ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 25, 1996 TAG: 9602260052
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: ROBERT LITTLE STAFF WRITER
JOHN EDWARDS, Roanoke's new Democratic state senator, hasn't been shy about speaking up in Richmond. But Republicans say his votes prove he's a "far-out" liberal. He says that's too simplistic.
The state Senate had more than enough votes to make illegally killing a fetus the same thing as a first-degree murder. But it took a lot longer than expected. Sen. John Edwards didn't like the bill.
Mandatory jail sentences for kids who assault teachers? Discussion dragged on. Edwards didn't like the bill.
Even a hard-fought package to overhaul the state's juvenile justice system - one that took a year to write and had broad, bipartisan support - netted hours of debate in the Senate. And for one reason: John Edwards didn't like the bill.
More than any other rookie - more than most state senators, in fact - Roanoke's Democratic legislator has been close to the General Assembly fire, and even started a few.
While freshman senators traditionally spend their first year like flies on the wall, Edwards is more a fly in the ointment.
His objections to so many marquee issues have made him the subject of considerable Republican mutterings this year.
Could the voters have picked someone more diametrically different from Edwards' quiet Republican predecessor, Brandon Bell?
Could it be the Roanoke Valley has elected an honest-to-goodness liberal?
The label makes Edwards wince.
"That liberal tag," he said, shaking his head. "I don't know where that comes from."
Well, it comes from his voting record. The freshman Democrat not only has plunged into some of the gooiest issues of the year, he also has voted against most of them.
The former federal prosecutor voted against the centerpiece juvenile justice package, this year's tough-on-crime buzz. The bill's purpose: to treat more violent kids as adults and keep more behind bars.
He opposed a mandatory 10-day jail sentence for kids who assault teachers. "Can you think of any such instance where a 10-day sentence would not be appropriate, senator?" asked Sen. Mark Earley, R-Chesapeake. Probably not, Edwards responded.
When the Senate voted to add serial killing to the state's list of capital crimes, Edwards voted no - along with the chamber's two most credentialed liberals, Joseph Gartlan of Fairfax County and Yvonne Miller of Norfolk.
Republicans aren't even on the campaign prowl, so soon after an election, but they coo over each Edwards vote.
"We used to sit over there and get annoyed whenever he stood up and started talking," said one of Edwards' Republican colleagues, who spoke only if not identified. "Now, we love it. We cheer him on. Go ahead, drive another nail in your coffin.''
Edwards is one of nine first-year senators, and the only one with a consistent voice in the chamber debate. A whispery, deep-thinking type, he doesn't apologize for his unfreshmanlike penchant for chiming in. "I'm not a novice to government, and I felt like I was in a position to hit the ground running," said Roanoke's former vice mayor. "I think that's what people elected me to do - to try to shape policy. I'm not just going to watch other people do it."
But call him a liberal, and his eyes roll. That might fly in the shallow, sound-bitey debate of a political campaign, he says, but it simply isn't so.
Edwards is pro-death penalty and anti-gun control. He opposes higher taxes and bigger spending. And he harbors no undue sympathy for criminals.
"When I was a prosecutor, I pushed for some stiff sentences, put some people behind bars for a long time," Edwards said. "You can't say I'm soft."
The problem: Edwards votes against such bills as the juvenile justice changes for thoughtful, technical, often eye-glazing reasons. His votes often put him on record against bills he says he supports in concept.
Take the bill that would expand the death penalty law so that serial killers could be executed. Edwards likes the idea, but thought the bill that passed was vague, poorly worded and perhaps unconstitutional. He spent days trying to write a better law to do the same thing, but he had to vote against what he saw.
The mandatory jail term for assaulting teachers was the same. The law already allows up to a year in jail for such a crime, but it lets the judge decide. Edwards thinks 10 days is appropriate. But he thinks judges should decide each case, so he voted against the bill.
The plan to change juvenile justice? He likes most of it - but not a section extending the power of prosecutors. And he wanted to make feticide a crime that could carry life in prison, though not the way the bill would do it. He thinks the bill treats a fetus too much like a regular person and goes against a fundamental principal of the law.
"That doesn't make me a liberal, it makes me a careful legislator," Edwards said.
"I think there's too much of that voting on a bill because it sends a signal. I think people vote on emotion too much. People elected me to see to it that the laws are properly drafted, not vague or sloppy and technically inaccurate."
Throughout last fall's campaign, Edwards mostly was able to slough off the liberal label that Bell worked to give him. His record with the Roanoke City Council provided little insight, because votes there are about issues more local than ideological. And calling Democrats liberals was a mainstay of the Republican repertoire all over the state, not just in Roanoke.
So Edwards figures he couldn't keep Republicans from calling him a liberal even if he hired Pat Buchanan as a legislative aide. "People understand if I'm very careful about what I will support," he said. "I'll deal with that in four years if I have to."
Listening to the back-room chatter, you can bet he'll have to. When asked about Edwards, Scott Leake, a spokesman for General Assembly Republicans, didn't hesitate with a response. "Have you seen his voting record?'' he grinned. "It's so far out there."
LENGTH: Long : 110 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Edwards. color. KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1996by CNB