By John Fredericks / STAFF

Hey Lori Henry, Mayor Jere Wood has a news flash for you: turn out the lights, your campaign party’s over. The race to lead Roswell is now officially under way.

Wood opened his campaign for re-election for a fourth term on Friday in a brilliantly conceived noon rally in Roswell’s City Hall rotunda. Amidst the fanfare and festivities, Wood once again proved why he may be down, but not out. He is the master municipal politician, the consummate local political strategist. He’s playing hardball in a league his current competitors, Henry and Councilman David Tolleson, can barely fathom, let alone compete in. And he trumped Henry for the second week in a row.

Right now this race is akin to the Polish cavalry fighting German Panzer tanks at the outbreak of WWII. It’s a political mismatch of slaughter-like proportions.

OLENS' PLAYBOOK

On Tuesday he took a page out of Sam Olens‘ campaign, trumpeting a press conference scheduled for high noon on Friday, promising a decision on his future political plans. He gave four options: run for Roswell mayor, run for the state senate, run for statewide office or retire from politics and spend time with his wife. This ploy ensured maximum turnout and full press coverage.

Next, he sent an email – and followed up with a personal telephone call – inviting all of Roswell’s community leaders to join him at the press conference so he could publicly praise their contributions to Roswell over the years. He also invited North Fulton’s mayors and several prominent elected officials from the north side, including State Reps. Harry Geisinger (R-Roswell) and Wendell Willard (R-Sandy Springs), who is running for state senate, State Senator Dan Moody (R-Alpharetta), who is retiring after the 2010 session and Roswell school board member Linda Shultz. Even Olens showed up. Geisinger and Moody have officially endorsed Wood.

On the surface, it didn’t matter to Wood if his guests supported his re-election or not, although he did manage to snub Eileen Seidman, a Henry supporter, who led the effort to secure a new Roswell library on the east side. He induced nearly all of his guests to show up – around 60 – and introduced each one by name, while chronicling their accomplishments.

Flush and flanked on each side by Roswell’s cadre of movers and shakers, he then announced his plans to run for re-election, while highlighting the city’s awards and accomplishments during his 12 years at the helm, including being named one of America’s top cities to live in several years ago.

This was Wood at his best.

NOT DEAD WOOD YET

Down by a few points to Henry in The Beacon’s unofficial voter surveys, with his wife Judy Raiford standing loyally by his side, Wood outlined his main campaign themes.  These included building a new road from Old Alabama Road to Old Roswell road – coined the Big Creek North Bridge Parkway – to “link east and west Roswell together,” beautifying the Ga. 400–Holcomb Bridge Road interchange “to represent the gateway to the city,“ reinvigorating re-development and leading the local effort to form Milton County.

Concerning re-development, Wood said, “We’ve come up with plans that don’t work, now we need plans that work.” Taking aim at Henry, he added, “We can’t just regulate our way to success and by saying ‘no.’ We need to spearhead a true entrepreneurial effort that engages the development community while capturing the spirit of sensible business growth.” Wood promised to assemble all the key neighborhood leaders and “get them together with developers” in an effort to forge partnerships.

When questioned what role the Roswell mayor could play in getting Milton County passed, Wood noted that the effort to make Sandy Springs its own city took more than 30 years. “This is doable and as mayor I will be pushing for it in any way I can,” Wood said. “It may happen in 2010 or sometime later but we have to keep it alive. This may be a long drawn out war that we must be prepared to fight.”

Asked for his response to former Mayor Pug Mabry’s endorsement of Henry, and his claim that Wood raised his six-term tenure as a campaign issue against him in 1997, Wood fired right back. “Pug says 12 years is too long, isn’t that ironic for somebody who served 31 years and ran for 35?” Wood quipped. “I advocated term limits and brought it up in two different councils, but each time it got defeated 4-2.” Wood said he kept his campaign pledge. “Our council voted my term limit proposals down twice,” he asserted.

"A DEFINING ELECTION"

Wood said the current Roswell city council is divided “50-50” and predicted that this years election will be a watershed event, “that will define our future for years to come. We will either move forward, or move backward,” Wood warned.

But Henry campaign manager Staci Lofton, a veteran of Roswell political battles, disputed Wood’s claim. “If Wood wins we will surely move forward,” Loftin said, “right into high rises.” Loftin pondered if her candidate was running against “Mayor Stop the Sprawl or Mayor Build ‘em Tall? Are we running against Mayor Two-Term or Mayor Too Long? How many times can Wood re-make himself?“ she asked.  “He needs to hire Ty Pennington, he’s had so many makeovers.” Loftin offered that Wood would say anything to win. “He’s asking Roswell voters for a leap of faith. He’s Mayor 180 - you never really know what he believes and what he really stands for.” Loftin promised to make character and integrity a campaign factor. “The citizens of Roswell deserve better,” Loftin said. “We deserve a mayor who means what she says and does what she means, rather than someone who spins the roulette wheel to figure out their vision of the day.”

Wood said he would not run a slate of council candidates, surmising that if he won it would stand to reason that new council members who support his agenda would likely prove victorious.

THE UNHOLY ALLIANCE

When queried about reports that he has consistently told former supporters who have abandoned his re-election effort to “vote for David Tolleson if you can’t support me,” Wood freely admitted it and was strident and calculating with his response. “Tolleson is a great second choice for mayor,” Wood said. “He would serve the city well.”

But Loftin scoffed at the Tolleson alliance. “David Tolleson can’t win, and Wood knows that.”

Reminded of his disastrous support for the Charlie Brown Towers calamity, Wood discounted the ghost of Brown as a campaign issue. “The people of Roswell spoke and I listened,” Wood explained. “If Charlie Brown came to my office the day after I get re-elected I will tell him, ‘no.’ The fact that my opponents keep resurrecting the past is because they have no vision for the future,” he concluded. “They are grasping at straws, they have no plan [for Roswell] so they have to drudge up the past.”

Loftin countered, “Your history will often be the precursor to your future. He has never explained his sudden reversal. First he says the city will go bankrupt without enormous skyscrapers, then he votes for a deficit budget that raids the capital reserve fund,” she added.

WHAT TO EXPECT

The Henry campaign took a pummeling in the last two weeks. Henry’s political inexperience is showing through, and the qualities that might make her a fine mayor are making her a lousy candidate. Her fundraising prowess is suspect and we expect a weak showing for her campaign on disclosure day. Her slim lead in our unofficial surveys is sure to wither under Wood’s coming onslaught. But Henry is a quick study, and she has demonstrated she can react expeditiously  and effectively to a shifting political landscape. She is counting heavily on her notorious ground forces to keep her in the race, but it may not be enough. The Wood team knows their biggest risk is getting into a run-off with Henry. If that plays out, Wood will likely be forced to go to option four of his email: spend time with his wife. In a municipal run-off, she who has the troops wins. That is why Wood is pushing Tolleson, hoping he knocks Henry into third place.

To win, Henry needs to shake-up her campaign team, with the exception of Loftin, who gets this race. Look for Henry to pick up the pace immediately, call for change and name a new campaign chairman. If she does that in short order, hold on to your seat belts, this campaign may be quite the ride to Election Day.

As for Tolleson, he was traveling on business this week, and unavailable for comment. But with friends like Wood quasi campaigning for him, who needs enemies?