BIRD CITES BALILES' AID TO REGION

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

DATE: FRIDAY, January 17, 1992                   TAG: 9201170380
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER SOUTHWEST BUREAU
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE                                LENGTH: Medium
BIRD CITES BALILES' AID TO REGION
In what he said was his last political speech, former state Sen. Daniel Bird on Thursday night praised the pro-business climate of the General Assembly where he served for 16 years and cited Gerald Baliles as the governor who did the most for Southwest Virginia during that time.
Bird said the economic development program launched by Baliles, who was governor from 1986 to 1990, was criticized for its cost, "but he addressed the needs."
There was "a lot of rhetoric by our United States senators, a lot of rhetoric by our governors," he said, but it was Baliles in particular who launched the economic development programs leading to 131 new plant announcements bringing 11,106 new jobs to Southwest Virginia in the past five years.
Bird did not seek re-election last year. Before his service in the Senate, his father, D. Woodrow Bird Sr., was in the House of Delegates and Senate for 24 years.
The younger Bird was the keynote speaker at the quarterly meeting of Wythe County's Joint Industrial Development Authority. He said its executive director, Earl R. Joy, had asked him to talk about "how the Virginia legislature works. It works sometimes, Earl."
Actually, Bird said, it works pretty well, but most of its work is done in committees rather than on the floor. He said the Jan. 9 public hearing on Gov. Douglas Wilder's proposed budget in Wytheville and in three other places across the state was a step toward bringing that work closer to the people, even though time ran out before many of those attending the Wytheville hearing got to speak.
"For the first time in the history of the commonwealth that I know about, we had a public meeting on the budget outside of Richmond," he said. The attendance and obvious interest "speaks well for our region."
Bird, a Democrat, said party labels mattered little once he got to Richmond. "Most of the time, it was us country boys fighting those big urban boys in the north and east. So we've got to create coalitions," he said. "It's true that we're not a booming area. But it's also true that I'd put our quality of life up against any place in Virginia or anywhere else."

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB