Why is the Roanoke Times pimping David Bowers?

By Chris

Money, it is said, is the mothers milk of politics.  It is hard to look anywhere this year without hearing about the electoral money race in general, and the absurd fundraising numbers generated by Barack Obama in particular.

That backdrop is what makes the Roanoke Times’ recent article about fundraising in the Roanoke City Council elections so strange.  The headline of the article is “Bowers leads spending in Roanoke’s municipal races.”  Not fundraising, mind you, but spending. 

If one looks closer, one will notice that former two-term mayor Bowers was bested in the fundraising numbers by a 29 year-old political neophyte, Court Rosen.  That’s pretty remarkable if you ask me, especially with a contested mayor’s race. Further, if one excludes the $15,000 loan that Bowers gave himself, he would be 5th among all the candidates in dollars raised.

Why the Roanoke Times chose to write the article this way is anyone’s guess.  Perhaps they presumed their readers were more familiar with Bowers. Perhaps they thought Bowers’ burn rate was a better story.  Or perhaps they just prefer Bowers.  Whatever the case, it seems strange to me that, at a time when the City of Roanoke is trying desperately to make itself attractive to young professionals, the Roanoke Times would bury the fundraising successes of the only candidate who can actually claim to be a “young professional.”

Bowers is a tired old retread. The Roanoke Times, however, seems to think he is the most newsworthy guy in the race.  That probably tells you everything you need to know about the state of the Roanoke City Council.