Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 5, 1993 TAG: 9308050162
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
Farris, who is challenging Democratic incumbent Don Beyer, is midway through a 10-day campaign in the valley and Southwest Virginia. He started the day with a breakfast talk at BT's Restaurant in Radford, then moved to Wytheville and towns farther west.
He will end the campaign swing Sunday with a reception at 1 p.m. at New River Community College in Dublin.
Farris said his major issues are getting Virginia out of debt and returning to the state's pay-as-you-go philosophy, having schools controlled by local counties or cities rather than by bureaucrats in Richmond, and reducing legislative regulatory burdens on businesses and local governments.
Federal and state bureaucrats have imposed a number of educational concepts that have not worked on schools, he said, and the proposed outcome-based education "will be the most colossal failure of all," Farris predicted.
He said he would push for phasing out all state-imposed regulations on localities over two or three years and making a cost-benefit analysis of them before reimposing any. He also said legislators should vote on imposing such regulations, rather than having legislative mandates interpreted by bureaucrats who in effect write the law.
Farris said he is finding people he meets in the region more receptive to his ideas than editorial writers have been.
"Mainly it's been two papers. The Virginian-Pilot and the Roanoke paper have been after me. That's the way it goes sometimes," he said. "I'm even thankful for the negative publicity sometimes because it keeps your face in front of the people."
"All I want is just for people to know the facts, and I'm not afraid of an in-depth analysis of what I believe," he said. "They seem to focus on one or two areas where they don't agree with me."
Keywords:
POLITICS}
by CNB