Chips fall for incumbents

By Allison Brophy Champion

Published: May 7, 2008

In Tuesday’s Town Council election, the voters went with what they know.

Incumbents Chip Coleman, Mike Olinger and Chris Snider were the top three vote getters, followed by former Vice Mayor Bobby Ryan, who picked up the fourth at-large seat, edging out candidate Jerry Beckett by just 14 votes.

Of the town’s 7,086 registered voters, only 1,261 turned out to vote — a mere 17.8 percent.

Snider, 38, got the most votes of the 11 candidates with 663.

“Oh man, I want to cry,” he said around 7:30 p.m. from inside Ravens Nest Coffee House downtown. “If you would have asked me an hour ago, I had no idea.”

That’s because the 2008 race for Town Council attracted the most candidates in recent memory, including a few who made illegal immigration a big issue.

“You just never know until the votes are counted,” said Snider, congratulating his fellow winners. “I think this is an endorsement by the voters of the direction council is going in, the work we’ve been doing. We’re doing a good job of managing the town. This is a victory for all of us.”

As for the illegal immigration issue, people are concerned about it, he said, but they realize it’s not Town Council’s job to solve.

“They realize we have bigger issues on our plate they want us to deal with like consolidation — that’s what I heard all day long,” Snider said.

Olinger, 36, the youngest councilman, was at a loss for words as he walked into the Channel 21 studio shortly after the polls closed.

“Hot dog!” he said, learning he got the second most votes. “Good enough.”

Olinger, like some of the other incumbents, was nervous about Tuesday’s paltry voter turnout.

So what made the difference?

“The old Culpeper people got out and voted,” said Olinger, a Culpeper native.

Coleman, 58, was on pins and needles about the outcome of the election for weeks.

“We were bouncing off walls through this whole process,” he said from inside Raven’s Nest, where he had arranged for a post-election party.

“And then you get to (Election Day) and you’re watching people come in and you notice every little thing, you’re trying to pick up people’s body language and of course you’re thinking negatively.”

But in the end, the voters felt positive about the direction of Town Council, he said.

“I’m dissatisfied with the turnout, but I think that it says we are running a good operation. This town is in great shape.”

Coleman, like Snider, said he heard all day from voters about the proposal to do away with the town of Culpeper and consolidate it into one big Culpeper County.

“People have chosen to live in the town, they want to live in the town — they like the services,” he said. “They want us to deal with consolidation.”

Ryan, 63, arrived at Raven’s Nest just before 8 p.m., looking tired and relieved.

Asked how he was feeling, the former vice mayor responded, “I need a shower. I am so tired I don’t know what to do right now. I can’t even think.”

Ryan, gathering himself, said he was happy he won.

“There’s a lot of work to be done,” said Ryan, who served two terms on Town Council, from 1994 to 2002.

He said he wanted to run again because he loves Culpeper, where he was raised, and its citizens.

“That’s basically it.”

Mayor Pranas Rimeikis, also hanging out at Raven’s Nest, seemed happy about the outcome of the election.

“I think the message is people are quite satisfied with what council is doing and with Bobby back on board it will be a welcome addition,” he said.

Of all the issues facing Culpeper, the proposal to consolidate the town and county into one new county weighed most heavily on the minds of voters who spoke with the Star-Exponent Tuesday afternoon.

“I have mixed emotions on it,” said voter William Carter, 64, a 35-plus year resident of Culpeper. “I think once you start getting into that sometimes the people in the town lose their speech, some of the things they might have input on. The way the town is now, I feel like you have more input.”

Standing outside the Methodist Church polling location around 2:30 p.m., Councilman Snider said that, in fact, town officials met Tuesday morning to talk about consolidation.
“Sort of an organizational meeting — attorney, mayor, vice mayor trying to work on a basic plan,” he said.

Snider said Town Council had decided to tap the management expertise of former Police Chief Dan Boring in developing the consolidation plan as required by law and initiated by Culpeper businessman Joe Daniel.

Boring is serving as the town’s interim director of environmental services and has a lot of knowledge about the town, Snider said.

“He’s very diligent, detail-oriented person,” Snider said. “He’s already run a couple of our departments and is someone we can trust.”

Snider said Town Council would seek regular input from the Board of Supervisors as the consolidation plan developed, but didn’t see how it would be ready in time to bring to voters in the November presidential election.

By law, the plan must win majority approval from town and county voters. Snider said the town was still working on the process and hoped to make the details public soon.
Voter June Carpenter, a 12-year town resident, said she wanted to “keep the town a town.”

Voter Heather Connally, 39, listed growth, consolidation and building a new police station as among her top issues.

As for illegal immigration, a topic of concern in some circles, she felt it needed to be handled with sensitivity.

“It’s a topic that needs to be addressed, but it has to be addressed with both legality and humanity side-by-side,” Connally said. “Illegal or not, everybody is human.”

Outgoing Councilwoman Emma Richard, a town native, made her way around the polls Tuesday, chatting with voters and fellow council members.

“I think this is going to be a very tough election,” she said. “There are so many more people running than I have ever seen.”

Still, she predicted an overall positive outcome. Richards, who endorsed the three incumbents, said she would positively miss her role on council.

“I will miss the citizens that I have met, the council that I have worked with and just honestly, I will miss serving the town,” Richards said.

But she’s not going anywhere.

“Oh no, I’m staying in Culpeper. I’ll be here.”

Allison Brophy Champion can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 101 or abrophy@
starexponent.com.