Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 14, 1993 TAG: 9305140162
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Eddy would play a bespectacled engineer who gets a thrill from spotting a misplaced comma in a septic-tank ordinance.
Johnson would play a wisecracking salesman who pokes fun at his colleague's devotion to detail.
The networks haven't snapped up the idea, but Eddy and Johnson do their routine twice a month at Roanoke County Board of Supervisors meetings.
Their running verbal battle is taking on new meaning as the election season gets under way. Both will be on the ballot in November, and both are working behind the scenes to ensure the other's defeat.
Eddy, a Windsor Hills Republican, insists that he will say or do nothing in public aimed at Johnson.
Johnson, a Hollins Democrat, likewise says partisan considerations play no role on the Board of Supervisors.
It's true there is nothing overtly partisan in their frequent confrontations at board meetings. Their political rivalry appears more rooted in a clash of personalities.
Here are some samples from Tuesday's board meeting:
Eddy played the straight man who came prepared with a notebook filled with detailed questions about nearly every item on the agenda. He even spotted a couple of typographiical errors in a sewer ordinance.
Johnson played his foil who became exasperated by Eddy's litany of questions. A sometimes sarcastic Johnson suggested the board would grind to a halt if each member insisted on micromanaging county government.
"We beat this horse to death," Johnson said during a budget work session when Eddy suggested changing the way the county assesses the value of factory machinery.
Ignoring the remark, Eddy argued that the county could raise additional revenue by increasing the assessments, but still charge industries less than Roanoke and Salem.
Johnson reminded Eddy that the commissioner of revenue, an independently elected official, had the power to set the assessments.
"I will submit that the commissioner of revenue will tell you to `Have a good day.' And I will say that, too - `Have a good day,' " Johnson said, turning to Eddy with a smile.
Eddy continued through his questions. He even poked fun at himself when handed a 27-page list of spending requests that were not funded in the county budget.
"Can you wait about three hours, everyone, so I can look through these?" he said.
Johnson was not amused.
"I have no interest - zero interest - in sitting here and going through [the] list," he said.
Not breaking stride, Eddy argued that the board could not fully evaluate the priorities in the budget without knowing what spending requests did not make the cut. Eddy noted that he had been requesting access to the unfunded list of requests for several weeks.
"I'm a little disturbed that we get it on the final day when the county administrator asks us to approve the budget," he said.
Johnson and Eddy have been following this same routine since Eddy was elected to the Board of Supervisors four years ago.
Johnson often is the antagonist, but Eddy has shown he can match Johnson's razor wit.
When Eddy came down with a nosebleed during a board meeting this spring, Johnson threw up his hands and exclaimed, "I did not hit him."
"Well, not physically," Eddy shot back.
Neither seems to take their rivalry personally. "There are many times when we agree and vote the same way," Eddy said. "I like to look at issues, not personalities or motives."
"We can disagree and then, after the meeting, talk about our grandchildren," Johnson said.
Still, each would prefer to see the other lose this November.
Lee Garrett, a Democrat closely aligned with Johnson, will try to recapture the Windsor Hills seat he lost to Eddy four years ago.
Brenda Flora Wainwright, Republican who is challenging Johnson in the Hollins District, has criticized Johnson's voting record with the help of information provided by Eddy.
"I'm a thorn in his side," Johnson said, "and I always have known that he would like to get rid of me."
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB