On the highway of life, Lynchburg politicos are letting their bumpers do the talking for them.
In the weeks following Democrat Shannon Valentine’s ouster in the fall elections, bumper stickers began popping up around Lynchburg urging readers to: Take Back Our City.
Now local Republicans are issuing a bumper sticker of their own in response. It reads simply: We Did!
“They started it,” Lynchburg Republican City Committee chairman Mark Peake explained with a smile. “They put their sticker out first. We just didn’t think we could let it go unanswered.”
The origins of this political fender-bender can be traced back to the frustrations stirred up by the House of Delegates election in November. Valentine’s loss to Republican Scott Garrett in that race stung her supporters, many of whom believe the outcome would have been different had voter turnout been higher.
The “Take Back Our City” campaign is a product of that feeling. The stickers themselves were paid for and distributed by Elliot Schewel, a former state senator, and Ed Polloway of Lynchburg College.
“There was some discussion about the importance of getting people to vote and a lot of us were concerned about future elections and so forth,” Polloway said. “It’s a call to action basically is what it is.”
Schewel said their goal was to get people motivated and more involved in the City Council elections coming up in May. Council, which has three seats up for grabs, must remain “independent,” he said.
Schewel and Polloway are both members of the executive committee for the new political group Lynchburg First, which was created this year with the self-stated mission of electing independent and non-partisan council candidates.
Polloway said the bumper sticker campaign was launched before Lynchburg First was established and was not being sponsored by that group, although their messages may “dovetail.”
On the other side of the road, the GOP stickers were donated by Sharon Manley of Manley Signs, a lifelong Republican. Manley said Peake came to her with the idea and she agreed to help out.
“I thought it was kind of catchy, No. 1,” she said of the slogan. “And we had to put out a sticker of our own of some kind and fight back. Their stickers came out before they even gave Scott a chance. He wasn’t even in office yet.”
Peake said the local Republicans wanted to let the other camp know that a “strong majority” disagreed with their take on the November vote. “The Republicans think we have taken the city back and we’re happy for it,” he said.
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