Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 29, 1990 TAG: 9007290148
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARGIE FISHER RICHMOND BUREAU
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: Long
They graciously welcomed into their midst Paul Goldman, chairman of the state Democrats and point man for Gov. Douglas Wilder. They listened without hissing and booing while Goldman bashed their party for the national budget deficit and the savings and loan scandal - and let him leave with only a few verbal arrows sticking in his back.
Goldman showed class as well.
He took more than a little heat for the continuing controversy over Wilder's use of state helicopters for private missions. He also stood his fiscal ground and stood up for many average folks who don't think the economy is as rosy as national Republicans paint it and who are mad about President Bush breaking his no-tax pledge.
At the end of the hour-long, free-wheeling debate between Goldman and James Miller - budget director during the Reagan administration, state GOP Chairman Don Huffman of Roanoke and several other Republicans told Goldman how well he had done and glad they were to have had him as their guest.
"I felt right at home," said Goldman.
If Goldman lost points, it was due to his refusal to agree on the spot to a similar debate - before the state Democratic party's leadership. He said he would consider it but made no commitments.
Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political scientist who served as moderator of the debate, took the side of the Republicans in arguing for not just one more debate but a series of debates to educate people about their various differences on many issues.
That's what political parties are supposed to do, said Sabato. "This makes me excited about political parties."
As for the winner in the Goldman-Miller exchange, Sabato called it a draw. Miller "knew the federal statistics better, but [Goldman] had the better punch lines." And, Sabato added, Goldman "demonstrated some courage in walking into the lion's den" of a potentially unfriendly audience.
As expected, the debate focused on who handles taxpayers' money best - Republicans in Washington or Democrats in Richmond.
When Miller fussed at Goldman for not being in Washington to help fight against the tax-and-spend Democrats in Congress while Miller was budget director, Goldman said, "If you got to turn it over to somebody from Virginia, I might have a few suggestions."
With many Republicans and Democrats convinced that Wilder has his eye on the White House, Miller picked up on the opening. "Well, I want to ask you, Mr. Goldman: How would Gov. Wilder balance the federal budget? What taxes would he raise and what spending would he cut?"
"The fact of the matter is that Gov. Wilder believes you don't need [new] taxes to balance the budget," Goldman replied - bragging that Democrats who control Virginia's government have balanced the state budget without raising taxes.
Miller then reminded the Democrat that the state had a $400 million budget shortfall last year.
"We've got a $100 billion shortfall in Washington," Goldman said.
Goldman lashed out at Bush for breaking his pledge not to raise taxes. "Now, instead of having to read his lips, we've got to read his mind" to guess what taxes he will raise, he said.
Miller said he agreed that Bush shouldn't have reneged on his promise. But when Miller said Bush had "been bullheaded into going back on his no-new-tax pledge by the Democrats," even some of the Republicans in the audience groaned.
Overall, Miller defended the Reagan and Bush administrations handling of the economy. The Republican presidents, he said, had turned the economy around since "the malaise days" when Democrat Jimmy Carter was in the White House.
But Goldman said the American people know the economy is not doing as well now as the Republicans are trying to make them believe.
The Goldman-Miller debate followed a hum-drum meeting of the Republican central committee. The friction-free atmosphere seemed designed to show the press and public that the party has recovered from the managerial disarray that wracked it earlier this year and prompted calls for the resignations of Huffman and other party officials.
"All that stuff's behind us now," said Fifth District GOP Chairman Don Moseley of Buckingham.
Moseley and other party leaders also said the GOP has gotten a much needed boost from a recent unity project that was launched by three of its failed gubernatorial candidates - Marshall Coleman, Paul Trible and Wyatt Durrette.
But Moseley suggested that the effectiveness of the Coleman-Trible-Durrette initiative is not all that flattering to the trio.
"We are definitely 100 percent united behind the idea that Durrette, Trible and Coleman shouldn't run for something" anytime in the near future, Moseley said. "They said they weren't interested in running and everybody's ecstatic about that."
Moseley stressed that's not because Republicans are down on the three. It's just that "everybody's looking for new faces and a new future" and believe Republicans can do a better job of rebuilding if they don't have to worry about future Coleman, Trible or Durrette candidacies dividing them.
"They're just not part of the future right now. Maybe in the next millenium - but not now," he said.
Moseley said the GOP is "taking a line from the Democrats" and is looking for fresh new faces such as Democratic Lt. Gov. Don Beyer to run for statewide office in 1993.
Meanwhile, the Republicans seemed to be taking Coleman, Trible and Durrette's advice by going after the Democrats. They took several digs at Wilder during the day.
At the central committee meeting, Terri Hauser, chairwoman of the Young Republicans' Federation of Virginia, said members are furious about Wilder's frequent travels out of state and his use of the state police helicopter for personal reasons.
Hauser's organization distributed lapel stickers that charged Wilder had been AWOL - absent without leave - from his gubernatorial post.
The committee also passed a resolution calling on Wilder to keep open the public records that show how much he and other elected officials use state helicopters and planes and for what purposes.
Joe Elton, the GOP's executive director, said the party may seek such information through the Freedom of Information Act provisions if Wilder attempts to keep the records from public view.
by CNB