Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 7, 1995 TAG: 9504070085
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MARION LENGTH: Medium
Gary Weddle, a Radford clothier seeking the nomination against Blacksburg businessman Pat Cupp, said the open mass-meeting format will favor Montgomery County, which has more population than any of the other five components of the district.
In their first joint appearance as candidates, Cupp and Weddle outlined their positions before 14 members of the Smyth County Christian Coalition.
Republicans from the five counties and one city that make up the 39th District will choose one of the two men in a May 20 mass meeting in Dublin. Marye, a Democrat from Shawsville who's served since 1973, is to announce his plans next week.
Weddle said his wife, Meg, and his campaign manager, Matt Fender, argued in a Feb. 6 party meeting that a convention that distributed votes on a proportional basis would have been a more fair means of choosing the Republican nominee. Weddle was unable to attend the meeting because he was out of town on business.
"The trouble you can run into at these types of meetings is one county completely dominating another," Weddle said.
Cupp, who entered the race last week, said the decision was made by a majority of the local chairmen who came to a Feb. 6 meeting in Dublin. Cupp, chairman of the Montgomery County Republicans, was one of the chairmen who voted in favor of the open mass-meeting format.
"My opponent's wife was there and she is an able negotiator," Cupp said. "But she lost."
Cupp downplayed the significance that his home base in Montgomery County will play in the mass meeting. He noted that Weddle grew up in Blacksburg. "Heck, he lives in Radford, I live in Blacksburg," Cupp said. "He's as close as me to Montgomery County."
"I don't want to start a geopolitical battle," Weddle said. "I would contend that a common-sense person in Montgomery County would also think the vote should be proportioned."
Cupp's campaign aide, James Oliver, attended the meeting at which the decision was made, but as a representative of Radford lawyer Jimmy Turk, who then still was considering making a run. Oliver said the motion to go with the mass-meeting format was made by the Pulaski County representative, seconded by the Smyth County chairman and also supported by Cupp. The Carroll County delegate opposed the move. Grayson and Galax Republicans did not send representatives.
Cupp said the group chose the open mass-meeting format out of fear that people would burn out on the many such gatherings this spring. To hold a convention with proportional voting, delegates would have to be selected in local party meetings first. That would mean several local meetings plus the convention.
Moreover, Cupp said, a proportional vote, where delegates are bound to vote as their local party decided, didn't seem as "democratic" to him. And, he said, a mass meeting will be cheaper.
Weddle said he raised the issue Thursday in Smyth and last week in Grayson to try to make the local parties there aware of the type of turnout they will need if they want to have a voice in the mass meeting.
by CNB