ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 6, 1996 TAG: 9603060088
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
Roanoke Republicans showed up in surprisingly strong numbers Tuesday night, but that didn't translate into a full slate for City Council elections.
In all, 90 GOP partisans turned out at a mass meeting to nominate candidates to challenge five Democrats and one Independent for the five open council seats in May's election.
But the Republicans came up with only four candidates.
They are:
* For mayor, J. Patrick ``Pat'' Green of South Roanoke, who owns an insurance and auto refinishing products distribution business based in Roanoke County.
* For a two-year term, Jeff Artis of Southeast Roanoke, who ran an unsuccessful GOP campaign for the House of Delegates last year.
For three 4-year seats to council, the Republicans nominated only two candidates:
* Alvin Nash of Northwest Roanoke, a housing director for the Roanoke-based community action agency Total Action Against Poverty.
* David Lisk, of Southwest Roanoke, coordinator for Roanoke's Sister City Committee. Lisk served on City Council from 1966 to 1976, including a two-year stint as vice mayor.
Despite not fielding a full slate, GOP hopes appeared high for capturing a majority on City Council. To do that, they'd have to elect at least three of their four candidates.
``In a City Council race, registration efforts are going to be very important. And the party that can get its people to the polls can make a big difference,'' outgoing city Republican Chairman William Fralin Jr. told the standing-room-only crowd in City Council chambers.
The uncontested party races were overshadowed by speeches by GOP candidates seeking election to a variety of statewide and party posts.
Among them were Jim Miller, who's challenging incumbent John Warner for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate; John Hager, a longtime GOP activist from Richmond who's seeking the party's nod in the race for state lieutenant governor; and Richard Cullen, a former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia who's running for state attorney general.
The only real election of the evening was for the city Republican chair.
Ralph Smith, a businessman who's made a name for himself in party circles by holding GOP fund raisers at his Mill Mountain home, bested outgoing Roanoke City Councilman Mac McCadden.
``I'm excited,'' Smith said after the mass meeting. ``This party needs to grow.'' He said he'd work to ``double and redouble'' the size of the city Republican Committee.
``The only part I'm not satisfied with, as I understand it, we're one person short of a [full City Council] ticket,'' Smith said.
LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: chart - Roanoke City Council Line-up STAFF KEYWORDS: POLITICS CITY COUNCILby CNB