Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 30, 1995 TAG: 9503300069
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY AND KIMBERLY DAVIS STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The truth is, a free-lance speech writer may have put those words on his silver tongue. And taxpayers are paying for it.
The practice appears unusual in other Virginia localities, but it's gone on for years in Roanoke.
The city has spent slightly more than $25,000 in the past four years on speech writing for Bowers and former Mayor Noel Taylor, according to city Finance Director Jim Grisso.
Sometimes the speeches are given by other council members when they're filling in for the mayor.
Most of the money has gone to Sarah Cox, a free-lance writer whose husband is a Roanoke Times & World-News sportswriter.
More recently, Bowers has been farming the work out to John Montgomery, a former advertising manager at the newspaper who now works at the Blue Ridge Business Journal; political adviser Danny Frei, a longtime Bowers chum; and Bruce Jacobson, an advertising writer and consultant.
The writers' research allows the mayor to tailor remarks to the audience, rather than delivering ``canned'' speeches that are all the same, city spokeswoman Michelle Bono said.
Bowers said he makes 100 to 150 public appearances as mayor each year.
The frequency of speeches runs from two a week to as many as six a day, he said. Between 50 and 70 public appearances require prepared speeches, he estimated.
Often, those are welcoming remarks delivered to business or industry associations who have come to Roanoke for conferences and conventions.
``Some of [my public speaking] is impromptu, and some of it requires advance work, and I just don't have the time to do it,'' Bowers said. ``In my opinion, the most important thing I do as mayor is when I stand up in public. ... I'm going to be well prepared.''
Bono did that work until 1989, when she took a job in Colorado. When she returned to her public information post in 1990, speech-writing duties stayed with the free-lancers.
The privatization of speech writing is an efficient use of taxpayers' money, Bowers said.
Cox, whom the mayor has used less and less in recent months, said she charges $35 an hour for speeches. Typically, the work takes 90 minutes to several hours, depending on the speech, she said.
Sometimes the public really gets its money's worth. For instance, Bowers has given one speech she wrote, about the Hotel Roanoke, over and over again, Cox said.
``I should have gotten royalties for that one,'' she said.
Ask other local governments about their speech writers and the most common response is laughter.
In Roanoke County, officials usually write their own. Sometimes county spokeswoman Anne Marie Green helps out, County Clerk Mary Allen said.
``I've been here 10 years and we have never budgeted for speech writers. ... To my knowledge, we have never paid to have a speech prepared,'' she said.
``We don't make a lot of speeches. When I go out I usually don't have anything written down. I just speak from the hip,'' Supervisor Bob Johnson said.
``I thought that mine were bad enough that you can tell I do my own,'' said Fuzzy Minnix, chairman of the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors.
Salem and Virginia Beach have staffers who help with speech material on occasion. But for the most part, the mayors and city council members write their own.
``We don't pay anybody to write speeches. Someone may provide background information, but [council members] do their own thing,'' Salem Finance Director Frank Turk said.
``We have a media specialist that does that as part of her job,'' Virginia Beach spokeswoman Pam Lingle said.
In Lynchburg, speech writing is spokeswoman JoAnn Martin's job. She also composes proclamations, designs ads for newspapers and writes news releases.
Portsmouth doesn't have any speech writers either, City Clerk Sheila Pittman said.
``I do all the speech writing. ... It's just part of my job as city clerk,'' she said.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***