
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 8, 1990                   TAG: 9004060416
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Henry McGee
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BOUCHER STANDS IN WAY OF ECONOMIC GROWTH

The Roanoke Times and World-News ran an astonishing story about a month ago that literally sang of the tenacious efforts of U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, to attract economic development and jobs to Southwest Virginia. The piece was astonishing because it was a puff piece seemingly prepared by the good congressman's publicist but presented in the guise of objective journalism. In fact, the voting record of Boucher clearly reveals him to be one of the most anti-jobs, anti-business and anti-development representatives in the U.S. Congress.

Boucher makes a great display of his supposed concern for economic development in our area. Certainly we desperately need it. The district is losing jobs and losing population. And the unfortunate closing of the AT&T plant in Fairlawn is just one more troubling point on this same downward curve.

Rick Boucher's displays of concern - his very public displays - are typical of what we have come to expect of Congress in general. Here at home he offers much talk and much pious positioning - but in Washington he continues to vote in ways that oppose economic development. Among the many organizations that rate voting records are the National Federation of Independent Business and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, on the one hand, and the American Civil Liberties Union, on the other hand. Their ratings can serve as yardsticks between more mainstream and more radical points of view to measure Boucher.

Who is most likely to reflect concern for economic development? Would it be the small businessmen and businesswomen in our area? The gas station operator, the dry cleaner? Their interests are represented by the National Federation of Independent Business, which rates Boucher's voting record at 20 out of a possible 100. Eighty percent of his votes were rated as against the interests of small business! Even Ted Kennedy had a better record at 31 percent.

Or maybe one would argue that we need the enthusiasm of big business to bring plants into our economically depressed area. We need to relate to Hercules, AT&T, Volvo White and Hoechst Celanese, whose interests are represented by the Chamber of Commerce. Last year, it rated Boucher's voting record as only 29 percent favorable on economic issues.

By contrast, the voting records of Sen. John Warner, R-Va., and Rep. Stan Parris, a Republican from economically booming Northern Virginia, were ranked at 90 percent on these same economic issues. In fact, Boucher has a voting record much more akin to the delegation from the home state of Gov. Michael Dukakis than to the delegation from Virginia.

Boucher's low ranking in areas related to jobs is balanced by his outstanding 85 percent rating by the ACLU in areas that so often seem to attack mainstream American ideals on religious beliefs, family values and free enterprise. Here again, Boucher is out of step with other Virginia congressmen, who average only 38 percent approval by the ACLU. Rather, Boucher is in lock step with the Dukakis/Kennedy trust from Massachusetts, who average an outstanding 87 percent approval.

So who is this guy Rick Boucher who goes around the district saying, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help you?" It is clear that he has continuously voted in Washington in ways that retard economic development not only in Southwest Virginia but nationwide as well. Either he just does not understand what economic growth is about, or he is the double-deal personified! Meanwhile our area loses relative to the rest of Virginia, and the nation slides a bit more relative to Japan. Boucher has offered his Janus-faced help for eight years, and our economy has been going steadily downward. Is it any wonder that public surveys show the Congress to be held in the lowest of esteem among a host of public and private institutions?

by CNB