ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 25, 1996 TAG: 9602260011
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Above
AT a meeting of Roanoke Democrats in February 1995, leaders of party factions representing blacks, teachers and labor took Mayor David Bowers to task. It was a little more than 2 1/2 years into Bowers' first term, and they felt betrayed.
Far from his 1992 campaign pledge to "take back City Hall for the people," Bowers had turned his back on the folk who fought for him, they told the mayor.
Bowers had not pushed for a referendum on a modified ward system, although he had been promising to work toward it since his days as a council member.
City teachers' salaries still trailed teachers' salaries in Roanoke County and Salem, despite years of assurances from Bowers that he would work for equal pay.
And not one union member wielded a hammer in the Hotel Roanoke renovation, despite Bowers' campaign promise to use his bully pulpit as mayor to urge union jobs on the $42 million construction project.
"He said, 'You guys just seem to be very critical of me,''' recalls Billy Bova, a former union leader who worked in Bowers' 1992 campaign. "He seemed to be offended by it and was somewhat combative and defensive. He seemed to be taken aback and said he had no idea people were that disenchanted with his performance."
"His response was like, 'You're picking on me,''' said Gary Waldo, chairman of the Progressive Democratic Coalition, the group that called the meeting.
"David thought that he had done a good job in what he was doing," said the Rev. Charles Green, chairman of Roanoke's NAACP chapter. "And I think he was somewhat shocked at the reaction."
Bowers, who repeatedly declined to be interviewed for this story, answered the Democrats' concerns over the next five months - although it may not have been in ways they expected.
That March, he voted against letting voters choose between at-large city elections or a switch to a modified ward system. Six months earlier, Bowers had noted his consistency "in pledging to support a referendum." The flip left many blacks livid.
Also in March, the mayor faced the issue of teacher pay. But instead of urging that City Council spend more to increase city teachers' salaries, he asked the county to hold down a proposed raise for its teachers.
In July, teachers saw the mayor's proposal to cut property taxes as a sign that he wasn't interested in increasing the city's financial commitment to education. It left city educators even more steamed, said Waldo, executive director of Roanoke Education Association.
And in his State of the City speech last July, Bowers said the council must strive to make Roanoke "the optimum business environment of any city in the United States." It was a statement warmly received by Roanoke business leaders, but not exactly what the average union member wanted to hear.
``[Commissioner of Revenue] Marsha Fielder has done everything we put her in there to do, she really has. So has [Council member] Linda Wyatt," said C.W. Toney, the labor leader credited with organizing strong union support for Bowers in 1992.
As for Bowers, Toney said, "I really don't want to speak about that on the record at this point."
Business connection
If Bowers seems to have lost the strong support of the Democrats who worked to get him in the mayor's post, consider the voices from the business community and the old-line Democratic establishment.
They're the people Bowers used to derisively refer to as the "big boys" in his days as maverick councilman and during his class-oriented 1992 mayoral run.
There is First Union Bank of Virginia Chairman Warner Dalhouse, with whom Bowers fought over tearing down the Hunter Viaduct to make way for the First Union Tower project:
"My experience with [Bowers] since then - and I must say he has a tendency to be impulsive and very combative - is that he is earnest, and he really wants to do what is right for the community. He is coachable. And I didn't think that early on. ... He's had a sea change of understanding about how the world works since he was elected mayor. I think he'll get support from the business community. ... He's been a much better mayor than he was as a council member.''
Tom Robertson, chairman of Carilion Health Systems, said:
"I will be supporting him. I believe he's done a good job. ... We know David better now, and we've found he's somebody who we may not always agree with, but who is receptive to input from the business community. I think he's been good for the city."
And state House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell said:
"I think I've told David, and I have told a number of people, David has surprised me immensely. He's tried to reach out to me, to [Roanoke County Supervisor] Bob Johnson, to the business community, and to reach out on issues that were important to the Roanoke Valley. ... All of those things indicate to me a broader perspective than I saw before. ... He has been far better at the mayor's job than I would have anticipated. His maturity level has grown. I'd give him an A."
Business consultant Rob Glenn, who has known Bowers since the late 1970s and who serves as board chairman of the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce, said Bowers' shift is the mark of a successful politician.
"There's got to be some balance in the professional politician versus what is right and good and what needs to be done," Glenn said. "There's got to be some moderation for a politician to stay in office. ... I think to survive you've got to. ... I believe David has progressed along this evolution. He's dealing with the changes that have been thrust on us. There is a sense of balance and moderation."
