ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, May 4, 1996 TAG: 9605060046
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Strip
OLD FOES are new friends and vice versa. Meanwhile, many people ask, "You mean there's an election?"
With three days to go in the campaigns for mayor and City Council, unusual patterns are emerging on the Roanoke election front.
Some staunch Republicans are supporting David Bowers, a Democrat and ex-populist who is campaigning as the "establishment" candidate for re-election as mayor.
Blacks, gays and some union members are backing J. Patrick Green, a Republican small-businessman from South Roanoke who is sounding more and more like a "people's candidate."
One candidate reports that during door-knocking, citizens have asked him, "You mean there's an election?"
And in the mayor's ex-wife's yard is a campaign sign for his opponent.
Altogether, it's enough to make one wonder what the heck is going on.
"This is so much different from four years ago," says Bob Firebaugh, a local political numbers cruncher and former Democratic Party operative. "The level of interest and action four years ago was so much higher than this time that it's striking."
Including the mayor's race and a special election for a two-year term to fill state Sen. John Edwards' old council seat, there are five seats up for grabs in Tuesday's election - enough to change the city's direction for years to come.
Yet, there appears to be very little interest in the race, judging from the relatively puny war chests candidates have amassed so far; the dearth of candidate advertising; the absence of campaign headquarters; and the relative lack of political rhetoric being tossed around.
Campaign reports filed Monday indicate Bowers has taken in only $7,840 in contributions for his re-election bid - less than half of what he reported raising four years ago only shortly before the election.
There are of plenty of other oddities in the campaign. Consider:
* Bowers, a longtime Democrat, has collected campaign contributions from stalwart Republicans such as former councilmen Lucien Grove and Advance Auto Parts magnate Nicholas Taubman.
Both Grove and Taubman were part of the "Roanoke Forward" ticket that Bowers as councilman campaigned against in the past.
The mayor has also attracted money from such notable business leaders as Carilion CEO Tom Robertson; Don Smith, chairman of Roanoke Electric Steel; F. Edward Harris, regional president of Crestar Bank; Rob Clark, president of Shenandoah Life; and Roanoke County developer Len Boone.
With one exception, Bowers has been spurned by many of the groups that were behind the populist campaign that won him 57 percent of the vote in 1992.
City firefighters aren't endorsing in the mayor's race. Neither is the United Central Labor Council. The painters union has endorsed Green. C.W. Toney, the painters' business agent, says nobody could be worse than Bowers.
The only group to stick with Bowers since 1992 is the Roanoke Education Association, the influential city teachers' group. It believes he's more committed to raising teachers' salaries than Green is. But that endorsement came with a $50 contribution, a far cry from the $750 the REA gave Bowers in 1992.
* Green, a Republican, has been endorsed by the Peoples Voters League, a mostly black organization based in Northwest Roanoke. That section of town gave Bowers his biggest margins of victory in the 1992 race against Republican Willis "Wick" Anderson.
The league has printed thousands of sample ballots which will be distributed between now and Tuesday.
Through the Roanoke Police Benevolent Association, city police officers also have endorsed Green. One of their big reasons is that Bowers didn't show up for the PBA's candidate interviews last Saturday. Bowers said he didn't find out about them until they were over.
And the Roanoke Valley Gay and Lesbian Alliance has endorsed Green, who has flip-flopped on his earlier opposition to an ordinance prohibiting discrimination against gays in city hiring and promotions. Now he say's he'll support one.
Green has also hit the streets hard. He's dropped 15 pounds, which he attributes to incessant door-knocking in neighborhoods. He's raised more money than Bowers, and more in small contributions.
More than $6,200 of the Republican's total has come in sums of $5 to $100 from citizens in all of the city's quadrants. Bowers has raised $4,140 in small contributions, according to campaign finance reports.
Excluding a $5,000 loan Bowers made to his own campaign, Green has also out-raised the mayor in total contributions, $9,800 to $7,840.
