Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 3, 1993 TAG: 9302030234
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
LABOR IRKED AS BOWERS PASSED OVER FOR HOTEL PANEL
Some labor leaders are upset with Roanoke City Council for refusing to appoint Mayor David Bowers to the Hotel Roanoke Conference Center Commission."It's shame," C.W. Toney, president of the Southwestern Virginia Building Trades Council, said Tuesday. "I don't understand the reasons why they didn't."
As the city's highest elected official, Bowers should have been appointed to fill the vacancy created by the recent resignation of Finance Director Joel Schlanger, Toney said.
Toney worked with other union leaders to help Bowers win the Democratic Party nomination for mayor last year in a bitter battle with Councilman Howard Musser.
"We just feel that he should have been appointed if he wanted it," Toney said.
The labor leaders wanted Bowers on the commission to help ensure that local laborers and contractors get part of the construction work on the project.
Bowers, a Democrat who told council members he wanted the post, has suggested that council's decision was motivated by politics. He implied it was linked to his defeat of Musser for the party's nomination.
But Councilman James Harvey denied Tuesday that the decision was politically motivated, saying Bowers' charge is "ludicrous."
Of the six council members, only William White supported Bowers for the vacancy.
The other members voted for the city's acting finance director, James Grisso, to replace Schlanger.
They include Democrats Vice Mayor Beverly Fitzpatrick Jr., Harvey and Musser, and Republicans Elizabeth Bowles and Delvis "Mac" McCadden.
"Why would Mrs. Bowles, Mac McCadden and Bev Fitzpatrick vote for Grisso if it was politics?" Harvey asked rhetorically.
Bowles said she voted for Grisso because the commission needs someone with financial expertise. McCadden said he believes Bowers can have more influence on the project in his role as mayor rather than as a commission member.
Harvey and Musser refused to endorse Bowers in his campaign last spring.
Harvey said it's ironic that Bowers would complain about losing a bid for the commission after he removed Musser and him from the city's Water Resources Committee soon after becoming mayor.
"That was a vendetta against us and now he complains about not getting an appointment," Harvey said. Bowers has denied Harvey's vendetta charge.
The six-member commission for the hotel and conference center has three members from the city and three from Virginia Tech. The city's other members are Harvey and City Manager Bob Herbert. The commission will oversee the project.