, deputy director of housing programs for Total Action Against Poverty, a community action agency, is the second Republican - and the second black Republican - to announce a bid for council in the May elections.
Jeff Artis, a substitute schoolteacher in Roanoke schools, announced his intentions last month.
Nash, 44, is a Roanoke native and said he's been considering a run for council for the past six years.
"There's some things that need to be done, and City Council is the way to do it," he said.
Nash said he will push to create a community-development commission to ensure that projects - such as the revitalization of the Henry Street area - pass a "litmus test," to include mandatory focus groups and public hearings before a plan is developed.
"Now, by the time project proposals get to the Planning Commission, they're 90 percent complete," he said. "If I can get on City Council, this pattern will be broken, and all neighborhoods will be treated the same."
Nash, anticipating the interest over his political affiliation, handed out an explanation - titled "Why the Republican Party" - stapled to a copy of his announcement speech.
"I chose the party that was more in line with my conservative and common-sense approach, and, most important, I chose the party that would allow me to be more of a statesman than simply a politician," he said.
Asked to elaborate, Nash said he's been turned off by hard-line stances pushed by both parties.
"On the federal level, I've got a problem with [Republican presidential candidate] Pat Buchanan," he said. "But I've got a problem with Bill Clinton, too."
Locally, Nash said the Republican Party would allow him more flexibility and would enable him to make decisions without criticism.
Artis agrees. He said he believes the GOP offers the best platform to emphasize the candidate over party politics.
"I used to be a Democrat," he said, "but when it comes time to put up or shut up, you find out that the friends that said they were going to support you end up kicking you in the teeth."
The candidacies of Artis and Nash "are healthy for the city," longtime Republican activist Mamie Vest said.
For Republicans, the two men are "an inspiration and a reawakening," she said.
Artis is running in a special election in May for the remaining two years of former Vice Mayor John Edwards' term. Edwards, a Democrat, is now a state senator.
Councilman Wendell Butler, who was chosen to replace Edwards until the May election, is not interested in running to keep the seat.
Artis said he expects his Democratic opponent to be the Rev. Nelson Harris, chairman of the city School Board.
Nash is running for one of three at-large seats also up for election in May.
The seats are now occupied by Elizabeth Bowles, Mac McCadden and Linda Wyatt.
Bowles and McCadden, who haven't decided if they'll run for re-election, are Republicans. Wyatt is a Democrat.
The mayor's seat, held by Democrat David Bowers, also is up for election.
Political newcomer James "Pat" Green, a Republican, hasn't formally announced his candidacy for mayor, but he has sent out fund-raising letters to Roanoke-area party leaders. Green, 55, owns an insurance agency.
The Republican Party will nominate council candidates during a mass meeting March 5 at City Hall.
Democrats will pick candidates at a convention Feb. 29 in the Patrick Henry High School auditorium.
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ROGER HART/Staff "There's some things that need to beby CNBdone, and City Council is the way to do it," says Alvin Nash
(right), with Jeff Artis. KEYWORDS: POLITICS