Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 1, 1995 TAG: 9510020053
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY AND DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
That was the moniker Jack Kemp used repeatedly Friday to describe the Roanoke County Republican, as a who's who of local GOP faithful turned out for a big-ticket luncheon that helped Bell raise thousands of dollars for his re-election campaign.
Kemp - a former congressman, Cabinet member in the Reagan and Bush administrations, and self-described "bleeding heart conservative" - came to Roanoke on a campaign swing through Virginia for the benefit of GOP candidates to the General Assembly.
Big names often carry a big price, and the Bell event was no exception. Contributors paid from $50 to $500 a head for the lunch at the Patrick Henry Hotel. Judging from the prolonged standing ovation they gave him, they must think they got their money's worth.
Before the lunch, Bell led Kemp on a tour of Handy Dump, a Northwest Roanoke trash disposal business.
Kemp cited Handy Dump, which started with two workers and now employs about 40, as an urban business success story. It's run by Karen Freeland, whose mother started the business in the 1970s.
It's also situated in an urban enterprise zone, under which businesses get tax breaks for situating in depressed areas. Enterprise zone legislation was one of Kemp's pet project's while in Congress. Although it failed on a federal level, Virginia and other states used Kemp's legislation as a model for state initiatives. Bell this year was a patron of a bill that doubled the number of enterprise zones in Virginia.
"This young man has such a boundless future ... because he sees people in terms of their potential," Kemp told the audience. "He didn't take me to the Chamber of Commerce. He didn't take me to the Rotary Club."
"We didn't go to where you'd expect most conservative Republicans to be," Kemp added. "No, we went to Northwest Roanoke, talking to black folks, talking to brown folks ... those working men and women saw Brandon come by and shake their hand and take an interest in what they're doing."
Averill gets help
Republican House of Delegates challenger Trixie Averill got some campaign help last week from Richmond; but this time, it wasn't from the governor's office.
Instead, Chesterfield County businessman John Lenkey III took a day off from his environmental products company and spent Tuesday visiting businesses in Vinton and Troutville, passing out 150 copies of an "open letter" attacking House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell, D-Roanoke County, whom Averill wants to unseat.
Lenkey, who said he made the campaign foray on his own initiative, said he was upset by the way he was treated when he showed up last winter at a legislative hearing on Gov. George Allen's proposal to eliminate the business gross-receipts tax.
"Your `Dickie' is not only wrong, he is rude," Lenkey's letter charges. He says that Cranwell made him wait six hours before he could speak out in favor of Allen's proposal, then allowed him only two minutes to speak. Lenkey also describes what he calls Cranwell's "arrogance and worship of government" and urges Roanoke Valley voters "to remove this harmful person from the Virginia legislature."
Cranwell gives a somewhat different account of the 71/2-hour hearing. He says that because more than 250 people signed up to speak, all of them were limited to two minutes. Furthermore, "this gentleman was disruptive and shouting during others' presentation," Cranwell says.
Lenkey says this wasn't so, although his letter concedes he "rebel-yelled" when government officials opposing Allen's plan were allowed to speak first.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB