Part 2 of a 3-part series

By Paul Kaplan / STAFF

When the economy tanked last year, Roswell Councilwoman Lori Henry and her husband Karl thought they were prepared.

They had saved money, invested it, had a well-balanced portfolio and had created a separate account for their daughter’s college fund.

“We did everything we were supposed to do,” said Henry.

Everything - except for one.

Their daughter’s fund was doing well, so the Henrys left it fully invested, even as she started college. That’s a no-no. As you get closer to needing money, whether it’s for college or retirement, you should lower your exposure to risk, investment experts say.

When the markets plummeted by half, the Henrys’ college fund got hammered.

“We made a mistake,” Henry said, and she and her husband, who is in print sales, had to scramble to make sure their daughter’s education was covered.

The Henrys, in other words, are a lot like many of us – hurting from the downturn and having to tough it out to make ends meet.

HENRY FOR MAYOR

But there is one big difference: Henry wants to be mayor of Roswell and if she runs in November, as is expected, she’s going to need a lot of money to unseat the three-term incumbent, Mayor Jere Wood.

Wood does not have Henry’s financial constraints. He is an attorney, his wife Judie Raiford is a successful businesswoman, they have no children, and Wood’s late father Roy, a federal official and an early settler in Roswell, bought a good bit of land that became very valuable, before handing it down.

Wood is a dynamic speaker and something of a maverick. But he has picked up his share of enemies during his 12 years as mayor, many of them after he started supporting higher densities in Roswell, including Charlie Brown’s proposed high-rise towers.

Henry is much the opposite, not only financially but also in her style. She is unassuming and rather quiet, and she has been a staunch supporter of neighborhoods over development interests. Many residents in those communities appreciate that Henry has had their backs over the years. She has detractors in the business community, but nothing that appears to approach the level of opposition that Wood generates.

FIRE IN THE BELLY?

“He’s got the money but not the people,” Henry said. “I’ve got the people but not the money.”

If only it were that simple.

Yes, Wood has money, but he also has the fire for a good political fight. He actually seems to enjoy political battles, and the attention they bring. He’s got a bit of the ham in him. And he loves a tumble.

Henry, on the other hand, prefers a plodding, fact-gathering approach to decision-making. She does not enjoy fighting, especially with Wood, who she considers to be self-centered and overly controlling. She doesn’t deal well with it, and that affects her both personally and professionally.

Henry said she genuinely enjoyed her early days on the council after she was first elected eight years ago. But Wood eventually took much of the pleasure out of the process, she said.

“Most days now I walk through the doors at City Hall and I get a knot in my stomach,” Henry said. “What’s (Wood) planning today to game the system, to cut a deal, to pick off a council member to get his way?”

That disdain could work in Henry’s favor if it pushes her on the campaign trail. But it hasn’t, at least not yet. It’s still early in the election year, of course, but challengers have to start sooner, especially with fundraising. Some of Wood’s opponents – and even some of Henry’s supporters – are concerned that she may lack the fire and the will for a long slugfest with the mayor.

MONEY CAN’T BUY HAPPINESS

Insiders say it’s going to take a rich war chest to make a viable run at Wood. That’s a complicating factor for candidates like Henry, who can’t afford to fund their own campaigns. And in a deep recession like this one, when campaign giving thins out, it’s especially hard on non-incumbents.

Another challenge for Henry will be the perception among some in Roswell that she is too negative. Henry’s initial input on city matters is often of the naysayer variety, according to some people who have dealt with her, including a fellow council member who did not want to be quoted.

There can be a fine line between healthy skepticism and unhealthy negativity. Skeptics can keep things honest, while negativity can frustrate a good-faith effort. Some think Henry occasionally crosses that line, while others point out that her tough stance on development issues has held builders’ feet to the fire and helped Roswell achieve measured and quality growth.

Henry has become very knowledgeable about community development issues, and has taken a leadership position on many key city projects. She honchoed the soon-to-begin midtown redevelopment plan as well as the city’s mixed-use ordinance, which she co-wrote with councilwoman Paula Winiski, who is now retired.

POLICY WONK?

Even some Wood supporters concede that Henry has been a valuable leader on development and redevelopment issues, but they say she’s too slow and indecisive, and that she seems to want to write new rules for everything.

“I think Lori Henry believes she can regulate success – if you can create enough rules you can regulate the city forward,” Wood said. “I think we need to give incentives and empower people. I don’t think we can encourage redevelopment by developing regulations.”

Henry said it’s not her push for effective regulations that slow things down in Roswell. It’s Wood’s “pie-in-the-sky ideas, like Charlie Brown,” that take up enormous amounts of staff time and may amount to nothing.

“Staff spent two years on the Charlie Brown project and completely lost their focus,” Henry said.

TOLLESON: The WHITE KNIGHT?

If Henry is vulnerable in a big-money slugfest, as some contend, that could provide an opening for a candidate like City Councilman David Tolleson, who is seriously considering running for mayor.

Tolleson doesn’t have as many negatives as Henry does, or as many positives. She has taken more leadership roles on major issues than Tolleson has, while he has avoided much of the political in fighting and the long, thankless work in the trenches that Henry has shouldered in birthing new ordinances.

What Tolleson has is likeability. He’s a nice guy and he listens well, and he has a knack for going about his business without antagonizing people. That’s no small feat on the Roswell City Council.

One way Tolleson has avoided controversy is by delaying decisions on major issues. He’ll sit back, listen to all sides and watch the debate unfold before he commits.

Although he likes Tolleson personally, fellow City Councilman Kent Igleheart calls him “a world class fence-sitter” and sometimes wonders whether his real motive is to hear all of the facts, as Tolleson states, or to broker the result when he holds the swing vote.

Political fence-straddlers far bigger than Tolleson have found success in politics, but they can drive their cohorts nuts. That’s occasionally what it does to Igleheart, who is a bit of a firebrand. Igleheart prefers to get things done rather than talk about them ad nauseum, and his positions on most issues of substance are crystal clear from the outset.

Tolleson, on the other hand, usually manages to stay above the council fray, which, when passions are inflamed, can get downright childish. Like the song says, some fights aren’t even worth being won, and Tolleson is good at avoiding those situations.

“I think there is a desire in the community to feel like we’re all working together, and I think there are concerns in the community that that doesn’t always happen,” Tolleson said.

And if he were mayor?

“I think what you would find is more bridge-building between the government of Roswell and the people it serves,” he said.

WHAT’S AN ORLANS TO DO?

Orlans may be a wild-card in the race. He is the senior person on council, both in years of service (17) and age (62), and he has wanted to be mayor for a long time.

“He’s tired of being the mayor-in-waiting,” Wood said.

Orlans has a business in Roswell – an employee benefits firm – and for years he has been an unabashed champion of commercial interests in the city. Many in the business community would be happy to see him as mayor. If not Orlans, there is considerable support for Wood, who has been increasingly supportive of business’ needs in recent years.

Orlans said that as mayor he would “set a positive attitude of working together for the citizens.” That is a mirror image of Tolleson’s message, so get ready to hear that a lot over the next six months. Wood will be portrayed as a divisive force, while his challengers will try to position themselves as the best person to bring everyone back together again. Count on that.

Wood and Orlans have a friendly relationship, and their main constituencies are similar – long-time residents and those who support growth – so it’s hard to imagine them both running. But if they both do, the understated Orlans would be a clear underdog to the charismatic Wood.

On the other hand, if both Henry and Tolleson run, a runoff is almost a certainty, with one of them likely advancing to face the other main vote getter, probably Wood.

That would set up a battle royal for leadership of the city.. The old vs. the new. The neighborhoods vs. the development interests. Density vs. slow growth. The strong mayor vs. the consensus-builder.

It is shaping up, in other words, as the most exciting mayoral race in a generation, with nothing less at stake than the future of one of Georgia’s largest and most interesting cities.