Ralph K. Smith
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Ralph Kelly Smith (born July 19, 1942) is an
American politician In the United States, politics functions within a framework of a constitutional federal democratic republic with a presidential system. The three distinct branches share powers: Congress, which forms the legislative branch, a bicameral legis ...
and businessman. A Republican, Smith was the mayor of Roanoke and served two terms in the
Virginia Senate The Senate of Virginia is the upper house of the Virginia General Assembly. The Senate is composed of 40 senators representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts. The Senate is presided over by the lieutenant governor of Virg ...
.


Personal life

Smith was born and grew up in the
Williamson Road Williamson Road is an approximately 8.0 mi (12.9 km) long road in Roanoke City and Roanoke County, Virginia. The road runs from downtown Roanoke in the south through the Botetourt County line in the north. For the majority of its length Willi ...
area of Roanoke, VA. Smith attended public schools in Roanoke City including
William Fleming High School William Fleming High School is a public school, one of the only two public high schools in the Roanoke City area school division, the other being the Patrick Henry High School. The edifice itself is located at 3649 Ferncliff Ave. Roanoke, Virgi ...
before graduating from Nashville Auto/Diesel College in 1961."Ralph's Bio"
''Ralph Smith for Senate''
Smith went into business as a service station operator in 1966 and began Ralph Smith Inc."Mr. Smith Goes to Roanoke City Hall"
''Roanoke Times''
The business quickly expanded into
steel fabrication Metal fabrication is the creation of metal structures by cutting, bending and assembling processes. It is a value-added process involving the creation of machines, parts, and structures from various raw materials. Typically, a fabrication shop ...
with a specialty for producing trailer hitches. Over the decades, Ralph Smith Inc. also sold bicycles, produced wood-burning stoves, and was involved in a variety of manufacturing, retail, and real estate enterprises. Smith significantly scaled back Ralph Smith Inc.'s ventures in recent years so he could devote his attention to his work in the State Senate."Smith to challenge Bell for state Senate"
''Roanoke Times''
Smith is a member of First Baptist Church in Roanoke, a Roanoke post of the AmVets, the Williamson Road
Lions Club Lions Clubs International, is an international service organization, currently headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois. , it had over 46,000 local clubs and more than 1.4 million members (including the youth wing Leo clubs, Leo) in more than 200 ge ...
, and the Williamson Road Area Business Association. Smith was previously on the boards of First Citizens Bank, VAS Explore Park, the
Miss Virginia The Miss Virginia competition is a scholarship pageant for women, with the titleholder representing Virginia in the Miss America pageant. The competition was founded in 1953 as a scholarship contest for young women, although women had represente ...
Pageant, and the Mill Mountain Advisory Committee."Senator Ralph K. Smith Biography"
Project Vote Smart
In 2009, Smith was elected chairman of Freedom Alliance's Board of Directors."Freedom Alliance"
/ref> Freedom Alliance is a 501(c)3 educational and charitable foundation with a mission to honor and encourage military service. Smith has lived in the Roanoke Valley his entire life with the exceptions of when he was being educated at Nashville Auto/Diesel College and during periods of his military service with the United States
Coast Guard Reserve The United States Coast Guard Reserve is the Reserve components of the United States Armed Forces, reserve component of the United States Coast Guard. It is organized, trained, administered, and supplied under the direction of the Commandant of ...
between 1964 and 1970.


Political career

Smith became involved in Virginia Republican politics in the early 1990s, and was elected Chairman of the Roanoke City Republican Committee in 1996. That year Smith was also elected as a Delegate to the
1996 Republican National Convention The 1996 Republican National Convention convened at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California, from August 12 to August 15, 1996. The convention nominated Senator Bob Dole from Kansas, for president and former representative and ...
in
San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
, CA. Smith was also elected as a Delegate to the
2004 Republican National Convention The 2004 Republican National Convention took place from August 30 to September 2, 2004, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. The convention is one of a series of Republican National Convention, historic quadrennial meetings at w ...
in
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
, NY.


