THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 22, 1994 TAG: 9410220278
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 168 lines
Corolla Republican John Schrote says he has met a lot of nice people while campaigning for a seat in the North Carolina House of Representatives - even the folks who aren't planning to vote for him.
`` `I've been a Democrat all my life,' '' Schrote quotes a man who recognized him in Elizabeth City. `` `I'll probably vote Democrat again. But I like what you're saying.' ''
For an area newcomer trying to become the first Republican in recent memory to represent North Carolina's 1st District at Raleigh, running against well-known, popular lifetime Pasquotank County resident Bill Owens, the conversation was symbolic.
Schrote is the underdog, the ``unencumbered'' outsider, the statistic-citing, book-studying former bureaucrat who wants to stem bureaucracy in state government. He's counting on voter discontent with what he calls ``the arrogance of power'' to sweep him into an office being vacated by one of the state's longest-entrenched Democrats, Vernon G. James.
Democrat Owens is a friend of James, a friend of Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. and a friend of state Senate leader Marc Basnight. An insider whose contacts spread like the fingers of the Albemarle Sound throughout the state, Owens pledges to use his influence to bring the northeast the resources it needs.
``You need to have the contacts in Raleigh to be able to call on people,'' says Owens, who has been using his statewide reputation and his allegiance with the House's majority party as principal advantages over Schrote.
Schrote, whose experience in the federal government rivals Owens' involvement in state and local issues, says his opponent's name recognition is a double-edged sword.
``When a person is that well-known,'' Schrote says, ``(people) know what they like and what they dislike. . . . I don't quite have the record that he has. I don't have the burdens that he has, either.''
Schrote says his independence, which includes a planned push to cut legislators' pay and retirement benefits, won't please anyone but the voters.
``I don't think the Republicans up there will necessarily think I'm the greatest thing that ever happened to them, either,'' Schrote says. ``I'm a populist. I'm running as a populist. I'm running against the good old boys and that kind of thing. . . . He's the go-along, get-along guy; he's part of them, and I'm not.''
The candidates' agreement or disagreement on various issues is overshadowed by their different priorities. Owens speaks constantly of what he will bring back to the Albemarle region, while Schrote talks of the impact he will make in Raleigh.
Owens, who talks about his 18 years on the Pasquotank County Board of Commissioners and membership in a laundry list of state boards dealing with everything from solid waste to welfare technology, says he knows how to bring the area the water, sewer and road facilities that will keep pace with statewide growth.
Saying he is ``conservative but progressive,'' Owens calls for ``diversified'' economic development in the Albemarle, a combination of industry, agri-business and tourism that will provide sound, consistent opportunities for local graduates.
``A main concern is our young people . . . not being able to stay in this area for lack of a good job,'' Owens says.
These bread-and-butter issues should be what the Albemarle area concentrates on, Owens says, but he adds, ``The message hasn't gotten across good.''
Schrote, who more recently has stressed issues such as crime control, spent much of the summer sending out faxes on school prayer and term limits - issues he says symbolize his value system and his fight against business as usual.
Owens has been pressed to respond to these issues, and Schrote says his stumping helped get resolutions favorable to school prayer passed in 1st District counties, including Pasquotank. Owens, who says he supports consistent term limits at the state and federal levels but not locally, did not sign a broader term limits statement that Schrote favors.
``I don't think term limits are the important issues facing the people of Northeastern North Carolina,'' Owens says. ``Will we get our share of roads? Are we able to get natural gas in the area?''
Schrote says crime is among his first priorities. He says the crime package passed by the General Assembly this year ``guarantees criminals will serve less time.'' Schrote favors lifting prison caps, and he says the extra cost of housing more prisoners can be met without raising taxes.
Other issues high on Schrote's list are welfare reform, jobs and economic development, which he says are interrelated.
The state is overcommiting itself with new, expensive programs that will haunt the government in tighter times, Schrote says. He advocates a system for measuring the financial and practical impact of all laws and regulations the state passes.
