Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 4, 1992 TAG: 9202040198
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
BELL SEEKS GOP CONGRESSIONAL NOMINATION
Montgomery County Republican Chairman George Bell stood on his record as a husband and father Monday when announcing he will seek his party's nomination to oppose incumbent 9th District Congressman Rick Boucher, an Abingdon Democrat and bachelor.Bell launched his long-expected campaign with a speech to reporters and about 50 supporters crammed into the lobby of the Comfort Inn.
He stressed the need for jobs, quality health care and a return to family values. He attacked Boucher's voting record as hurting efforts toward meeting those needs.
"Virtually everything I do in this campaign will come from the experience I have had, not only as a businessman and an educator . . . but from my experience as a husband and a father, a family man," Bell said.
He was not saying that single people don't make good congressmen, Bell said afterwards. "It has nothing to do with lifestyle."
Bell said judgments are made from experience and he believes the perspective of a family man, which the 9th District has not had for 10 years, is much needed in Congress now.
He has been concerned that Congress doesn't understand that legislation it passes has an effect "in our own families," Bell said.
Growing up, he believed government was passing laws that strengthened families and was working for the public good, but no longer, he said.
He is bothered, Bell said, that children grow up too fast to cope with drugs, violence and crime. And it bothers him that U.S. schools don't stack up when looked at globally, he said.
"The fact is that the day our families began to break down was the day most of America's real problems began."
Bell, 40, is a self-employed Blacksburg investment counselor. He and his wife, Barbara, a teacher at Dublin Middle School, have two children, ages 10 and 7.
The holder of a doctor of education degree from Virginia Tech, Bell was an associate professor at Tech from 1979-1985. He has been active as a volunteer in various community organizations and is a member of Christ Episcopal Church.
Bell is the second Republican seeking to oppose Boucher. Lewis Sheckler, a professor of music at Radford University, announced last month. Several other GOP names have been mentioned as potential candidates, including former 9th District Congress William Wampler of Bristol.
Whether Wampler decides to get into the race will have no bearing on his campaign, Bell said. That shows more confidence than Bell had in November when he said if Wampler runs every other candidate could probably hang it up.
Bell said he made up his mind to seek the nomination Saturday after the Montgomery GOP passed a resolution urging him to get into the race.
"A lot of people were tired of me straddling the fence," he said.
Bell accused Boucher on Monday of using his "Showcasing Southwest Virginia" tours for business as a way of promoting himself. Boucher's congressional votes for taxes and regulations have hurt business, Bell said.
Specifically, Bell mentioned Boucher's support for the new civil-rights law, the Americans with Disabilities Act, striker-replacement legislation and family-leave legislation.
During the past 10 years, few businesses have located in Southwest Virginia, but what business wants to locate in a region whose congressman is trying to put them out of business, Bell said.
The moratorium on new federal regulations called for by President Bush in his State of the Union message was a right step, Bell said.
Asked about his stand on the volatile abortion issue, Bell said he was opposed to abortions for birth control or sex selection and federally financed abortions, but he does not oppose abortions in cases of rape, incest and threat to life for the mother.
Keywords:
POLITICS