"He's a lot like Bill Clinton," said Gilbert Butler, a Roanoke businessman and former city Republican chairman who considers Bowers a friend. "David's no longer a councilman. He's the mayor, and he's had to reach out to [the business community]. I think David has very shrewdly reached out to these people and protected his right flank. I think what he's done is an evolution into a different job description that requires he deal with different folks."
"On the one hand, you could characterize it as a balancing act. On the other hand, it's an abandonment," Butler added.
Virginia Tech political analyst Bob Denton said it's not unusual for politicians to try to broaden their appeal. But doing so may be fraught with pitfalls.
"What you don't want to do is have supporters perceive you've gone 180 degrees away from them. You don't want to alienate them. Short of that, it's good strategy."
"But if you trade one group for another, that's a short-term gain," Denton warned. "The longer you're in it, you begin building baggage. It becomes a lose-lose situation. Because generally that's where you're not trusted by either group. You get caught in a bind."
Bowers as mayor
Bowers clearly relishes being mayor. It's a job he said he has dreamed of since his days as a student government leader at Patrick Henry High School. At age 43, twice-divorced and childless, he has much time to devote to the mayor's job, and he does.
Bowers puts in many hours in ceremonial duties as head of city government - speeches to civic organizations, ribbon cuttings, handing out keys to the city. He also represents the city at state and national urban conferences, trips that cost city taxpayers about $5,000 per year.
Between those duties, Bowers manages to squeeze in the general law practice he operates out of an office on Church Avenue, as well as acting as landlord for a few rental properties he owns jointly with some relatives.
"He does an outstanding job, presiding at council meetings, representing the city at ceremonial functions, and representing council," said state Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, a longtime friend who served on council with Bowers from 1993 until this year. "He's a very good orator. He's very good at conducting meetings."
"His strengths are his availability to people and his willingness to work with people, his energy and his desire to do the job as mayor," said Council member William White, probably the mayor's closest political ally on council. "He goes out, attends all the meetings and functions. I'm amazed at all the appearances and sacrifices anybody would make for that job. He's willing to do it."
Bowers often says that part of his job involves publicly floating ideas - proposals for public works and new initiatives - that foster discussion and may generate public support.
But the reality is that he has little more power than a single vote on council - especially because he never has rounded up a majority bloc of council members to vote with him reliably. Thus, his many proposals have met with mixed results.
Among other things, council has sided with him on efforts to complete the Hotel Roanoke project; the formation of a group formed to tackle problems created by Virginia's independent-city form of local government; financing, through borrowed funds, a linear park along downtown railroad tracks; and a large city investment in the Virginia Museum of Transportation.
But other suggestions have been quickly dropped after gaining little support from council or other public bodies.
Examples include Bowers' push to improve road access to Smith Mountain Lake; doing away with real-estate tax breaks on agricultural land in the city; a proposal for a downtown high-rise for elderly citizens; a joint city-county high school; and a downtown streetcar system.
Political flip-flops
Bowers' term as mayor also has been marked by some changes not just on specific issues, but in style.
As mayor, he has been far less outspoken than he was as a council member. Sometimes it appears as if he would rather not engage in the "let's let it all hang out" type of public debate he advocated so strongly as a council member.
For instance, when some backers of Explore Park urged all public officials to unify behind the project in 1988, then-Councilman Bowers replied they were trying to stifle debate.
"For Pete's sake, what's wrong with the little public scrutiny?'' Bowers asked. "This is not boardroom business - it's the public's business." Debate over Explore is "a very healthy thing for this city," he said
But about a year into his first term as mayor, Bowers lashed out at then Vice Mayor Beverly Fitzpatrick, who went public with his opposition to a city takeover of Roanoke Gas Co. after closed-door talks by City Council.
Bowers said that Fitzpatrick's public statement undercut the city's bargaining position and was "a dereliction of duty to the citizens of Roanoke and the trust of members of City Council."
Bower also suggested during his mayoral campaign that he would be the people's voice against entrenched bureaucrats in City Hall.
But during another controversy that erupted early in his administration - the revelation that former Finance Director Joel Schlanger conducted private business on city time and charged taxpayers for more than $1,000 worth of personal long-distance telephone calls - Bowers fought to get council to keep Schlanger on the job. It didn't work.
"David was probably the lead in attempting to retain Joel in that position," Council member Mac McCadden said. "He didn't have the votes. We felt that what had been done had to be punished. David felt Joel had been punished enough.
