Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 21, 1995 TAG: 9503210096
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SARAH HUNTLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"I will not run for re-election after all," Kohinke said. "I had no idea I would be challenged by anyone in my own party, or that most of the Roanoke County GOP members ... would be so supportive of the opposition."
Kohinke's surprise announcement came just one week after he acknowledged challenges by Republican hopeful Warren Brown Jr. and independent candidate Douglas Chandler Graham.
Although he had said last summer that he would not seek another term, Kohinke changed his mind in January and vowed to fight until the end. On March 13, the on-again, off-again candidate said he would call for a Republican primary on June 13.
But all that was short-lived.
Explaining his latest decision, Kohinke cited philosophical differences with what he described as a changing party leadership.
"It's now painfully obvious that my political philosophy and that of the party's are on divergent courses: Mine has grown more and more to the center since taking office, while the party has moved further and further to the right," he said.
With the involvement of new members drawn to the party by Oliver North's U.S. Senate race last year, the local GOP has become more interested in pushing conservative ideology than in supporting county government, Kohinke said.
"A lot of the people who were in the party when I ran in 1991 have left," he said. "It's a different crowd now. That's what it boils down to."
Kohinke has come under fire from county Republicans for flip-flopping on the issues, and he was chastised in writing for opposing charter schools legislation. But the first-term supervisor's disagreement with his party came to a head Thursday night, when the county GOP's executive committee met and voted unanimously to deny Kohinke's request for a primary.
"This is a continuation of what I view as a party vendetta against me," Kohinke said. "Because of my stand on charter schools, there is a push to get me out of the way."
According to state law, political parties have the right to decide how to choose their candidates at the local level. A local incumbent can demand a primary only if he won his party's nomination through a primary during the last election or filed for a primary but got the nomination without one because he was unopposed. Kohinke, who was selected in 1991 in a mass meeting, met neither of those conditions.
"It was our prerogative to choose how we would pick our candidates and we elected to go with the traditional way," said committee Chairman Hugh Key, who added that the decision was based on estimates that a primary would cost $8,000 to $10,000. "The reason we decided it wouldn't be prudent to have a primary was the horrendous cost. The county taxpayers would have had to pay for it."
The county GOP chairman disputed the charge that North supporters are changing the local party's agenda.
"I would say we are still somewhere in the middle or close to the middle right," Key said. "I think quite frankly that it was difficult to figure out, however, what side of the aisle some of Mr. Kohinke's votes came from. He didn't seem to realize that politics is a team sport."
And that, Key said, fueled tensions.
"There had been considerable acrimony in the party over some of the votes he made and some of his positions. He seemed to change some of his positions overnight," Key said. "I believe that Mr. Kohinke followed his conscience and his principles the best he knew them, and I'm surprised he has decided to withdraw from the fray."
Kohinke's withdrawal could leave Brown and Scott Sagester, who is considering a bid for the Catawba supervisor's seat, battling for the Republican nomination.
Sagester, a Green Hill resident, said he was approached by a group of citizens and asked to run last week. Although he has not been an active member of the county Republican Party, Sagester was a delegate to the state GOP convention last year.
"I'm looking to see what kind of support I might get if I were to seek the party's nomination," said Sagester, who will make his decision within the next two weeks.
Democratic leaders said last week that they, too, will field a candidate for the Catawba seat, but they have not released names of those seeking the party's support.
Kohinke said he will remain a Republican for now, but he plans to take a break from politics.
"If I should decide at a later date to run for this or some other office, I would want to run with the party that best matches my philosophy," he said.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB