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

DATE: MONDAY, February 7, 1994                   TAG: 9402080017
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

STACKED DECKS

INCUMBENT office-holders almost always have an edge at election time. In writing Virginia's election laws, the General Assembly has sharpened that edge for some incumbents - namely, its own members.

The legislature gives political party officials extraordinary authority to determine the process by which candidates are nominated. With this big exception:

Incumbent assembly members seeking re-election get to make the call between a primary or a convention - based, obviously, on which method they think will most likely discourage or work against challengers. In other words, they have a veto over the party organization's preferences.

The legislature now is considering a bill that would extend to Virginia's U.S. senators and congressmen the privilege that state lawmakers enjoy: to decide for themselves how the nomination for their office will be made.

That bill goes in the wrong direction. Not only would it help further stack the deck for incumbents. It would posit the power to decide the nominating process in just one person. That's absurdly undemocratic.

Keywords:
POLITICS GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994

by CNB