Conservative commentator: Rare Republican councilor takes fight to former colleagues

Headphones in place, a handful of notes at eye level, microphone adjusted just so, Rob Schilling glances up from his mixing board at the WINA-AM studio clock, hits a button and welcomes listeners to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Charlottesville.

Schilling’s former City Council nemeses may have hoped they’d heard the last of him when the Republican lost his bid for reelection in 2006, but he refused to be ignored. He’s been harder to ignore since he got his own show earlier this year on Charlottesville’s news-talk AM-radio station.

“I know a lot of people in City Hall are listening — at least they’re monitoring — and I really like that,” said Schilling, chilling in a local coffee shop prior to a live broadcast of “The Schilling Show.” “They may not like what I say or how I say it, but it gives them a chance to hear a viewpoint other than the official party line.”

“The Schilling Show” is one of four locally produced daily talk shows on the station, joining “Morning News with Rick and Jane,” “Charlottesville Right Now with Coy Barefoot” and “The Best Seat in the House” sports show, with Jay James. “The Schilling Show” runs 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays and for three hours Saturdays, beginning at 6 a.m.

Rick Daniels, WINA’s program director, said Schilling’s sometimes strident advocacy on local issues fits with the station’s mission.

“WINA has always been about news and stimulating talk radio,” Daniels said, standing outside the studio as “The Schilling Show” started. “He stimulates people. He motivates them to listen and call in.”

“The station wanted me to have an opinion and to advocate,” Schilling said. “I think I bring the sense of being an outsider who has been on the inside. Because I have been on the inside, I know where some of the bodies are buried.”

It’s the most strident shows, often including taped snippets of City Council meetings or information mined from meeting minutes to back up his points, that irk Schilling’s former council mates. They note that Schilling’s comments are particularly strident when he refers to Gary O’Connell, the city manager.

“His show is a lot of hot air stitched together by a fair amount of blatant demagoguery,” said former Mayor Blake Caravati, who often clashed with Schilling before, during and even after their term together on the city’s board. “He doesn’t address the issues so much as he attacks the credibility and integrity of government and the people in government, and he does it often. He did that on the council, too, but he was more respectful.”

“There’s a lot of vitriol in his shows,” former Mayor and current Councilor David E. Brown said. “He’s extremely critical and, in some cases, full of ridicule.”

Brown said Schilling represents a certain slice of “conservatism that sees problems but provides few answers.”

“There is a part of the Republican Party that sees government as the problem and believes you have to question the motives of anybody who is employed by the government,” he said. “If someone is in government, they have to question their abilities. I think that’s wrong,”

That’s not how Schilling sees it.

“There are things going on that people need to know about and I don’t think anyone has had the courage to point them out over the years,” Schilling said. “There’s a lot of power in City Hall and people in this city are very intimidated by that power.”

For Schilling, 46, the radio gig is the latest in a series of interesting life twists. He has played in a rock band and still retains his past-the-shoulders rocker haircut and Col. Sanders facial hair. He’s taught elementary school. He sells and manages real estate, is married with two children, is a technology consultant and served four years as Charlottesville’s first elected Republican city councilor in 16 years.

“My life has been, in some ways, going from one thing to another and never really knowing where life’s taking me,” Schilling said. “It’s always paid off for me. I find myself in a position of doing things I really want to do and enjoying what I’m doing.”

On the council, Schilling served with several strong-willed and opinionated Democratic councilors who often argued among themselves. As a conservative among liberals, disagreements on policies and procedures were plenty and often personal.

“There were times when the whole room — the audience and the council — were against me, especially on some policy votes,” Schilling recalled. “There were some resolutions that everyone in the room wanted to have a unanimous council vote, but I couldn’t do it if I didn’t believe in it. It was pretty much ‘get Rob.’ Other councilors couldn’t support me because they didn’t want me to be effective. In an at-large voting system, that would make it easier for me to get elected and they didn’t want me to look good. They couldn’t be seen agreeing with me, even if they did.”

His former colleagues see it differently.

“He wasn’t interested in making legislation, he was interested in opposing it,” Caravati said. “He didn’t want to compromise, to come to an agreement. He never called anyone to discuss an issue or talk it over. He was more interested in making a statement.”

“He had his own agenda and often abstained from voting. That was his vote,” Brown said.

After he lost the 2006 election, WINA contacted Schilling about filling in for the late Dick Mountjoy, who was battling cancer. That temporary morning gig lasted nearly a year and, when he left, listeners called the station asking to have him back.

It also fits with his desire to make a difference in his community.

“It gives me a chance to keep serving, in a way,” he said. “There’s a lot going on that needs to be known.”

For WINA, “The Schilling Show” fits the bill.

“He brings a lot to the station. Whether people like him or not, they listen,” Daniels said.