Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 25, 1993 TAG: 9301250041
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Southwest bureau
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
GOP GETS CANDIDATE PREVIEW
Ninth District Republicans heard Sunday from would-be candidates for lieutenant governor and attorney general and planned to field candidates in more legislative races this year.Jerry Kilgore, chairman of the district GOP committee, said his twin brother, Terry Kilgore, planned to seek the Republican candidacy in the 1st House District where Del. Ford Quillen, D-Gate City, the senior member of the Southwest Virginia delegation, has said he may not seek re-election.
The party has only Del. Tommy Baker, R-Radford, and Del. Steve Agee, R-Salem, in the House from the Ninth District and state Sens. Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo, R-Fincastle, and William Wampler Jr., R-Bristol, in the state Senate. Agee is one of those seeking the attorney general candidacy, and Morgan Griffin is seeking the party candidacy to run for Agee's seat.
Barnes Kidd has indicated he will seek a rematch with Del. G.C. Jennings, D-Marion. But Jerry Kilgore said no contenders have been found yet to challenge other Democratic legislators in the district.
"I'm going to ask the chairmen of those districts to meet immediately and get us a candidate," he said. "If the Ninth District can give three new Republicans to the General Assembly, we've done more than our share."
Agee, now in his 12th year as a delegate, and two-term Henrico County Commonwealth's Attorney Jim Gilmore are seeking the GOP nod to run for attorney general.
Michael Farris, a Hamilton lawyer who founded the Home School Legal Defense Association in 1983, and Bobbie Kilberg, a presidential assistant who ran a respectable but unsuccessful race against 22-year incumbent Clive DuVal in the 32nd state Senate district in 1987, are the lieutenant governor contenders.
Agee and Farris agreed on problems with the parole system. Farris said a cocaine dealer his office sent up for a 20-year sentence in 1989 has already made parole. Agee said he had introduced bills to abolish parole in Virginia altogether "and I'm doing it again this year."
Agee said he will introduce a bill Tuesday for life imprisonment for anyone convicted a third time of a violent crime. "Seventy percent of all the violent crime is done by six percent of the crooks," he said.
Agee said he would also provide a voice for Southwest Virginia on the ticket. Gilmore said he was the only candidate with experience at running a large prosecutor's office along the lines of the attorney general's office.
As lieutenant governor, Farris said, he would be as dependable about casting a conservative vote in cases of legislative ties as Democratic Lt. Gov. Donald Beyer has been with liberal votes. He said he would present the best contrast to Beyer in a race.
Kilberg said she would run on the same issues she did in the 1987 state Senate race and had already raised $80,000 - $10,000 of it from her and her husband - toward her race. She said Virginia must be more user-friendly than it has been under Democratic administrations to potential new business, and public safety must be improved so families can let their children play in their front yards without concern of what might happen to them.
Keywords:
POLITICS
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Memo: Correction ***CORRECTION***