Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 10, 1994 TAG: 9411100086
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON AND RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: NELLYSFORD LENGTH: Long
The news wasn't as good elsewhere. More than 50 Democrats, most of them incumbents, lost to Republicans in House races across the nation Tuesday. In the wake of Election Day '94, which gave the Republican Party its first majority in Congress since the 1950s, Payne is finding himself wondering what life will be like in a Republican House.
A member of the policy-making House Ways and Means Committee, Payne once was seen as a rising star in the former majority party. But he's also known as a conservative Democrat who is willing to cross party lines for compromise votes. Some say that may keep him in a prominent role in Congress.
"Hopefully, I will be in a place to affect policy - in Congress and the administration," Payne said, adding that he believes he will keep his seat on Ways and Means, even though some Democrats are likely to be replaced by Republicans on every House committee.
Payne said it's too early to tell if bipartisan efforts will succeed in a Republican-led House or if its agenda even will be compatible with what 5th District constituents want. "It'll be in a very different landscape, a different terrain."
Ben Sheffner, assistant editor of the Cook Political Report, a Washington, D.C.-based newsletter, said Payne will have more negotiating power in a Republican House.
Soon-to-be Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich "will have to count on Democrats like Payne for support," Sheffner said. "The fact that the Republicans are in control, but not by a huge margin, certainly gives a lot of leverage to conservative Democrats like Payne."
University of Virginia political analyst Larry Sabato takes a different view of Payne's future.
"There isn't a Democrat in Congress who has the same power that they had Tuesday. That includes senior Democrats, too. It will be a real culture shock for them.
"It's going to be tough - very tough. It will be a partisan Congress on both sides of the aisle."
When it came to bipartisan compromise last year, Payne said, most efforts failed. "More congressmen are furthering the objectives of the party than the business of the people."
But the incumbent Democrat hopes the election shake-up will send a message to all congressmen that voters want to see Congress go forward instead of being mired in gridlock.
One inevitability of the Republican majority will be its legislative agenda, particularly the much-touted "Contract with America," in which Republicans pledged to cut taxes, increase defense spending and balance the budget. Payne criticized the plan during the campaign, saying it would add $1trillion to the federal deficit. But the morning after his victory, he sounded a more conciliatory note.
"I'm concerned about it. Those are some real conflicting objectives. But I think we really need to get together and talk about how we can achieve those objectives, all of which are worthy and all of which I support."
Also on Payne's legislative wish list for the coming session are more jobs for the 5th District and interstate highway designation for U.S. 220, a move that passed in the House but failed in the Senate last year.
Health care is another issue on Payne's mind. In the 5th, where a federal Department of Health and Human Services study showed 14 out of 17 counties are medically underserved, Payne wants health care and primary care physicians made available.
He also wants to reduce the budget deficit. One method for achieving that, he said, could be welfare reform, a concept that he said received strong bipartisan support in Ways and Means last year.
"People need to accept personal responsibility and stop relying on the government. We need to ensure that the system does not provide disincentives to work."
Payne said he supports a two-year limit on welfare payments, as well as tougher laws that would make fathers more financially responsible for their children.
He also said he hoped that with a guarantee of federal health care, welfare recipients would seek jobs instead of staying on welfare for fear of losing their Medicare or Medicaid benefits.
Payne won 17 of 22 cities and counties in the 5th, the largest geographical congressional district in the state. His final margin of victory was 6 percentage points - 53 percent to Republican challenger George Landrith's 47 percent. With 99 percent of the vote counted Wednesday, Payne had 94,955 votes; Landrith, 83,135.
Landrith outdistanced Payne in the counties of Bedford, Pittsylvania and Patrick as well as the cities of Danville and South Boston.
Payne, however, hammered Landrith in 5th District areas that went to U.S. Sen. Charles Robb, including Albemarle County (Landrith's home), Charlottesville and Nelson County (Payne's home).
"I never thought I could lose," Payne said, "But a lot of things in this election were out of my control - the unpopularity of the president; the attitudes against incumbent Democrats; the fact that Oliver North spent a good bit of time in our district; the attacks on my record, distorting and twisting it around - all of that made it an unpredictable race."
That Payne sidestepped the national Republican sweep was no surprise to Dave Kaplan, a Virginia political writer for the Congressional Quarterly.
Kaplan picked Payne to hold his seat in the House of Representatives.
"Payne carried the district against Republican tides before," Kaplan said. "He had already defined himself as a moderate conservative Democrat. Plus, he pays attention to his district. If you do that, you can win."
by CNB