Both candidates say they oppose, to different degrees, unnecessary interference with local governments and schools in the form of ``mandates'' from Raleigh and Washington.
But before either can execute his plans in Raleigh, he has to win the support of voters in the heavily Democratic counties of Pasquotank, Camden, Currituck and part of Perquimans.
``Conventional wisdom says I should not win this,'' Schrote concedes, adding that he is optimistic anyway. ``It wouldn't be as much a surprise to me as it will be to other people.''
Owens says some have advised him not to work too hard, but even some area Democrats acknowledge the well-organized Republicans pose a threat.
``Any time I have someone else's name on the ballot with me, it's a serious challenge,'' says Owens, who has won five consecutive commission elections, three of those contested.
Owens, who says he has a campaign pot of about $40,000, has raised about twice as much as Schrote. Both men said they will pour most of their money into the final weeks of the election.
Owens says he has been spending about 20 hours a week on the campaign, and the hours are stretching. But Owens, constantly recognized on Elizabeth City streets and tracked down even when he sneaks off for an interview, says he still has to keep up with his business and government commitments.
The retired Schrote says he has made campaigning a full-time job since local Republican leaders tapped him to run. He has devoted time to raising money, flesh-pressing - and boning up on issues.
``I carry little things around with me,'' says Schrote, who has fact cards in his shirt pocket and a 3-pound North Carolina Government Manual in his canvas briefcase. ``I've been studying. . . . I don't jump into these things and not know what I'm doing.''
Both candidates say a state House seat would be the end of the line for their political careers.
``When you get beyond this and become a full-time politician, your perspective of things changes,'' Owens said. ``I want to remain out here in what they call the `real world.' I still want to have my public and private involvement in the community.'' MEMO: William C. "Bill" Owens Jr.
Age: 47.
Elected offices: Pasquotank County Commissioner, 1976 to present;
past chairman.
Education: Elizabeth City High School; College of the Albemarle.
Military Service: National Guard, 1967-1992; N.C. Militia, 1992 to
present.
Occupation: Managing vice president, W.W. Owens and Sons, Moving And
Storage Inc.; manager, Albemarle Mini-Warehouses, Inc.; vice president,
Consolidated Development Corp.; partner, Owens and Robertson Development
Co.
Memberships and official posts: Vice chairman, N.C. Economic
Development Board; member, College of The Albemarle Board of Trustees;
member, N.C. Physical Trends and Reform Commission; member and past
chairman, Elizabeth City-Pasquotank Industrial Development Commission;
board member and past chairman, Centura Bank, Elizabeth City; past board
member, N.C. Democratic Executive Commission; past president, N.C.
County Commissioners Association; past chairman, Pasquotank County
Democratic Party; member, Blackwell Memorial Baptist Church; Rotary
Club; Red Men; Moose Lodge and Elks Lodge.
Family: Wife, Cynthia; one son and one stepdaughter.
John E. Schrote
Age: 58
Elected offices: This is Schrote's first run for office.
Education: Bachelor of science in agriculture from Ohio State
University; master of business administration from Xavier University.
Military service: None.
Occupation: Retired. Has served as a purchaser for Armco Corp. and in
26 years of public service worked on Congressional staffs and in the
Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Bush administrations. Positions included
assistant secretary of the interior, deputy director of a presidential
personnel office, acting assistant secretary of agriculture, special
assistant to Agriculture Secretary Arthur Butz, and principal assistant
to the director of the Office of Economic Opportunity. Also worked in
campaigns of Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush and various congressional
candidates.
Memberships and official posts: Member, National Policy Forum;
member, Currituck County Republican Party Executive Committee; member,
Advisory Leadership Council for the Currituck County Cooperative
Extension Service.
Family: Wife, Rachel; two children and four grandchildren.
KEYWORDS: NORTH CAROLINA STATE HOUSE RACE CANDIDATE ELECTION by CNB