Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 19, 1994 TAG: 9405190166
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BRISTOL LENGTH: Medium
Farmers supporting Rep. Rick Boucher gathered Wednesday to defend the Democratic incumbent's position on the proposed tax increase. Another group of farmers rallied for Boucher's Republican opponent, Steve Fast, on Tuesday.
Tobacco farmer John Stallard sat under a pine tree and watched Fast talk and shake hands with supporters. ``Elections don't interest me so much,'' Stallard said. ``I'm going to back the one who does the most for tobacco. Period.''
Fast accused Boucher of lying to 9th District constituents about the proposed federal excise-tax hike on tobacco.
``It's time we had a representative who says the same thing to you, the people, that he's saying on Capitol Hill,'' Fast said. ``Our congressman is such a Clinton man that he has already conceded the fight.''
But Robert Winiger, a Scott County tobacco farmer supporting Boucher, said, ``The opposition's claim is that [Boucher] has thrown in the towel.''
``Well,'' Winiger said Wednesday, ``anybody that reads the papers can see that it is going to pass, and he's making plans in case it does pass to get some money back to the burley tobacco farmers ... to help grow some other crops.''
Next month a House subcommittee is expected to consider whether to raise the cigarette tax from 24 cents to $1.25 per pack. The Clinton administration has called for a 75-cent increase, to 99 cents per pack. Revenues would be used to help finance health care reform. Clinton, Boucher and others in Congress also want the revenue used to fund training programs for farmers interested in growing other crops.
About 14,000 Southwest Virginia families earn a living from burley sales, and many say there is no market in the region for alternative cash crops. Statewide, tobacco pulls in about $200 million annually, according to county extension agents, and the ripple effect of those sales boosts the Virginia economy by almost $400 million each year.
Boucher dismissed his opponent's claims, saying, ``I am adamantly opposed to an increase in the tobacco tax. Period. Exclamation point.''
``The only thing I can divine from [the Fast campaign attacks] is they are preying on the concerns and fears of tobacco growers in a deliberate campaign to misinform and mislead those growers for their own narrow political advantage,'' Boucher said.
Boucher said he does not believe a tax increase is inevitable.
``I'm doing everything I can to keep the excise tax from increasing any,'' he said.
Mark Graham, chairman of the Washington County Democratic Party, said, ``Representatives of the agricultural community are going to be laying out the facts that Rick Boucher is and has been a supporter of the tobacco farmer.''
by CNB