Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 30, 1995 TAG: 9510020007
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The Jefferson Club's main dining room was filled to its elegant walls with suited professionals, mostly men, all members or guests of the Rotary Club of Roanoke.
Holding court was Del. Clifton "Chip" Woodrum, who was weaving a devilish tale obviously intended to shake up the composed group a bit.
It seems years ago, a man - call him John - was running for commissioner of revenue in a small Virginia county, Woodrum told the group. John was the incumbent. He was a bit of a rowdy fellow. He drank. He was known for chasing women.
Out campaigning one day, John ran into an elderly woman, hair pulled back in a tight, net-covered bun. "John stepped up to her and said, 'Excuse me, Miss Bessie. My name's John, and I'm running for commissioner of revenue. I hope you'll vote for me,''' Woodrum continued.
"She said, 'Why nobody's going to vote for you except the whiskey drinkers, whiskey makers and women chasers.'
"John said, 'Thank you ma'am. That's 80 percent of the vote," Woodrum said to his audience, who howled. Then he threw in, "Looking at this crowd, I don't believe that's 80 percent of the vote ... but it's pretty close."
Woodrum, the 16-year holder of the 16th District House of Delegates seat, has wit more legendary than his voting record. Though he swore he would refrain from the tale-spinning and joke-telling this campaign - his first in 10 years facing a challenger - he simply cannot.
"He feels this responsibility to entertain," says Del. Marian Van Landingham, D-Alexandria. "There's a lot of pomposity that he sees through and sticks the needle in. He doesn't just tell you something; he tells it in a fun and interesting way.
"It makes people pay attention to him."
Van Landingham collects humorous quotes from General Assembly sessions for her monthly constituents' newsletter. Woodrum's words are featured frequently, she said. She sifted through a notebook and found these:
n"My daddy used to say never try to teach a pig how to sing. You'll just irritate the pig and waste your time."
n"I feel like a man out on a limb and I hear a saw buzzing."
n"There is no legitimate use of the street sweeper [a type of assault-style weapon]. If you shoot a deer with it, you get hash."
Funny, yes. But it's Woodrum's country wisdom and court-jester-to-the-king style that enable him to get a point across, even criticize, and still keep people in good spirits, Van Landingham said. Though Woodrum risks insulting or irritating the more serious-natured, like it or not, his words are not easily forgotten.
"Chip is not flip," she says. "He's really very serious about what he cares about. And he's got a good social conscience about him.
"He comes from a long generation of public servants that cared about things."
Woodrum's great-grandfather was the first elected commonwealth's attorney in Roanoke. His grandfather served 23 years as a U.S. congressman.
Woodrum "grew up hearing and breathing politics and government and service to people," said Peggy Davis, a family friend who lives in Fincastle.
"No one is entitled to be elected," Woodrum says. "I was raised with this philosophy. My grandfather taught it to me, and my father endorsed it. You go and you ask to be rehired each time. You're granted a lease on the office. You don't own the office."
Woodrum's challenger, Republican Newell Falkinburg, has made a campaign theme of the notion that 16 years is long enough. Falkinburg has pledged to serve no more than eight years if elected and vowed to fight for term limits.
Woodrum acknowledges that the climate is different from his last opposed race in 1985, when he ran against and defeated Republican Marc J. Small, a Roanoke lawyer, with 81 percent of the vote. Now, Woodrum detects an anti-government, anti-Democrat atmosphere.
Yet Small says he doubts even now that he could beat Woodrum, if for no other reason than lack of money - a challenge Falkinburg doesn't face. Small ran his campaign on a shoestring - $2,500 - tiny even by 1985 standards.
"What you need to run is money," Small says. "You really don't understand how underfunded candidates are who don't have the big bucks."
Small has known Woodrum for years. They attend the same church. Small calls his former opponent a "courtly man who is knowledgeable of the issues."
Small says he lost the 1985 race simply because "I was a Republican in a Democratic city. As the old joke goes, the Republicans do not support their own. But historically, that is changing."
Depicting longtime Democratic incumbents as out-of-touch has become standard Republican fare. Is 16 years too long?
"Cal Ripken served 14 years," Woodrum says. "I didn't hear anybody in Camden Yards saying he ought to quit. And he didn't get a hit in every game."
Woodrum wants more chances to step up to the plate. He is running again because the idea of service continues in him.
"Truman said it, and Ben Franklin said it. They argued that election makes the person a public servant," Woodrum says. "And in a sense, you are a servant of the people. It's when you retire that you are promoted."
Woodrum sponsored 34 bills during the 1995 General Assembly session. A dozen passed, including one giving protection to state employees who uncover fraud or abuse by state government.
And Woodrum joined other Roanoke Valley Democrats in derailing funding cuts - proposed by Republican Gov. George Allen - to valley projects and cultural attractions, most notably the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center.