Mayor of Roanoke

Smith defeated two-term Democratic incumbent Mayor David Bowers in a four-way race on May 2, 2000. Smith won 35% of the vote and because of the very high voter turnout, won 404 votes more than Mayor Nelson Harris would win while capturing a plurality of 37% in the 2004 election when Smith did not seek re-election. Smith was the lone Republican member of the Roanoke City Council during most of his tenure and was frequently opposed by the six Democratic council members when he attempted to minimize and reduce city spending. Smith often sought to work with other localities to promote the entire Roanoke Valley."Smith built regional ties, but his conservatism didn't take root"
''Roanoke Times''
Smith successfully initiated the creation of the Western Virginia Water Authority, which consolidated the water delivery systems of Roanoke City and Roanoke County. Smith did not seek re-election and moved to neighboring Botetourt County. This decision and comments made by Smith led to speculation that he was interested in following Delegate Lacey Putney in the
Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two houses of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...
.


State Senate

The Roanoke Times reported on October 26, 2006, that Smith might be receptive to the efforts by Roanoke Valley Republican activists seeking to draft him to challenge incumbent Republican State Senator Brandon Bell. On January 8, 2007, Smith announced that he would challenge Bell for the Republican nomination in the June 12, 2007 Republican primary. The campaign largely focused on Bell's support for a 2004 tax increase and Smith's record as mayor. Smith was outspent by Bell $301,924 to $80,867 but was able to win 51%-49%."Virginia Public Access Project"
Smith ran up large margins in the more populous counties of Botetourt and Roanoke which also turned out to vote at higher rates than Montgomery County or the cities of Radford and Salem that Bell won. Smith faced plastic surgeon and Democratic nominee Michael Breiner in the November 6, 2007 general election. Breiner repeatedly attacked Smith for a "38 % decrease" in funding to social services."Talk toughens as candidates seek an edge"
''Roanoke Times''
Smith and the Roanoke Times countered that Breiner's allegations against Smith were misleading because the actual vote was part of Roanoke's unanimously passed 2001–2002 budget that was assembled by the
city manager A city manager is an official appointed as the administrative manager of a city in the council–manager form of city government. Local officials serving in this position are referred to as the chief executive officer (CEO) or chief administ ...
. Smith was again outspent by his opponent, this time by a margin of $732,428 to $283,131. Smith won the general election 51%-49%. Smith was sworn into the Senate of Virginia on January 9, 2008 and appointed to serve on the Transportation, Local Government, and Privileges and Elections committees. Smith has accumulated a conservative voting record since joining the Senate, receiving a 100% rating from the Virginia Family Foundation and successfully sponsoring legislation supported by the National Rifle Association. Smith has also continued his support for regional initiatives in the Senate and been a proponent of the Western Regional Jail. In 2009, Smith successfully sponsored legislation that "Adds the benefits, challenges, responsibilities, and value of marriage for men, women, children, and communities to the list of topics to be covered in family life education curricula." That year, Smith also introduced legislation that would require the budget to be publicly available for 72 hours before legislators could vote. In the previous year, the Commonwealth's $77 billion budget was presented to legislators just 34 minutes before the vote."Editorial: Mr. Smith takes on Richmond"
''Roanoke Times''
Smith's bill won the praise of the
Roanoke Times ''The Roanoke Times'' is the primary newspaper in Southwestern Virginia and is based in Roanoke, Virginia, United States. It is published by Lee Enterprises. In addition to its headquarters in Roanoke, it maintains a bureau in Christiansburg, ...
editorial board, but was defeated in the Senate Finance Committee. Smith argued that both the 2008 and 2009 budget bills contained overly optimistic revenue projections and opposed both bills. Actual revenue for 2008 and 2009 failed to meet the projections and necessitated
Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...
Tim Kaine Timothy Michael Kaine ( ; born February 26, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States senator from Virginia since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party (United States ...
to reduce state funding of transportation, higher education, and other services."Kaine to break record with budget cuts"
''Washington Times''


Notes


References

* * (Constituent/campaign website) *


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Ralph K. 1942 births Businesspeople from Virginia Living people Mayors of Roanoke, Virginia Republican Party Virginia state senators United States Coast Guard reservists 21st-century members of the Virginia General Assembly