Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 16, 1994 TAG: 9405160061
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"Mr. Payne votes for the Clinton agenda 86 percent of the time," Landrith said. "To give you an idea of how out of touch my opponent is, not a single congressman from the state of Massachusetts has voted for the Clinton agenda as frequently as Mr. Payne."
The Fifth District runs from Danville to Charlottesville and includes Bedford and most of Bedford County, plus Franklin County, Henry County, Martinsville and Patrick County.
Republicans met Saturday to nominate candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives. They were also voting for three district chairmen in the start of two weekends of intraparty fights over control of the Virginia GOP.
Nearly 200 Sixth District Republicans nominated Rep. Robert Goodlatte of Roanoke for a second term at a convention in Lynchburg. Don Duncan, the district chairman, was unopposed for re-election.
Several battles are being waged between old-guard Republicans and newer activists aligned with the religious right. The Christian conservatives have wrested away several local chairmanships this spring.
Gov. George Allen attended the 7th District convention in Richmond, in which district chairman June Funkhouser defeated Wayne Sullivan, an anti-abortion activist from Chesterfield County.
Allen also wrote a letter supporting Randolph Byrd of Charlottesville, who lost his 5th District chairmanship to Donivan Edwards of Henry County.
Edwards, a middle school principal, received support from the religious right. He was endorsed by Mike Farris, a Christian conservative who ran on the GOP ticket last year with Allen in an unsuccessful bid to become lieutenant governor.
"The best is yet to come for our party if we remain true to conservative values," Edwards told the 400 people at the Rustburg convention.
In the 9th District, three candidates were vying for the chairmanship left vacant when Allen named Jerry Kilgore as secretary of public safety. Gary Waddell of Pennington Gap defeated Carl Stark of Wytheville and Paul Varson of Wise County. None of the three claimed any affiliation to the religious right.
Stephen H. Fast of Tazewell received the GOP nomination to oppose Democratic U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher.
More than 200 Third District Republicans met in Williamsburg to nominate Tom Ward of Newport News to challenge Democratic U.S. Rep. Robert C. Scott.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB