Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 2, 1995 TAG: 9511020062
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Of the two, neither of whom will be running for Mr. Charisma anytime soon, Edwards may be the more stolid, Bell the scrappier candidate. But Edwards is the one whom Roanoke city and county voters should send to Richmond.
Their campaign has been off-putting at times, often off-base - as when Bell accused Edwards of supporting government-run health care (he doesn't) and questioned Edwards' commitment to fighting crime (he's a former prosecutor). Meanwhile, contrary to the Democrat's ads, the reason to elect Edwards is not the two R's: Roanoke Valley "roots" and impressive "resume."
His background is storybook stuff, to be sure: father, a Roanoke mayor and judge; mother, supporting her son's candidacy in a TV commercial. Edwards himself: square-jawed, soft-spoken; high-school track star, Princeton grad, Marine captain, University of Virginia Law School, federal prosecutor, local attorney, congressional candidate, vice mayor. Etc.
Never mind all that. A better reason to vote for Edwards is the likelihood that his representation in the state Senate would do more than Bell's to further the interests of the Roanoke Valley and to counter the excesses of Gov. George Allen's agenda.
This is not to underestimate Bell. Few gave the computer sales-manager/
Jaycees president/political neophyte much chance of winning in 1991; he surprised a lot of people. And he has grown in office, notwithstanding a record (much-noted by Edwards) of getting just four bills passed.
One point in Bell's favor: his interest in charter schools. Though the public should be troubled that he came to this interest from favoring vouchers (which would subsidize private schools with taxpayers' money), Bell in general comes across a reasonable sort, less than entranced with the rigid right taking over his party. Among Virginia Republicans these days, he counts as a progressive.
Even so, Bell has proved a fairly reliable vote for Allen. And he has been less than reliable as an attuned advocate for our region's interests.
He has been mushy in support of education funding; he agreed with the governor about not accepting Goals 2000 money for Virginia schools, for example. And when Allen tried to cut funds for Roanoke Valley cultural organizations, such as Center in the Square, Bell failed to stand up to him. He proposed taking from museums in Martinsville and Staunton to free up funds for Roanoke.
Bell was right to suggest that state museums should raise more of their own support, like the Roanoke museums do. But the impression that he was trying without success to serve two masters, governor and constituents, was inescapable. Similarly, when Allen wanted to eliminate start-up funding for a Virginia Tech continuing-education center next to the Hotel Roanoke, university and city leaders did not look to Bell to fight for the project.
Edwards, in contrast, was an early advocate of installing a higher-ed center in the old Norfolk Southern office building. He seems to recognize more clearly, in general, the need for public-private partnerships and the economic value of environmental protection, cultural amenities, anti-poverty efforts and support for public education.
Leaving aside the merits of one party or another controlling the Senate, Edwards also could be counted on to vote in defense of Virginians - the urban, the poor, the less-educated, the ill - who are most vulnerable to ideologically inspired abuses in Richmond.
Keywords:
POLITICS ENDORSEMENT
by CNB