Monday, October 19, 2009
A rocky path for 11th District candidates
An intraparty rival tried to discredit Onzlee Ware, while Troy Bird has received no state GOP support.
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roanoke.com/politics
It has been a contentious campaign season for three-term Del. Onzlee Ware, D-Roanoke.
But the twist is that his loudest, most persistent critic is in his own Democratic Party.
Ware's Republican opponent, Troy Bird, actually announced his candidacy for the 11th District House of Delegates seat before Ware came out for re-election.
But it was an intraparty rival -- Mark Powell -- who has carried on a public campaign to discredit Ware, overshadowing Bird's meagerly funded challenge.
Although Powell, who was campaign manager for Martin Jeffrey in the Democratic primary, continues to challenge Ware's campaign finances, Bird has declined to try to capitalize on that controversy.
Instead, he has focused on getting his name out and three campaign issues -- job creation, lowering the cost of energy and improving public education.
As in the primary, however, there has been no debate between the candidates. Ware declined to appear at one scheduled joint appearance because of Powell's involvement in its organization.
Although Ware has successfully withstood Powell's challenges to his campaign petition signatures and allegations that he misreported and misused campaign funds, he said he would not appear at any event with ties to Powell.
For his part, Bird also has had problems with his own party. While he embraces its principles of fiscal and social conservatism, he's broken its button-down mold on appearance and background.
The goateed 27-year-old refused to cut off his ponytail, even though, he said, one party bigwig "offered to get donations of several thousand dollars if I would. To which I said he was not going to buy me."
And it's not that he couldn't use the money. He received no money from the state GOP party, although he did receive his largest contribution -- more than $1,400 -- from the Roanoke City Republican Committee. That helped buy signs and other campaign materials.
But his total fundraising has just exceeded $4,000 -- compared with Ware's $70,000.
Bird said that didn't matter.
"If it starts off at that level here, that sticks with me. I'm not willing to change on those principles. It was not about the hair, but about someone in my own party trying to bribe me."
The city committee chairman, Adam Boitnott, said he doesn't know who might have said that to Bird.
He said he advised Bird early on that "since he didn't look like a traditional candidate, he probably would need to find alternative ways of getting money. And I tell every candidate, don't depend on the party for anything. Anything from the party is gravy."
Boitnott said his committee recently gave some more money to Bird, bringing the total to about $1,700 -- some $1,200 more than the Roanoke County Democratic Committee gave to Ware.
As to his unconventional looks, Bird said his tattoos haven't drawn a single negative comment. In fact, he has given up wearing suits to public functions: "I got a better response just as a well-dressed normal person than appearing to be a politician. I wear short sleeves and some of my tattoos show."
He left an apprenticeship as a tattoo artist -- he's currently working as a freelance graphic designer -- to run his campaign, but plans to go back to that and get his license no matter how the election comes out, he said.
Both he and Ware stress their ties to what they describe as a blue-collar district. It stretches from inner-city Roanoke's Northwest, through working-class Southeast, and includes some of Roanoke County and Vinton.
The son of Christian missionaries and a former unpaid assistant pastor, Bird includes biographical information on his Web site that describes him as having been among the working poor. Once, he wrote, he had to take his family to the Rescue Mission when they were evicted from a home.
His campaign literature touts support for Virginia's right-to-work laws and opposition to "burdensome taxes" that he says undermine the creation of new businesses and jobs.
He supports the use of more coal and nuclear energy, which he contends also will help the economy.
He says public education can be improved by more choices for parents, including school vouchers, charter schools and home schooling.
Like Bird, Ware, a 55-year-old lawyer, touts his connections to the people of the neighborhoods he serves, even though he's a native of Greensboro, N.C.
He frequently talks about the pride he still feels in his single mom raising four children and putting them through school.
"I think the people see me as someone who comes from the same place they come from, and that I've not forgotten where I came from," said Ware, who's lived in the Roanoke Valley for the past 25 years.
"They know I will stand up and fight for what's right," he said. And, he says, he believes his race has never been a factor among the electorate.
Although the 11th is often seen as a predominantly black district, Ware said it's closer to being 60 percent white. And although it has consistently sent Democratic candidates to the House for years, Ware said he believes it is probably split about 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, with some scattered independents.
"This is one of the few truly diverse districts throughout the commonwealth," he contended, "and I'm glad the district is the way it is.
"That way I can't be pigeonholed as a black delegate, and don't feel the need to carry the burden for all black people. That's too heavy for anyone."
He agrees with Bird on the importance of creating jobs and specifically would like to see the region work harder to attract moviemakers here.
He says the state's Medicaid eligibility requirements are too restrictive and its reimbursement rates to health care providers too low.
In response to Powell's attacks on his campaign finance reporting, Ware said he also intends to introduce legislation to clarify and strengthen the rules for that.
Finally, he said he will continue to work for automatic reinstatement of voting rights for convicted felons, who now have to petition the governor for restoration of that right.
After serving their terms, including a probationary period of good behavior, the right shouldn't be held at the whim of any governor, he said.
Despite the considerable advantages he's held over his Republican opponent in terms of incumbency, financial contributions and name recognition, Ware said he has run the same type of campaign he would have against any opponent.
"My job is to develop a strategy no matter what my opponent has done." He said he's worked hard to get out and be seen, attended a different church each Sunday made himself available to constituents.
And he says he "spent about the same amount of money regardless of what Troy spent. ... You have to spend a certain amount of money to get the message out."
Of Bird, he said, "I presume he's a decent man. He's not said anything bad about me, just that he can do a better job. That's the way a campaign should be run."
Although neither man is making a prediction about Election Day, both say they feel good about their campaigns and their chances.
