Roanoke City Republicans to Support Bowers for Mayor?

I got an email over the weekend from a member of the Roanoke City Republican Committee, suggesting that our party should consider supporting David Bowers, Independent candidate for Mayor. This is the same David Bowers who was (and I presume still is) a lifelong Democrat. This is the same David Bowers that challenged our own Congressman, Bob Goodlatte. This is the same David Bowers who was the Democrat Mayor of Roanoke from 1992-2000. This is the same David Bowers who ran this year (unsuccessfully) for the Chairmanship of the Roanoke City Democrat Committee. Oh, I get it, this is an early April Fools joke. Well, maybe not. I’ve seen other emails from influential members of the Party suggesting that Republicans should support Bowers.

Is this really how we build and grow a party? By supporting a candidate who couldn’t take control of the Democrat Committee so then he comes, head down and hand out, to our party for support? It worked for Roanoke City Sheriff Octavia Johnson (ran as a Democrat and lost and then ran as a Republican and won), so maybe Bowers feels good about his chances.

I was glad to see Roanoke City Republican Chair Adam Boitnott come out against the idea. Others have done so as well. I doubt Bowers will get any official support. But it’s bad enough that the issue was even raised.

Some have said Bowers represents change. I guess everyone is the “change” candidate these days. To the contrary, Bowers is part of a group in Roanoke that wants to return the City to the dark ages. Well, they don’t put it that way but that’s what it seems like. I know it sounds nice and easy but Roanoke can’t just go back to the way it was. We’ve got to reinvent ourselves. I talk to a lot of young people in this City and I hear the same things over and over again. They want a new direction. They want a growing, lively City. Roanoke's young professionals are not obsessed with the past. They are looking to the future. We need elected officials that are doing the same. And Bowers doesn’t fit the bill.

And just to point out one ironic twist in this story…..the same people who are constantly nagging the rest of us in the Party about the RINOs (if you ever see one, be sure to take a picture) now want the Republican party to support a Democrat. So, what will you have with that plate of Hypocrisy?