And although Bowers ran for mayor on a pledge to "Take back City Hall" for the people, he gradually has reduced his accessibility to the public during his first term.
At the onset, Bowers said he would maintain former mayor Noel Taylor's long-standing schedule of accepting visits from residents in the mayor's office one day each week.
That schedule has been cut back, however, to about one day every three weeks. Joyce Sink, the mayor's secretary, said that on occasion she schedules one additional day a month for Bowers to meet with residents.
At times, the result is residents and even some city officials have had to wait a month for an appointment with the mayor.
A re-election bid?
Bowers hasn't formally announced that he will seek re-election in May. But last week, he was the lone Democrat to file a mayoral declaration of candidacy with the city Democratic Committee, said Democratic Chairwoman Sandra Ryals.
He has told others, including Bova, that he intends to reach out to the business community for support.
But will he be able to retain the backing of the people who put him in office while bringing business leaders into his fold?
Pointing to flip-flops, some public flare-ups in which Bowers has lost his temper, and "fiascoes" such as the controversy over the city's attempted takeover of Roanoke Gas in 1993, Waldo has doubts.
"A lot of people feel David is an embarrassment to the city of Roanoke," Waldo said. "Even if they disagreed with Noel Taylor, they felt they were never embarrassed by Noel Taylor as mayor. With Roy Webber, it was the same way."
Nowhere does distrust of Bowers appear more widespread than in black neighborhoods, which gave him more than 75 percent of their votes in 1992.
Over and over, black political activists and residents bring up one issue: Bowers' flip from supporting a referendum on modified wards to opposing it.
"He has reneged on some things he had said he was in support of, and in fact he initiated," said Evangeline Jeffrey, a former NAACP chapter president. "I think that has struck a discord in the black community. I think that's left a sour note in the community."
"A politician like David is more interested in throwing trinkets and crumbs at the black community than he is in substantive issues," said Henry Hale, a Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority commissioner. "I would never support David Bowers again."
Jackie Gunn, president of the Lincoln Terrace tenants council, called Bowers "too wishy-washy. He changes his mind too much. We're not calling him." Residents of the public housing complex are "not interested in anything David Bowers has to say. They think he'll lie about it."
"There is no honesty or integrity or trust," added Walter Claytor, a retired Northwest Roanoke dentist. Claytor said that sentiment applies to all of council, except Wyatt and former council member Edwards, who voted for the ward system referendum, and Council member Wendell Butler, who wasn't on council when the vote was taken.
And the union leaders who were so stalwart in backing Bowers in his 1992 election bid seem less enthusiastic than they were four years ago - although they laud the open door he has kept for them.
"I think he's forgot a little bit. Maybe he's forgot who put him there. I don't say he's been an enemy of labor, but he hasn't been a good friend," said James Wright, business agent for Carpenters' and Millwrights' Union Local 319.
As for Bowers' campaign pledge to take City Hall back for the people, "I would think a lot of people would believe that part of his campaign is unfulfilled," said Bobby Myers, of Laborers Local 980. "Again, we have more of an open door than with his predecessor. But David, he could do more for us.''
Nevertheless, despite the dissatisfaction some Democrats have with the mayor, they've been unable to recruit someone to challenge him in a party nomination battle this spring. The Progressive Democratic Coalition spent months last year looking for a candidate, but came up empty-handed.
Republicans, meanwhile, have a candidate - insurance agency owner James Patrick "Pat" Green, of South Roanoke. But Green is untested in city politics.
Roanoke lawyer and 6th District Democratic Chairman Onzlee Ware, one of the people the PDC tried to recruit for a mayoral bid, said Bowers' renomination may leave a large portion of the city's Democratic voting base apathetic in council elections come May.
"I'm hearing from a lot of black folks from all walks of life that under no circumstance are they going to vote for the mayor," Ware said. "That's going to hurt some other council members. That's going to affect the Democrats, especially."
LENGTH: Long : 277 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: WAYNE DEEL/Staff. 1. Some blacks, teachers and unionby CNBmembers say they plan to vote out the man they put into office,
Mayor David Bowers. color. 2. Roanoke Mayor David Bowers (center)
talks with football coach John Cooke and Principal Karen Mabry at
Roanoke Catholic School. 3. Mayor David Bowers reads a proclamation
at a ceremony at Roanoke Catholic School. KEYWORDS: PROFILE