Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 30, 1995 TAG: 9508300034
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY AND DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Bell, R-Roanoke County, charged that John Edwards would have voted against abolishing parole when it came up in the General Assembly last year - if he had been in office then. ``It's pretty clear ... he would have joined his liberal friends in Richmond, voting against abolishing parole for violent criminal thugs,'' Bell said.
Edwards, a former federal prosecutor, shot back that he has actually put criminals behind bars, unlike Bell, a former computer salesman.
``Brandon Bell professes to be `tough' on crime, yet he has no experience in law enforcement and completely ignores the need for prevention as well as punishment in the arsenal to fight crime,'' Edwards responded.
Bell's comments came as he reiterated his support for criminal justice reforms enacted by the General Assembly last year and said more needs to be done. He said he'll support legislation next year extending sentences for criminal who use guns; trying violent juveniles as adults; and making juveniles subject to sentencing provisions known as ``three strikes and you're out,'' which require life in prison for three-time offenders.
Then he turned his attention toward Edwards, calling him a ``liberal'' who's had a ``knee-jerk, negative reaction to anything and everything Governor [George] Allen has put forward.''
Although Bell didn't address crime prevention in his prepared remarks, afterward he said Allen had addressed the issue through legislation designed to create jobs and put more teachers in schools.
Edwards, in prepared remarks issued later, seemed to be almost personally affronted by Bell's charges. He said he also supported abolition of parole and other reforms.
The Roanoke vice mayor served as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia in 1980-81. As chief federal prosecutor, he won convictions against organized crime figures, bank robbers, gun smugglers and officials in the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration.
``If Bell wants to talk about legislation,'' Edwards said, ``I can point to the five bills I co-authored which were enacted into law during my time as chairman of the Virginia Bar Association's Criminal Law Section, including the bill that makes it a felony to kill due to drunk driving.
``In contrast, not only does Mr. Bell have no experience in law enforcement, but he has been the chief sponsor of no bill involving law enforcement which has been enacted into law.''
Cranwell responds to Gilmore
Del. Richard Cranwell, D-Roanoke County, suggests Republicans are playing fast and loose with his record on crime. Republicans say he's just flip-flopping.
Last week, Attorney General Jim Gilmore - in town for a fund-raising luncheon for Cranwell's challenger, Trixie Averill - portrayed the House majority leader as not much of a leader on crime bills.
Gilmore singled out former Del. Steve Agee's "three strikes and you're out" bill to lock up three-time felons for life, charging that Cranwell didn't do anything to get it passed.
Gilmore also depicted Cranwell as a follower, not a leader, on Republican efforts to abolish parole.
Cranwell was out of town during the Gilmore visit; but when he got back to Vinton, he laughed off the Republican charges.
"I find that kind of amusing," Cranwell said. "Any time there's a serious piece of legislation [the attorney general's office] is trying to get passed, they usually come and discuss it with me."
Cranwell noted that, while he didn't support Agee's version of "three strikes and you're out," he later was chief patron of the version that did pass.
As for parole, "I chaired the subcommittee that sculpted the legislation that passed," he said.
A Gilmore spokesman remained unimpressed. Mark Miner accused Cranwell of "flip-flopping" on the "three strikes" bill, opposing Agee's and then introducing his own. And it was Republicans who put abolishing parole on the legislative agenda, he said.
"We welcomed Delegate Cranwell to the 'make Virginia safer' train, but he clearly wasn't the engineer," Miner said. "It took a Republican administration to get those issues moving."
Cranwell also didn't think much of Averill's suggestion that - if the state allows school boards to contract with private groups to set up experimental "charter schools" within the public school system - military schools might be a good thing for some localities to consider as a way to head off juvenile crime.
Cranwell, like many other Democrats, remains dead-set against charter schools, whatever their format. "I do not want to turn public money over to every Tom, Dick and Harry that wants to run a school," he said. "Charter schools are just vouchers dressed up in different clothes."
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB