John Edwards' IBEW Electrician Brother Blake "spotlighted" in Campaign

Published: Oct 17, 2004
Modified: Oct 17, 2004 2:32 PM
Edwards' fame throws light on brother's flaws


By RYAN TEAGUE BECKWITH, RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER


(SH) - When John Edwards stepped into the spotlight as the Democratic vice presidential nominee this summer, he was not alone.

His wife, his children, even his parents all had their moments.

But none was cast in as harsh a light as his younger brother, Blake. When a New York newspaper dug up an outstanding warrant on a charge of drunken driving, Blake Edwards suddenly found his life was a matter of national interest.

In its story, The New York Daily News called him a "terror on the road." Comparisons to Billy Carter and Roger Clinton popped up, and an unflattering photograph appeared in newspapers as far away as Australia.

After a brief spell, things quieted down. Blake Edwards has refused interview requests and hired an attorney, and if everything goes as scheduled, he will appear next month in a Colorado courtroom, after the election. That should resolve the decade-old charge, the last remnant of what seems to be a much different part of his life.

"It's like a completely different person," neighbor Angie Giarelli said of media portrayals of Blake Edwards.

Blake Edwards' story - with its downs and ups - is not an unusual one and would have received little attention except for his brother's celebrity. But if his older brother is elected vice president, TV cameras and newspaper reporters will flood the Colorado courtroom, and political blogs again will light up with his name.

If the Democratic ticket loses, there still will be some interest, since John Edwards is touted as a possible presidential contender in 2008.

Either way, the quiet life of a Fuquay-Varina, N.C., electrician again will be lost in the rough-and-tumble world of national politics.

Wesley Blake Edwards was born in 1964, the youngest of three children. Like his brother and sister, he grew up in the mill town of Robbins, N.C. Eleven years younger than John, he went to North Moore High School in the early Reagan years, much different from the Nixon era of his brother.

After graduating in 1983, Edwards began getting in trouble with the law. After two accidents as a teenager and a ticket for going nearly 70 mph in a 55 mph zone, he was charged with driving while impaired in 1985.

He was convicted and lost his license for 10 days. Not long after he got it back, he was again ticketed, for speeding.

By 1987, Edwards had settled on a career as an electrician. He joined an apprenticeship program with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in Durham. It took about four years to earn journeyman status, but finishing the program meant steady work at construction sites around the country.

Blake Edwards' troubles with the law didn't end. In 1987, he was pulled over for speeding and refused a breath-alcohol test. A judge found him guilty of driving while impaired and ordered him to spend a week in jail and surrender his license.

Then in 1990, he got a third drunken-driving conviction, this time in another state, and lost his license permanently under a North Carolina three-strikes law.

When he was pulled over in Colorado in 1993, three days after his 29th birthday, Edwards was in serious trouble. He was charged with driving while under the influence, careless driving and operating a vehicle without a license, according to court records.

When his court date came, he didn't show up. A warrant was issued for his arrest.

By many accounts, Blake Edwards has turned his life around in the decade since. On two occasions, he was cited for driving without a license, but he has not had a serious brush with the law since 1993. Still, he never resolved the Colorado charges.

In 1999, he and his wife, Debbie, moved into a $100,000 home in Fuquay-Varina, paid for in cash by John and Elizabeth Edwards. Their daughter is on the honor roll at a local elementary school.

Giarelli, a neighbor whose daughter plays with Edwards' daughter, described Blake Edwards as a hard-working family man, someone she has never seen take a drink of alcohol.

In an interview in July with The Pilot newspaper in Southern Pines, N.C., his mother, Bobbie, also defended him.

"He has his life together now and has a family now," she said. "That is his focus: to build a life for them. He is dealing with all these problems. He has been for some time."




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