Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 27, 1995 TAG: 9509270010
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The setting was the American Legion Post No. 3 in Salem on Aug. 14. The scene: Roanoke Vice Mayor John Edwards, Democratic challenger for the state Senate, introducing himself to a crowd of about 90.
Shortly into his remarks, the 51-year-old former Marine launched into a historical explanation of the term ``gung ho'' - its Chinese origins and how the U.S. military adopted it during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900.
Edwards linked the phrase to military battle and the importance of soldiers ``depending on your buddies.'' The lesson of working together is important in civilian life as well, he allowed.
But it was too late. Perhaps a highbrow linguistics lesson would have played well in an egg-headed military setting like West Point.
But the mostly older listeners were soda- and beer-drinking grizzled war veterans, many from the blue-collar ranks. When Edwards' spiel ended, the applause was polite, but not at all resounding.
Moments later, Edwards watched himself get upstaged by an old joke. Legionnaire Charles ``Skip'' Salmon took the podium, calling the vice mayor ``a rarity in our day now. He's an honest politician.''
Now that got their attention. Loud guffaws filled the room.
Edwards has a resume many Roanoke Valley political candidates would kill for: deep family roots in Roanoke; high school track star; a bachelor's degree from Princeton; former divinity school graduate student; ex-Marine captain who volunteered for service during the Vietnam War.
There's more: a law degree from the University of Virginia; a career with well-known firms; a presidential appointment as a federal prosecutor in the state; and wide-ranging volunteer service for dozens of local charitable, religious and civic organizations.
His father was a Roanoke mayor and a respected judge. By a wide margin, Edwards was the top vote-getter in the May 1994 City Council elections.
In a one-on-one setting, Edwards comes across as genial, sincere and thoughtful. Even many local Republicans - who admit they like him - concede that's no act.
``He's a gentleman; he's a very gracious person,'' said Gilbert Butler, a local Republican insider and developer. ``He's a low-key, self-effacing type.''
Democrats add other adjectives.
``John Edwards is straight-forward, truthful, he's a man of his word,'' said the Rev. Charles Green, head of the Roanoke NAACP chapter and a Democratic activist who has never shied away from criticizing members of his own party when he believed they deserved it.
``If [Edwards] tells you he's going to do something, he's going to do it,'' Green added. He emphasized he wasn't speaking on behalf of the NAACP, calling it a nonpartisan organization.
But with about six weeks left in his campaign to unseat incumbent state Sen. Brandon Bell, R-Roanoke County, Edwards' pitch to the American Legion may illustrate a potentially serious weakness for a challenger:
He sometimes comes across as too cerebral and soft-spoken.
At least during the early months in his Senate campaign, those qualities left some Roanoke Valley Democrats privately fretting over whether Edwards possessed the political instincts necessary to connect with voters, and the aggressiveness it takes to knock off a well-financed incumbent.
Edwards' initial campaign events actually shied away from any mention of Bell. Any criticism he did level came in response to pointed questions from reporters.
The idea, Edwards said, has been to push a positive message without tarnishing his image with political mudslinging.
But mild-mannered behavior doesn't necessarily play well in the rough-and-tumble world of a political campaign. Edwards ought to know that: In 1992, when he sought the Democratic nomination for Congress, his lackluster bid left him dead last in the three-way race.
``John Edwards is a decent, honest, caring person,'' said Roanoke County Supervisor Bob Johnson, a Democrat who also considered challenging Bell this year. ``If I were running against Brandon Bell, I would have showed him up for what he is by now.''
Democratic activist Gary Waldo, executive director of the Roanoke Education Association, noted that around this time last year he was hearing Democrats make the same complaint against Sen. Charles Robb. Robb went on to beat Republican Oliver North in a three-way race and kept his seat in the U.S. Senate.
(More recently, Edwards has scored points at Bell's expense by criticizing the senator's support for charter schools and questioning Bell's support for greater public education funding. The incumbent has appeared on the defensive.)
Edwards also lacks the political sure-footedness of House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell, D-Roanoke County, or the rhetorical bomb-throwing skill of Del. Clifton ``Chip'' Woodrum, D-Roanoke, two of the valley's most senior legislators.
``I'm not very clever,'' the vice mayor recently confessed to a reporter seeking a quick quote for a story on the recently campaign-dominating issue of public education. ``I've got to be more clever.''
A case in point is the finale of a Sept. 14 debate before the Greater Raleigh Court Civic League.