He has proposed for consideration during the 1996 session legislation that would require 48-hour maternity coverage for normal deliveries and 96-hour coverage for Caesarean sections in all health insurance policies and health maintenance organization contracts in Virginia.
A constituent came to Woodrum back in July and relayed the concerns of a friend whose wife had been required to leave the hospital shortly after delivery. Woodrum checked around, did a little investigating and found similar bills pending in a number of states. New Jersey and Maryland already had adopted such legislation.
"It at least shifts the burden to the managed-care company, to the HMO," he says. "People are going to criticize and say, 'Well, if you start mandating this stay for this procedure, what are you going to do about other things?' And my response is very simple: You ought to be able to tell the difference between removal of a gallbladder and the birth of an infant."
Woodrum answers to a diverse district covering most of Northwest Roanoke, South Roanoke, Southwest Roanoke and six precincts in the Cave Spring section of Roanoke County.
He has lived in South Roanoke all of his life, save several years as a child living on military bases during World War II and years at the University of North Carolina and the University of Virginia Law School. His appeal may be that he is home-grown.
Woodrum rattles off the names of community stalwarts such as Bittle Porterfield and Heywood Fralin as old family friends. He was a soccer coach and Cub Scout pack leader for Baker Ellett, his campaign manager.
Woodrum and John Hurt were the "terrors" of Crystal Spring Elementary School and the old Lee Junior High School. Woodrum remembers when, as "little bitty fellows," their fathers took them to a trial in Stuart where Hurt's father, a psychiatrist, was a witness and Woodrum's father, a lawyer, was defending the accused.
It did not surprise Hurt that Woodrum entered politics. In fact, Hurt would have been surprised if Woodrum had not. He's been talking politics since he was a child, says Hurt, a psychiatrist at Catawba Hospital.
While Woodrum's South Roanoke upbringing has brought him a staunch legion of support, it also has brought charges that he is not in close enough touch with other segments of his district.
After an appearance this month at a rally in Northwest Roanoke's Washington Park to boost black voter registration, one observer remarked on how Woodrum rarely showed his face in that part of the city, implying that the black community mattered only when votes were needed.
As an incumbent who, before this election, had not faced a challenge in 10 years, maybe Woodrum hasn't had to be so visible, says Onzlee Ware, 6th Congressional District Democratic chairman and Northwest Roanoke resident. That doesn't mean Woodrum is out of touch, Ware said.
"I think if you go into the black community and talk to those people who are astute in politics, the general feeling is that Chip is a fair man," Ware said. "I live in that district and I see what goes on. If you ask him to do something, he'll do it. If he hasn't done something, it's because nobody's asked. Our failing is we don't ask any of our politicians enough."
One on one, voters talk as friends, as neighbors, Woodrum says. It's a conversation, not an enunciation, he says.
"What I've always tried to do is to conduct a campaign where I listen to the people, try to find out what they think is important and kind of square that with my own feelings," he says. "Then I put out what I think is important. I don't worry so much about someone else's views."
CLIFTON "CHIP" WOODRUM
Party: Democrat
Age: 57
Occupation: Lawyer, partner with Dodson, Pence, Viar, Woodrum & Mackey Law Offices
Residence: South Roanoke
Family: Married, three children
WHAT THE CANDIDATE SAYS ABOUT HIS:
CORE VALUES: "Article I of the Constitution of Virginia is a 'Declaration of Rights' that has changed little since it was crafted by George Mason in 1776. This document gave Virginians an opportunity to declare in their new and fundamental law the inalienable rights of the people. All sections are important, but the first four state the broad cardinal ideals and goals towards which Virginians, through their government, aspire: equality and rights of men; people the source of power; government instituted for common benefit; no exclusive emoluments or privileges, offices not to be hereditary. This I believe. This I would not compromise."
INDEPENDENCE: "I have always approached issues on an individual basis. I weigh [an issue's] effect on my constituency's wishes, the effect it will have on the commonwealth of Virginia, at large and on my own values. Of nearly the 4,000 votes that I have been called upon to cast over the past two years, only a minuscule number have divided on anything resembling "party lines," and most of those votes have had members of both parties on either side. I do not believe that any person's beliefs can be capsuled in just a few votes or in just a few words. That is why so many 'scorecards,' which try to characterize someone's record based on a few votes, are misleading."
VISION: "No one can make certain that life will be better or easier for any generation. However, we must make an attempt, and we should begin as follows: Education must be regarded as an investment, not as an expense. A good education is the capital on which our future will be judged. We must strengthen our efforts in public safety and prevention of crime. We should make certain that we protect the environment for future generations - without it, there will be no future generations. We must give special protection to water quality, which is suffering even now in our commonwealth. We must work on growing globally competitive jobs from the resources we have available. We must have effective, long-range planning on a viable transportation system, including such efforts as the "smart road," air travel and rail passenger transportation. This will be an appropriate complement to a highway system that is becoming increasingly overstressed."
Keywords:
POLITICS PROFILE
by CNB