* Besides city firefighters and the Central Labor Council, a third organization had decided not to endorse in the mayor's race: the Roanoke Valley Association of Realtors.
"That sends a message to the public that they're not happy with the mayor at all," says Green, who counts the nonendorsements as votes for him. "They're playing the middle of the road, so if David is elected, they're not hurt. But if I win, they were all for me" by not endorsing him.
Bowers notes that "my support changes in some ways in every year that I run. [But] my main support still comes from that broad, middle-class, moderate majority who live in all areas of the city."
Given the relative silence on the election front, Firebaugh, the former Democratic Party operative, estimates turnout won't exceed 12,500 voters - only about 2,500 more than turned out for the 1994 council election, when the mayor's seat wasn't up for grabs.
City politicians have also left voters "so disgusted and so injured over time by not doing what they say they're going to do, [voters are] just politically depressed," Firebaugh said. It's disgraceful that we'll probably only see 12,500 voters out in an election for five seats on council."
If turnout is low, that could give special interest groups who are endorsing candidates a disproportionate influence in the outcome. Firebaugh figures that would be bad news for Bowers.
"Based on the 1994 turnout, I would say he's in deep trouble," Firebaugh said. "If I had to go out on a limb, I'd say the odds of Green winning are 3-to-2."
If that happens, Firebaugh says, it could be chalked up to traditionally Democratic "have-nots" feeling so sold out by people they've put in office that they'd do anything - even vote for a Republican - to strike back.
"Every champion of the people who has come forward has always amended himself or switched entirely to the establishment two to three years after he's come into office," Firebaugh says.
"Bowers is the latest person to look like he's not carrying forward on his promises. The anti-establishment crowd, they've been deserted so many times, they're saying, `This is not going to go on,' and, in desperation, they're going to the other side."
The other races are harder to call. Only one candidate - incumbent Linda Wyatt - has swept endorsements from all groups that are making them.
Here are endorsements that have been issued so far:
* The Roanoke Education Association, which represents more than 600 teachers in city schools, has endorsed Bowers for mayor; Carroll Swain, Linda Wyatt and Joseph Nash for the three four-year council terms up for election; and the Rev. Nelson Harris for a two-year term in a special election to fill the seat held by state Sen. John Edwards until he was elected to the legislature last fall.
* The Roanoke United Central Labor Council, a regional confederation of union locals that serve about 10,000 members, has endorsed Swain, Wyatt and Joseph Nash for the three four-year council seats and Harris in the race for the two-year seat.
* Painters and Allied Trades Union Local 891 has endorsed Green for mayor; Swain, Wyatt and Joseph Nash for the four-year seats; and Harris for the two-year seat.
* The Peoples Voters League, a mostly black citizens group in Northwest, has endorsed Green for mayor; Wyatt and Swain for four-year council seats; and Artis in the special election for the two-year term. The group went against Bowers because of his flip-flops on supporting a referendum for a modified ward election system.
* The Roanoke chapter of the Police Benevolent Association, which represents more than 165 officers, has endorsed Green for mayor; Jim Trout, Alvin Nash and Wyatt for four-year terms; and Harris in the special election for the two-year term.
* The Roanoke Firefighters Association, which represents city firefighters, endorsed Alvin Nash, Wyatt and Trout for the four-year terms and Harris for the two-year term.
* The Roanoke Valley Gay and Lesbian Alliance has endorsed Green for mayor; and Wyatt, David Lisk and Joseph Nash for four-year terms. For the two-year term, the alliance rated Artis and Harris as equally good choices after Harris softened his opposition to a city ordinance that would protect gays from discrimination in city hiring.
* The board of directors of the Roanoke Valley Association of Realtors has endorsed Wyatt and Alvin Nash for the four-year seats and Harris for a two-year seat. Board president Walter White said the board believes Bowers and Green are equally qualified for the mayor's post.
LENGTH: Long : 160 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. David Bowers\Democratic candidate. 2. J. Patrickby CNBGreen\Republican candidate. color. KEYWORDS: POLITICS MAYOR