Harrisburg’s lone Republican candidate for mayor drew attention with a recent Facebook post declaring that same-sex relationships are immoral and products of abuse.
Tim Rowbottom also said he fears those advocating for equal treatment of gays and lesbians are colluding to indoctrinate America’s youth.
But the thousands of angry social media responses may not be the biggest problem facing the 41-year-old’s campaign.
Dauphin County court records show Rowbottom faces criminal charges, including a second-degree felony charge of strangulation.
Rowbottom, contacted by PennLive on Monday, declined an interview request, but invited emailed questions. He did not respond by Tuesday afternoon to questions sent to him Monday afternoon.
According to charging documents, Harrisburg police were dispatched to Rowbottom’s home at 333 S. 18th St., on May 16, 2020 to check on the welfare of a child.
Officer Aida Eminagic said in court documents that a juvenile there said Rowbottom had hit her repeatedly with a belt. Eminagic said she saw marks on the child’s left forearm and left leg that, in her opinion, went beyond “just discipline and rose to the level of abuse.”
The child had sent photos of the injuries to a relative who alerted police, prosecutor Jennifer Gettle said.
Rowbottom was charged with simple assault and child endangerment. Prosecutors later added the strangulation charge after, Gettle said, they established that Rowbottom had placed a knee on the child’s neck during the course of the assault. The case is awaiting trial in Dauphin County Court.
If Rowbottom is convicted of a felony, he would be ineligible to hold elected office under the state Constitution.
In the meantime, though, he is free to pursue his campaign.
A criminal history check showed Rowbottom has had a number of brushes with the law, including a drug possession conviction in York County in the 1990s, two DUI convictions and a 2015 case in which he was convicted of unlawfully possessing a 150-pound fiberglass chicken stolen years earlier from a Lower Paxton Township bar, a misdemeanor.
In the April 22 Facebook post on his Tim Rowbottom for Mayor of Harrisburg page, Rowbottom argued that same-sex relationships go against God’s law, and he believes are the result of abuse.
“It is not my intention to degrade or attack them in any way,” Rowbottom wrote.
“I say these things in concern for those that are a product of abuse, but (I) do not believe in enabling bad seeds inflicted upon them to continue a cycle of abuse. The Bible makes it clear to me that these things are an abomination and the reasons that oppression and repression are plaguing the LGBT community and those in direct contact (CITY RESIDENTS).”
Rowbottom in the post promises “to encourage and promote values that align with the Word of God (BIBLE),” and work to end methadone clinics or other policy initiatives he sees as “enabling or promoting addiction,” another problem he said is preventing Harrisburg from reaching its potential.
The post drew scores of angry responses from readers incensed that anyone would describe Harrisburg’s LGBT residents as “a problem.”
“you know you could have just said ‘i don’t want to be mayor because i hate anyone who isn’t exactly like me’ and gotten the same message across,” said one commenter.
City and political leaders added their voices to the criticisms.
“I think anybody who reads that can see that this man is not qualified to be mayor,” said City Treasurer Dan Miller, who is gay. “It’s just so hard to understand how someone could be so opposed to people who just want to live their lives and love other people.”
Dauphin County Republican Committee Chairman Dave Feidt, who spoke to PennLive Saturday before the pending criminal charges were found, also condemned Rowbottom’s post.
Feidt said the county committee has not endorsed Rowbottom, and said that he is not aware of any connection between Rowbottom and the county party, aside from Rowbottom’s choice to register as a Republican.
“I don’t agree with what he’s saying,” Feidt said. “I think it’s far afield of what the Republican Party stands for.”
In announcing his candidacy last month, the self-described Christian conservative issued a 12-point platform that included calls to reopen the former William Penn High School building for vocational and other employment training; ending what he sees as selective codes enforcement; and prioritizing spending of grant money on Harrisburg-resident business and property owners.
Rowbottom has clashed with the Papenfuse administration, including blaming the mayor for quashing his plans to redevelop a parcel of land on South 18th Street in Allison Hill. Rowbottom filed a civil suit in federal court seeking damages from the city, Dauphin County and the Harrisburg Redevelopment Authority. The suit is pending.
Barring a write-in challenge, Rowbottom will face the winner of the May 18 Democratic primary in the November election.
Any Republican candidate running for mayor faces long odds.
The city’s 22,828 registered Democrats outnumber the 3,758 Republicans 6 to one. Another 5,177 people are independents or members of other parties. The last registered Republican to run for mayor was Nevin Mindlin in 2009.
And Rowbottom’s struggles could open the door for another candidate — from the GOP, or even one of the five candidates in the Democratic primary — to win the Republican nomination with write-in votes.
