Given the stranglehold that Democrats have on city politics—a complete lock on all elected positions except for the nonpartisan School Board—the real election for City Council is taking place May 9, when the Democrats will caucus “unassembled” to nominate their candidate slate.
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The city Democrats officially kicked off the political season with its annual pasta supper on Saturday night, an event replete with political candidates for all offices. But it was Dave Norris who walked away with the “Golden Chef” award. |
In an effort to build off the Democratic success of 2008, when 15,705 ballots were cast in Charlottesville for the Democratic presidential ticket (more than were cast for any presidential candidate in 2004), the city Dems have changed their nominating process with a goal of being more inclusive.
This year, the Democrats will set up shop at Burley Middle School from 9am to 7pm on Saturday, May 9, and let any registered city voter willing to sign a Democratic Party loyalty pledge show up and cast a ballot. Moreover, anyone who can’t make the May 9 meeting because of travel, religious observation or work can vote absentee on April 28 or May 7.
Previously, those who wanted a say in the city’s most important political event had to show up promptly on a Saturday at the appointed place, get locked in, and stay for as many hours as it took to cast multiple ballots in order to whittle the field of candidates to the requisite number. Only 431 participated in 2007.
“The hope in going to this process is that there will be an increase in participation, but there’s no guarantees, and we’ll just have to wait and see,” says Jonathan Blank, co-chair of the city Democrats.
That doesn’t mean that Democrats will actively campaign to get out the new voters who were energized by Obama. “I don’t think that we do anything new,” Blank says. “They’re already energized, they’re looking to continue to be energized, and hopefully they’ll express themselves by participating in this process.”
The Dems are holding a rally in late April as well as a candidate forum on May 6 for the contested races of City Council and city sheriff. But beyond that, with the party occupied with the chore of organizing the election, it will fall to the candidates to make sure the vote comes out.
And that could spell change for the city’s highest office.
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Dave Norris, given his prominence as mayor as well as his already organized campaign, is a shoo-in for re-election (though Norris notes, “I’m not running as a secure candidate. I’m not taking anything for granted”). In addition to a kick-off fundraiser, Norris has put out several signature proposals on the water supply and the YMCA in McIntire Park, and this week, he will announce a plan to diversify the city workforce.
But who will win the other open Council slot? The shift in nominating procedure could make it more difficult for Julian Taliaferro to get back his seat on Council. Kristin Szakos, after all, demonstrated last year her organizational skills and broadened her base of supporters by working as local coordinator for the Barack Obama campaign. Those skills should be rewarded under the new system.
“One the central themes of my campaign is this idea of inclusion, of bringing people into the process,” says Szakos, who wants to move some Council meetings around town and offer pizza and childcare to encourage attendance. “I’m delighted with the new system. It gives me a reason to do what I was going to do anyway, which is try to bring in folks who don’t tend to show up at the mass meeting, people who haven’t been involved in local politics.”
Retired fire chief Taliferro, meanwhile, has recently been trying to shake off his reputation as an agreeable nonparticipant in Council discussions. The bulk of his input has consisted of “I agree that…”, while his most active role came during discussions of adding $1 million to the fire department budget for ambulance service—a controversial move that was first agreed to and then killed this fall.
But as the election season has heated up, Taliaferro has been doing his part to court activists fighting both the local water supply plan as well as the Meadowcreek Parkway.
“We spent a lot of time on the water supply issue, and that’s still unresolved and I’m still concerned about that,” Taliaferro says. “The cost of this plan has continued to escalate and, frankly, that causes me some concern. And I’ve been involved in that for the last three years, and I think I can evaluate a lot of what’s going on in that area.”
More surprising is Taliaferro’s recent softening on the issue of the Meadowcreek Parkway. He showed up to a recent MCP protest and told C-VILLE, “I originally voted for [the parkway]…however, I am still open to listen to people and they made some really good points today.”
Not all advocates are buying the routine. “My feeling is that he’s testing the waters to see if people will let him get away with not having a position,” says Peter Kleeman, who ran for City Council in 2007 largely on an anti-Meadowcreek Parkway platform. “Right now, it’s just words, it’s just talk.”
Taliaferro acknowledges that a lot of people will be skeptical of his motives, but adds that “I think you just have to do what you think’s best for the community at large.”
When asked if the Parkway is necessary, he says he questions whether it will make a difference in terms of traffic. “I guess you could say it could be necessary as part of the transportation system, but that one road really doesn’t do much to address a lot of the community transportation problems on the other hand. So those are just some things I’m trying to sort out, in all honesty.”
Szakos has a more firm position on the MCP: While she is “philosophically opposed” to it, she would not vote to halt the Parkway given the covenants signed with Albemarle County, unless a court ruling changed the political landscape.
Turnout will play heavily into the race between Taliaferro and Szakos. Taliaferro seems to have the support of many party insiders—former mayor Tom Vandever spoke at Taliaferro’s official announcement, and former councilor Blake Caravati as well as current Democratic office holders Lee Richards and Dave Chapman stood behind him. But if Szakos can harness her organizational skills to get more of her supporters out to the poll on May 9, those heavy hitters may not matter.
Norris says he likely won’t endorse either Szakos or Taliaferro, even though Szakos is endorsing him.
“I think Julian’s a fine fellow,” says Szakos. “But I think that I’ll be a good City Council member, so I’m going to give it my best shot.”
Norris and whoever else wins the nomination won’t get to waltz unopposed into office, though the difficulty of the campaign will depend on how seriously independent challenger Andrew Williams takes his bid. Just last week, The Daily Progress broke the news of the 22-year-old’s candidacy.
“I think that I’ll do more as an asset to the people of the city if I ran as an independent,” explains Williams, a State Farm employee by day who is also working on his bachelor’s degree with classes at Piedmont Virginia Community College and Averett University. He wants to bring the perspective of a student to Council. “I decided to run now while I’m still in school so that I can fully have that perspective.”
If his candidacy does nothing else, Williams at least gives city-centric voters some incentive to show up to the polls in November.
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