THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 3, 1996 TAG: 9605030505
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KATRICE FRANKLIN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
Four years ago, Marian ``Bea'' Rogers walked door-to-door in her north Suffolk borough, campaign committee in tow, asking residents to support her run for City Council.
A majority did. But this year, the only woman to sit on the council in more than 30 years is campaigning with many new faces.
That's because some of the people who rallied behind her in 1992, including her former campaign manager, have abandoned her. They are now supporting William B. Bishop - the former Suffolk Airport director, who is suing the city for $21 million.
If elected, he would be in the odd position of working and voting with some of the same people he has sued.
That's how politics is played in the Sleepy Hole Borough, which has been jilted awake with this year's election. While it is Suffolk's fastest-growing area, much of it remains rural. The urban-rural conflict and growth may make it one of the most difficult sections to represent, some city leaders say.
Abutting Chesapeake's Western Branch and Portsmouth's Churchland and linked to the Peninsula by the Monitor-Merrimac bridge-tunnel and to the rest of Hampton Roads by interstate routes, the area is an increasingly popular bedroom community. In 1993, 148 homes were built in Sleepy Hole, up from only 44 in 1991.
The borough is also the focus of much of the city's - as well as developers' - attention, largely because of its business and industrial potential.
It's the home of Harbourview, a planned city-within-a-city, industrial parks, the military's Joint Training Analysis and Simulation Center, and the Frederick campus of Tidewater Community College.
In some areas, manicured lawns of suburbia abut farmland and low-income dwellings.
That, too, is a source of conflict: While some longtime residents await basic city services, water and sewerage goes to the developing areas.
The development should not come at their expense, longtime residents say.
But a glance at the City Council race and its candidates makes it evident that who's running is almost as important as the borough's needs.
Campaign signs dot borough roads, and both candidates have knocked on doors to tell residents why they're the better choice.
Rogers, using the theme ``Working for You,'' said she is campaigning on much the same issues of four years ago: better financial management, consolidating city and school services and pushing for good, clean industrial development.
She has done what she said she would do, she says: The council has passed sound financial policies, consolidated the city and school garages and is working on a study to try to combine other services.
Rogers said she learned of losing the support of some of her former campaign committee members, including campaign manager Talmadge C. Jones, a few days shy of the first anniversary of her term in office. They disliked her support of tax increment financing, an incentive to facilitate commercial and industrial development in the city's north end. TIF eventually failed.
``He (Jones) has never forgiven me, but he only represents a few constituents,'' Rogers said in an interview. ``The letter only had 10 signatures on it. . . . I prefer to focus on the positive things that have happened since I've been on council. . . .''
Jones now manages the campaign of Rogers' opponent, William B. Bishop.
Running on the theme ``Truth in Government,'' Bishop sees nothing wrong with seeking a council seat in the city he has sued. He wants the position because he is concerned about what goes on in Suffolk, he said.
Oral arguments in the lawsuit, which alleges that Bishop's free-speech rights were violated and that he was denied access to grievance procedure, were heard last month by 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
``I don't want to get into anything with the lawsuit,'' Bishop said. ``I will work with any reasonable person.''
Bishop is steadfast in his conviction that the suit would have no bearing on his performance as a council member.
``Anything I do will go through the city manager,'' he said. ``I can do a good job for the city.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photos
Marian ``Bea'' Rogers
William B. Bishop
KEYWORDS: ELECTION SUFFOLK CANDIDATES by CNB