THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 13, 1995 TAG: 9504130023
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
Devotees of Chesapeake politics might mutter, ``Only in Chesapeake.''
A Chesapeake woman who shot her husband in 1986 and 1990 asked Vice Mayor Arthur Dwyer to help the husband recover his health insurance and good standing with the city.
The woman, Sandra R. Lewis, 30, now claims the vice mayor pressured her to have sex with him in exchange for his helping her husband, Ed, 47, who had been fired after 24 years as a police officer because of a domestic incident in the couple's home in December 1993.
Dwyer did get the husband's health insurance restored, but was unable to have him retired with honor. Both Dwyer and Sandra Lewis say they never had sex.
Lewis says Dwyer hounded her over six weeks, while he sought to restore her husband's job, and she has asked the city for $650,000 as compensation for the ordeal. Dwyer says he and the city are being smeared by a vindictive woman.
Lewis concedes she has a credibility problem. Both shootings were ruled accidental, and she was never charged, but cynics will detect a pattern.
Still, as Lewis told the council Tuesday evening, her credibility is not the issue. What matters are the tape recordings she secretly made of her conversations with Dwyer.
Although Dwyer, who is estranged from his wife, says Lewis pursued him seeking favors, on the tapes he calls her ``baby,'' ``honey,'' ``my sweetheart`` - hardly the language of the pursued. He left long messages on her answering machine begging to see her.
Also on the tapes, Dwyer built himself up by tearing fellow council members down. He described one as a racist and called another a blockhead and another a womanhound.
He boasted on the tapes of his closeness with a prominent developer's agent and of his ability to pressure top city officials to grant benefits for Ed Lewis.
City Council voted 8-1 Monday to have the State Police look into Dwyer's handling of Lewis' request.
Whether or not a crime was committed, however, Dwyer's credibility is shot: He told one story in the taped conversations with Lewis; he's telling a different story now. He said one thing to his fellow council members' faces, something else behind their backs. Future votes favoring developers will raise eyebrows, and female constituents may be justifiably reluctant to turn to him for assistance.
Thus Dwyer's usefulness on the City Council appears ended. He had rapidly become a Republican powerhouse in the city. If he declines to step down and in fact runs next year for re-election, we trust voters' memories will be long. by CNB