Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 9, 1995 TAG: 9502090069
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
What could be the premier General Assembly race in Virginia this November kicked off Wednesday with Roanoke Vice Mayor John Edwards declaring his intention to seek the state Senate seat now held by Republican Brandon Bell.
Edwards, a Democrat, cast his campaign as a challenge not just against Bell, a freshman closely identified with Gov. George Allen, but also against Allen's budget policies and social programs.
On that point, both Democrats and Republicans agree: The Bell vs. Edwards matchup could serve as a referendum on Allen's agenda.
``I think the Republicans are going to throw everything they've got down here, because Bell has been the governor's point man,'' said Roanoke City Councilwoman Linda Wyatt, a Democrat. ``He can't afford to lose face. If your fair-haired boy loses his race, you're in trouble. It's kind of an indictment.''
Hugh Key, the Republican chairman in Roanoke County, sees a local campaign with statewide implications.
``This is a bellwether for the state, because the issues will be about as clear as they can be, and the campaign should be relatively free of personal issues in terms of scandal and misbehavior. It'll probably be as straight and clean an election on the issues as you can possibly have,'' he said.
And those issues cut to the core of the current confrontation in Richmond: How much government do Virginians want to pay for?
Allen has proposed cutting both taxes and spending; the Democrat-controlled General Assembly has rejected his agenda, warning that Virginia can't afford to cut the services Allen wants to do away with.
The opening round of the Roanoke Valley's state Senate campaign illustrates just how sharp the differences between the two sides are.
On Tuesday, a group of Republican business leaders, looking to get a public relations jump, called a news conference to declare their support for Bell. They praised Bell's support of Allen's program of lower taxes and fewer services and predicted that voters will rally to the GOP message this fall.
``The Democrats are going to have to answer for refusing to stop the growth of government,'' said Ralph Smith, who heads a steel-fabricating company and has emerged as the GOP's main fund raiser in the valley.
On Wednesday, Edwards declared his candidacy before more than 70 Democratic supporters at Roanoke Regional Airport - a ``neutral site'' for a district that includes both Roanoke and most of Roanoke County, observed former City Councilman Jim Trout.
There, the emphasis was on how Democrats believe Allen's budget priorities will give their party a boost this fall.
``I think it'll be easier,'' Edwards said, ``because I don't see support for the governor's program.''
``Governor Allen's popularity is falling faster than the mercury in the thermometer did three nights ago,'' said Steve McGraw, a Democrat who is Circuit Court clerk in Roanoke County. Allen's theme of lower taxes and less government sounded fine as a campaign line, he said. ``But now that people see what he's proposing, they don't like it. You can see the tide turning against him already.''
While they were at it, some Democrats couldn't resist getting in their digs at Bell, whom they hope to characterize as out of his league in the General Assembly.
``I think people are unsettled about Senator Bell,'' said Roanoke Mayor David Bowers. ``He's taken on a few initiatives in the past months and failed with every one - charter schools, the modified-ward system, the Martinsville museum.''
Bowers suggested that Democrats would portray Edwards - who hails from an old-line Roanoke family and his been prominent in valley politics since the 1970s - as a reassuring figure in a time of change. ``John is a well-known commodity,'' Bowers said.
That quality also has helped unify Democrats behind Edwards' candidacy.
At least three Democrats expressed interest in their party's nomination - Hollins District Supervisor Bob Johnson and former state Sen. Granger Macfarlane were the other two - and party leaders feared a divisive struggle for the nomination. To head that off, they held a series of informal private meetings starting last fall to try to rally all factions of the party behind a single candidate.
In the end, Macfarlane's heart appearently wasn't in the race, and Johnson found himself too busy setting up a new company. Meanwhile, many Democrats regarded the cerebral Edwards as a ``crossover candidate'' who has the ability to win over some moderate Republicans, just as he did when he led his party's ticket for City Council last May - winning big in all quadrants.
In his announcement Wednesday, Edwards had little to say about his Republican rival. Instead, Edwards simply predicted ``a good debate about public policy and which approach to government is best.''
Getting that debate started, Edwards repeatedly characterized the Republican agenda as ``a 19th-century approach to government.''
He especially zeroed in on Allen's proposal to cut in half the state funding to cultural organizations and attractions such as Center in the Square - an issue that Democrats hope will enable them to win votes among traditionally Republican voters in South Roanoke.
``I think the governor is fracturing the public-private partnerships we've built up over the years,'' Edwards said. ``This year is a referendum on the future. Are we going to go backwards with a 19th-century approach to government, where government stood on the sidelines with its hands in its pockets, or are we going to continue with these public-private partnerships?''
Bell has introduced budget amendments to restore funding to Roanoke Valley cultural groups, although he'd do it by slashing the state funding of museums in Martinsville and Staunton by half. Edwards said that was the wrong approach.
``I think we need to work together as a region,'' he said.
Bell countered that he, at least, is identifying places to cut the budget while Edwards, and Democrats in general, aren't.
``We've got to look at all functions of state government, regardless of where they are,'' Bell said.
That's why he comes back to the same point the Democrats were making: ``This election is going to be a decision on two very contrasting views of government.''
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB