Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 6, 1995 TAG: 9504060059
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEDFORD LENGTH: Long
Bedford County Sheriff Carl Wells used to kick off his campaigns by shaking hands at general stores and handing out NFL schedules.
This year, sheriff candidate Mike Brown is holding a $20-a-plate dinner and giving away a custom-finished M1 carbine as a door prize.
That's not the only change in a sheriff's race that more closely resembles a campaign for the state legislature. Both Brown and his only announced opponent, Doug Maynard, have hired public relations consultants. They have press kits stocked with photos and resumes. And both have raised more money than Wells spent running for office in his entire 20-year career as sheriff.
The two are using direct mail to reach voters. They're looking into radio advertising and haven't ruled out television commercials.
Maynard, an investigator in the Bedford and Roanoke public defender's offices, is holding a $45-a-person golf tournament at Smith Mountain Lake this month - even though he doesn't play golf.
Brown, an international security consultant, had Whitney Houston's director of security write a letter of endorsement for him that was published in the Bedford Bulletin. At his fund-raising dinner in May, he'll host the team leader of Project Nanook, a top-secret Cold War-era project to aerially map the North Pole.
He's also donating his own M1 carbine and is having it refitted for the occasion.
"It'll look real nice," he said. "It's a real fine weapon for somebody."
Why are there so many changes in the way candidates run for sheriff? Look at the population growth in and around the Roanoke Valley.
The sheriff is elected by voters in Bedford and Bedford County, which now have about 56,000 residents - almost as many people as are represented by a state delegate.
"Bedford is just no longer a rural community," Brown said. "It's a cosmopolitan community, I believe. They talk about Bedford natives, but probably half the people at Smith Mountain Lake are not natives.
"There's a greater sophistication in Bedford County now. You [campaign] differently now."
Botetourt County Sheriff Reed Kelly has similar thoughts. He ran a modern, multimedia race for sheriff when he won in 1991 against Chief Deputy Jerry Caldwell.
Sheriff's races have changed a lot over the past decade in Botetourt, Kelly said, though not even his campaign approached this year's Bedford County race.
"It used to be [sheriff's candidates] could go to the local general store and shake hands or visit certain key people in the county, but now it's got to where I don't know my neighbors," he said.
"We're such a mobile society, I don't know who the voters are anymore. The influx of people has changed the way we've campaigned. It's a different electorate than it used to be."
Former Bedford County Sheriff Jack Cundiff, who was in office for a decade before Wells, used to get matchbooks printed with "Cundiff for Sheriff" and hit the roads, looking for hands to put them in.
"It's much more costly now than it was then," he said. "I think it's gone out of proportion, really.
"When I ran, the more people you saw, the better it was. There's much more population now. You have to reach more people, but that personal contact, you can't beat it."
Maynard and Brown get out and shake a lot of hands. They greet people every week at almost every type of local government and civic meeting imaginable. But to reach a growing and changing population, they say, they've also had to use other methods to get the voters' attention.
Brown has hired a Roanoke-based corporate public relations consultant, Bill Guyre. He's also using the services of the local Republican Party, from which he'll seek the nomination for sheriff at a mass meeting on May 15.
Maynard, who's running as an independent, has hired the Democratic political consultant who ran Roanoke Mayor David Bowers' campaign, Dan Frei.
Both say they need the consultants to give them direction because they never have run for public office before.
As for money, Brown has raised about $14,000; Maynard about $9,000.
"I just don't see going out and buying the election," said Wells, who has not announced whether he will seek re-election. Wells said he's paid for every campaign out of his own pocket, and it usually hasn't cost him more than $1,000.
"I have always run my campaign on personal contacts," he said. "I've never asked people to donate money to fund my races. I feel the taxpayers are paying taxes to fund my salary every month, and I don't need to ask them to contribute to a campaign.
"I try to go to civic affairs, lawn suppers, rescue squad and fire department dinners 12 months out of the year, not just election year. If you can campaign a little bit every day 365 days a year, four years a term, it makes it a whole lot easier for election year."
But without Wells' name recognition, other candidates may find it tough to compete in a race where the financial stakes are so high.
Tony Mayhew, a veteran state police trooper who was considering a run for sheriff, said Monday he'd decided against it. But fund-raising was not a factor in the decision, he said.
The problem was that he needed to make a living. The state police wouldn't let him campaign for sheriff while he was employed as a trooper. He's close to retirement, and he couldn't afford to quit. Also, he wanted to spend time with his two teen-age sons.
Darryl Updike, a Bedford police officer who also may run, said he's raised $500. But he's not worried about competing with Maynard and Brown's resources. He intends to run a grass-roots campaign and thinks he could get more money if needed.
Lt. Vernon Goode, who runs the county's jail in Moneta and is another possible candidate, said he's not sure how fund raising will affect his decision.
"That's the reason I haven't made up my mind," he said. "I'm sure there's some expense, but I really don't know how much. I've never been involved [in a campaign] before."
Keywords:
POLITICS
Memo: NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.