Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 13, 1995 TAG: 9504140001
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
"I look forward to it," Marye told some 30 supporters at the Montgomery County Courthouse. "I look forward to it as maybe my last great adventure."
The 69-year-old Shawsville Democrat and cattle farmer conceded, though, that prior to January's General Assembly session he had decided to retire. He'd confided in his desk mate and best friend in the Senate, Elliot Schewel of Lynchburg, but few others. Schewel announced his own retirement a month ago.
"I didn't go so far as to buy a new tractor, but almost," Marye said.
Republican Gov. George Allen changed that.
"The governor kind of got the adrenaline flowing in my veins," Marye said. "I didn't like what I saw happening to Southwest Virginia and I thought that because of my experience ... I better stick around."
Two Republicans, Gary Weddle of Radford and Pat Cupp of Blacksburg, are vying to challenge Marye. They'll settle the nomination in a May 20 GOP mass meeting in Dublin.
Marye appears to have no Democratic competitors for the nomination to be decided in a June 8 convention in Dublin. He acknowledged that party officials urged him to run again.
Re-electing Marye will be key to Democrats' hopes of maintaining their narrow majority in the state Senate. Conversely, Republicans see the 39th District as one of three they must take in their quest to win control of the Senate. Weddle has said the party will target Marye's seat with extra money and attention.
Marye, who defeated an opponent by nine votes in 1979, acknowledged it will be a long, tough race. "I expect this will be an aggressive campaign waged by all parties."
Marye won three tight races in the 1970s. He defeated his last challenger, Ward Teel, in 1983 with 55 percent of the vote and ran unopposed in 1987 and 1991. But since the last challenge, the General Assembly redistricted Marye's seat, removing Floyd County and Radford and adding the other half of Smyth County. It now comprises Montgomery, Smyth and Grayson counties, the city of Galax and half of Carroll and Pulaski counties.
"It is basically a Republican district," Marye acknowledged. "I don't think a Democrat can carry this district without some Republican votes."
Marye generally was considered a middle-of-the-pack populist with a gift for storytelling for most of his legislative career. But for four years, he's been a member of the Senate Finance Committee and he now is chairman of the General Laws Committee. From 1985 to 1991 he was best known as the proponent of the so-called "bottle bill," which would have required refundable deposits for beverage containers. It was defeated on the Senate floor in 1991, and he hasn't reintroduced it. In more recent years, he's been known for an unsuccessful attempt to rewrite the state song, "Carry Me Back to Old Virginia." He played a role in securing money for Virginia Tech and Radford University and effectively killed the riverboat gambling bill in this year's session. And Lindsay West, 39th District Democratic chairman, said Marye had much to do with restoring the health and human services budget cuts the governor advocated during the winter.
Marye survived a December 1992 heart attack, missed part of the 1993 legislative session and says that ever since he's been more careful about exercising and watching his diet. But his health history and his age prompted much of the speculation he would not seek re-election.
Marye, though, used yarns about his "Uncle Billy's" trips to town and an old fox hunter who once lived on his family's farm to humorously describe why he wants to run again. He recalled sitting by a campfire with the hunter while listening to the foxhounds run up Poor Mountain.
"Foxhunters as you may know, they don't want to catch the fox, they don't want to kill the fox. It's the thrill of the chase that excites them," Marye said.
"I guess for me, folks, politics is the thrill of the chase," he said. "I believe also, folks, that I still have something to offer to the people of my district."
After that Hallmark moment, Marye paused, looked at his notes and mused aloud: "Lord, whatever happened to page four?"
Keywords:
POLITICS
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.