Posted on 02/20/2005 6:21:03 PM PST by Columbus Dawg
When Walter R. Cates tells people what he’s become, incredulously they respond, "You’re a what!"
From the moment he took his first breath 63 years ago, Cates has been three things: "I’ve always told people I was born black, Baptist and Democrat."
Now he’s a Republican.
He recently switched parties, officially announcing it Thursday during a Buckeye Republican Club luncheon.
Cates is one of the most recognizable and influential leaders in Columbus. As former president of the local NAACP chapter in 1973, he sued the Columbus school district, police and fire divisions for discrimination and forced them to change.
Cates, known in the black community as "The Mayor of Main Street," founded and heads the Main Street Business Association. He often is credited, as much as anyone, for the streetlights and sidewalks, the bus stops and clinics, the stores and businesses that breathe life into the city’s urban core.
Cates has been a member of the Franklin County Democratic Party Central Committee, he’s served on the party’s candidate screening committees and he even ran for the Ohio Senate as a Democrat in 1992.
Now he’s a Republican.
There was no philosophical transformation. Issues such as gay marriage, abortion, guns, school prayer — all the stuff that moves the Republican base — had nothing to do with Cates’ move.
"This is all about delivering the goods," he said. "The Republicans are listening more."
From the late U.S. Rep. Chalmers Wylie to Rep. Pat Tiberi, from U.S. Sens. George V. Voinovich, Mike DeWine and former Ohio Senate President Stanley Aronoff to a raft of politicians in between, the Republicans are delivering the money to improve his community, Cates contended.
He looks around and sees Condoleezza Rice and, formerly, Colin Powell, at the right hand of President Bush. He notices that two of the five highestranking officials in state government — Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell and Treasurer Jennette Bradley — are black Republicans, and he wonders just what is it that he’s getting from the Democrats.
Cates’ answer: "All the talk in the world."
What he needs, he said, are bricks and mortar.
Meanwhile, Cates said he is tired of the games politicians play with the black vote. Sadly, Michael B. Coleman — a Democrat who truly has governed as a mayor for all the citizens of Columbus — got sucked into playing them during the presidential campaign. At the behest of the Sen. John Kerry’s campaign, Coleman gave voice to a divisive spot aired on urban radio stations.
In the ad, Coleman warned that Bush and the Republicans "are coming into our community," using negative ads to suppress the black vote.
Failing to mention that he and his children are products of private schools, Coleman said in the ad, apparently referring to Republicans: "They don’t go to our grocery stores. They’re not at our schools. They’re not in our churches. They don’t know our lives or our values."
Black Republicans were outraged by the ad. "I didn’t expect to hear that type of ad from the mayor of Columbus, basically a race-baiting ad," said the Rev. John Coats II.
"We’re here, we’re in the grocery stores, we’re in the churches," said Stephen D. Cheek of Columbus, president of the African American Republicans of Ohio.
Greg Haas, Coleman’s political adviser, said Coleman agreed to do the ad after Republican-aligned independent campaign groups from outside the state aired a series of "hateful radio spots" in the black community, including one accusing Democrats and, by extension, Kerry, of supporting abortion laws "that are decimating our people."
The ad continued: "Democrats say they want our votes. Why don’t they want our children?"
Haas insisted that the radio spot Coleman cut in response was not targeted at Republicans in the black community. The Coleman ad, he said, was "a strong punch in the face in reaction to a punch below the belt. Yeah, it was tough. But the people who were behind those ads weren’t in the black community and they weren’t even in Ohio."
To Cates, all the ads are nonsense. He’s heard the rhetoric, what matters are the results.
What should really worry Democrats is that now he’s a Republican.
Joe Hallett is senior editor at The Dispatch.
Columbus (Muscogee County) GEORGIA . . . is still I believe a Democratic stronghold.
But DemocRATS have had 50 years of "good intentions". Does that not count?(/lib spin)
Glory, there is hope. With black leaders like Cates leaving the Democratic Party, and black churches in Columbus possibly crossing the Democratic line, there is no end to what can be achieved.
Good for you, Walt. But be careful. The Democrats don't like apostates. (See tagline.)
No matter who you are, you'd be smart to go where the power is. And right now, it's with the Republicans.
I'm glad to see there's more of a concerted outreach to minority communities. Outreach is not a dirty word. Anyone who assumes that people will beat a path to their door, whether a company or political party, is fooling themselves. We shouldn't be ashamed to acknowledge that we need to build up trust, and listen to what these communities have to say.
The rhetoric isn't fooling a lot of blacks now - FOX/Hannity/Rush/you guys - they hear it all as well as we do.
won't be long before hitlery is wooing them big-time
Democrats idea of diversity is to put a black person in charge of "African Studies" or "Civil Rights" issues. President Bush puts qualified people in real positions of power.
It would be interesting to see what might happen if a dem visiting a black church runs into one where many of the worshippers are "off the dem plantation". Somehow I think we'd never get to find out if there was a backlash unless we were physically there, though.
I am white (to greatly oversimplify). I hate affirmative action/quotas. But I love African-American people a lot. And I love this story. Somebody give brother Walter a big smooch from the rest of us...
Every single one of these black leaders is a heavy-weight with the resume to prove it.
Absolutely, and it's the differing belief systems that are responsible for this. To the Republicans, a black American ends up with a certain position because he or she is the very best person to fill that position. To the Democrats, it's all about "diversity" and social promotion -- anyone who fits the right mold can be set up as a token minority, just to show how diverse and progressive they are.
Joe is a Democrat of the early 70's vintage. He's a suburban statist with a heavy loyalty to corrupt, organized labor. Seeing the tide turning, despite his steady drumbeat of propaganda, has been hideous for him. It has been clearly expressed in his writing of the last 4-5 years.
Ping to read later.
I couldn't agree more but I hope that we don't let the conservative message get watered down with too many defections from the other side.
We have heard about the recent outreach efforts toward the Hispanic vote. This is critical for the Republican Party in many states, especially in growing states like Texas, Florida, and California. These are the states with the electoral power. I am thrilled that the GOP has done this and they have no better leader to do this than President Bush.
It is critical to note however, that many regions are different. For example, Franklin County, Ohio is not a Miami-Dade, a Bexar County, a Maricopa County, or a San Diego County. Franklin County does have an increasing Hispanic community, yet it does not even come close in numbers to the African-American community. The "all politics are local" theme needs to be looked at and possibly adapted to in these cases.
As a Columbus resident, I can tell you that this is not small news. I do not know Walter Cates, nor have I met him, but I do know that he has been heavily involved in the community and has worked with government leaders, mostly Democrat. It is stuff like this that could become critical in 2006. With the possibility in Ohio of two African-Americans being the major party nominees for governor in 2006, the potential nominees being the Democrat mayor of Columbus (Mike Coleman), and the Republican Secretary of State (Ken Blackwell) who has received 50% of the black vote, this could make HUGE waves.
It is something to keep an eye on.
The Republican ads about all the abortions of black babies was a 'punch below the belt'?
Criminy, it's just the God's truth! The evidence is overwhelming!
What's that supposed to mean?
"This is all about delivering the goods."
Thank goodness Republicans are against redistributionism, so we can get those committed to limited government types like this fellow signed on. Yippee!
/sarcasm so bitterly biting it draws blood
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