Most politicians salivate at the chance to get in the last word during a debate. It's the time they can hit their opponents hardest, without fearing a comeback.
Edwards found himself in that position, but he pulled his punches.
Early in the debate, Bell had left the audience with the impression that City Council and the School Board supported charter schools, which Edwards stridently opposes.
Bell brandished the city's legislative program, approved by a panel of which Edwards had been co-chairman, and read them language that seemingly approves of the charter school concept.
What Bell didn't tell them was that council and the School Board later deleted that language and passed resolutions condemning charter schools.
When Edwards got up to deliver the debate's final remarks, he could have told them the other side of the story and lashed out at Bell for the omission.
But instead of leaving the audience wondering about his opponent's credibility, Edwards concluded with a canned ending. It wasn't a bad line, but even the Bell camp realized Edwards had blown the opportunity.
Tim Phillips, a political consultant for Bell, put it succinctly: Edwards ``wimped out.''
Edwards has served on City Council since late 1993, when he was appointed to replace Bev Fitzpatrick, who gave up the seat to take a full-time position as executive director of the New Century Council.
Edwards also bested all other candidates in 1994 City Council elections, a showing that led to his appointment as vice mayor.
Yet in almost two years on council, Edwards has rarely cast a dissenting vote (something that is rare on the usually unanimous body, anyway). Nor, with possibly two exceptions, has he bucked other members to push hard for initiatives he cares about.
The first of those instances came in September 1994. Edwards, over the strong objections of Mayor David Bowers and two other council members, asked that the city consider studying the development of an athletic field house and ice rink.
The project, which could cost millions, would be used by high school students and possibly as a practice facility for the Roanoke Express hockey team, which sometimes has to go to North Carolina to practice.
Other council members had asked Edwards to withdraw the resolution, but he stood his ground and pushed for it. After a long public hearing in which some residents accused council opponents of being anti-youth, the resolution survived a series of attempts to kill it and passed, 6-0. The study has started.
In the other instance, Edwards showed somewhat less leadership ability. It concerned a push for changing the current at-large council elections to a modified ward system.
While campaigning, all council members, including Edwards, had at one time or another promised to support a voter referendum on modified wards. By September 1994, council members knew exactly the convoluted steps they would have to take to get the question on the ballot this year.
But for months, neither Edwards nor any other council member championed the issue.
Councilwoman Linda Wyatt finally forced it last March - after Bell had made noise about possibly pushing it on the state level.
By then it was too late. The delay had given council opponents a good reason to vote against a referendum: there wasn't time to get it on the ballot. It failed, 5-2, with Edwards and Wyatt on the losing end.
Why didn't Edwards push for it earlier?
``I was under the impression that it was on a track that was laid out, that there were a certain series of events that had to be done,'' Edwards said. ``It wasn't until later that I realized it had been taken off that track. ... I don't know why or how.''
Another lapse has given Bell ammunition to charge that Edwards, on occasion, has appeared asleep at his council wheel: Edwards was co-chairman of the joint council-School Board committee that last November gave the nod to a pro-charter schools plank in the city's legislative program - the OK that Bell brought up at the Raleigh Court debate.
Charter schools, which Edwards vehemently opposes, had slipped by him. In December, he proposed and won passage of a council resolution asking the School Board to delete it. But the School Board already had - six days earlier.
JOHN EDWARDS
Party: Democrat
Age: 51
Occupation: Lawyer
Residence: Roanoke
Family: Married, three children.
WHAT THE CANDIDATE SAYS ABOUT HIS:
CORE VALUES: ``I believe in the basic values of honesty, hard work and a sense of responsibility to one's community. These are the values I learned growing up here in the Roanoke Valley, where my roots are. I believe public service is a trust, to serve the broad intent of the people and not the special interest of any particular group.''
INDEPENDENCE: ``I am an independent thinker. I try to gather all the needed information, listen carefully to the people and all points of view, and use my own reasoning and analytical abilities to resolve problems and to formulate my own conclusions on issues. I cannot imagine supporting any particular governor or party leader 100 percent of the time.''
VISION: ``I envision a society that: provides the opportunity for every person to reach his or her full potential; values the variety of human talent and the worth of the soul; treats men and women of every race and creed with equality and respect; values the natural environment and works to preserve it; and promotes justice and protects the human rights and civil liberties of all citizens equally.''
Keywords:
POLITICS PROFILE
by CNB