Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 2, 1995 TAG: 9511020049
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
If you live in Roanoke or Roanoke County, chances are that in the past week you've found literature in your mailbox with Roanoke Vice Mayor John Edwards' name all over it. In big letters.
But it's not coming from the Edwards campaign. Instead,| the source is his Republican opponent in the hotly contested race for the state Senate seat representing the city and most of the county, incumbent Brandon Bell.
Bell appears to be pulling out all the stops with hard-hitting direct mail, attacking Edwards for taking campaign money from trial lawyers, his stance against parental notification for minors' abortions, and his so-called "failed liberal education record."
A fourth flyer asks, "Why is John Edwards running such a negative, malicious campaign?'' And one Bell television commercial never mentions the senator all at - only Edwards.
Bell campaign manager James Faulkner maintains the advertising is issue-oriented rather than a personal attack.
"John has to be held accountable for his views if he wants to be a public official," Faulkner said. "We're talking about issues. If that's negative, then so be it."
But the flyers and TV spots have steamed Edwards, who last month pulled his own negative radio ad that lampooned Bell as a drawling country bumpkin more interested in fishing than in lawmaking.
Edwards' advertising strategy since late October has been largely positive: a television ad with an endorsement from his mother; another with an endorsement from Roanoke Sheriff Alvin Hudson.
Neither mention Bell, although other TV and radio spots by Edwards take minor jabs at the senator over federal education funding that Gov. George Allen turned down, a move Bell supported. Edwards has continued calling Bell a ``100 percenter for the governor" on the stump, not in campaign advertising.
"It's outrageous, the name-calling that's going on," Edwards said. "He's called me a liar. He's called me liberal without any substance. What Bell is doing is not providing an informed choice. He's clouding the issues and trying to poison peoples' minds with regard to me."
Faulkner said Edwards can hardly claim to be a victim.
"After all, John started this whole thing. It's rather hypocritical for John to call a stop to the negative campaigning, when he called Brandon a country hayseed," Faulkner said. "It was a bad portrayal of Brandon, it was a bad portrayal of Southerners, of Southern men."
Here's a synopsis of some of the charges being hurled around:
``John Edwards thinks parents should not be told when their young daughter seeks an abortion.''
Edwards says he hopes teens confronted with the decision involve their parents in it. But he's against a state law that requires doctors to inform parents.
``Trial lawyer John Edwards says we need even more trial lawyers in the Virginia Senate.''
Edwards as much as said that in a letter seeking support from members of the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association - from which he has received $9,000 in contributions.
He says trial lawyers, who typically take as their fee in civil cases a percentage of damages awarded, allow ordinary citizens, not just wealthy people, to have access to courts. Bell, meanwhile, has called for a cap on punitive damages - which are rarely awarded. And Virginia already has the lowest cap in the country.
``While Edwards has been a member of Roanoke City Council, student literacy test scores have dropped dramatically. ... Education funding has actually shrunk as a percentage of the budget.''
Literacy scores have dropped in the city during the last year. But they also dropped statewide, while Bell served in the Senate. It's largely as a result of a change in the way the tests were scored.
As for funding, the education budget has increased, but not as fast as the whole budget did this year. That's because the state gave the city more money this year for a jail expansion and transportion projects. That funding couldn't go toward education.
``Edwards is running these malicious, untrue advertising digs against Brandon Bell to hide his own liberal record and views.''
Edwards did caricature Bell in the early radio ad, which he later pulled. But Bell, whose campaign is spending almost twice as much as Edwards', has since dominated the airwaves - and mailboxes - with his attack ads.
"Is it any fault of Brandon's that he happens to have more resources than John Edwards, and his message is getting out there?'' Faulkner asked.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB