Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 1, 1995 TAG: 9509010008
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
- Wayne Finch, Daleville
The background:
The General Assembly handles thousands of bills in the space of about two months each year. Practically speaking, it's impossible for legislators to know what their constituents think about each bill, although one of the ideas behind a part-time legislature, such as Virginia's, is that the office-holders return to their communities and presumably will have a better sense of what's on voters' minds.
The answers:
The question was directed to the House of Delegates candidates for the seat that covers the Stewartsville-Montvale section of Bedford County, a swath of Roanoke County from Clearbrook to Vinton to Hollins to Catawba, southern Botetourt County and Craig County.
Del. Richard Cranwell (D): ``That is not a question with a clear-cut answer. We have a representative democracy. People expect their elected leaders to go to Richmond and be an articulate voice in the debates, and I have tried to do that. I think when you balance all the scales, what happens is a process by which the voters' will is reflected in the legislature process. But I don't think anyone elected to public office should take a pledge to conduct a poll on every issue. One reason people vote for you, I hope, is they trust you to evaluate all the information that's available to you and not to them and make the right decision."
Trixie Averill (R): ``Yes, I think your first responsibility is to reflect the views of the constituents. At the same time, they elect you to be a leader. But I feel they're electing you to reflect a particular philosophy."
Also on the record:
Cranwell and Averill have fundamental disagreements about what the voters in the district want.
Averill contends Cranwell isn't reflecting his constituents' views because 63 percent of them voted for George Allen for governor in 1993, and Cranwell, as House majority leader, has been responsible for killing much of Allen's agenda. "I don't believe the Democrats were right to obstruct George Allen's agenda," she says. "George Allen was elected with 60-some percent of the vote. You talk about a mandate. It was not a surprise what he proposed," because he campaigned on many of those issues.
Averill - who was Allen's campaign coordinator in Western Virginia - has based much of her campaign on Cranwell's role in "obstructing" the governor's initiatives. She backs Allen's proposals to cut taxes, cut spending, set up experimental "charter" schools, and borrow money to build more prisons.
To make sure she stays in touch with voters, Averill promises to hold "town meetings" in every locality in the district before and after each legislative session.
But Cranwell counters that at the same time voters in his House district were giving Allen their votes in 1993, they also were re-electing him with 59 percent of the vote. So what message were they sending? he asks.
Cranwell ticks off some of the major bills he has pushed through during his 24 years in the House - making Roanoke County immune from annexation, toughening the state's drunken-driving laws, providing more money for rural school districts - and says each of those reflects the desires of constituents.
"I don't think you take a poll," he says. "The most important part of representative democracy is to have people who listen. I've tried to listen."
Besides, Cranwell says, during the most recent legislative session, he received more than 800 letters opposing Allen's plans and only about 30 supporting them. Averill counters that probably most of those letters came from what she calls "special interests." But Cranwell says Allen provoked an outcry from ordinary people because "he went too far" in cutting important state programs.
What other candidates say:
This isn't a subject most candidates spend a lot of time talking about. Most say their views do reflect those of a majority of their constituents.
Got a question for the candidates? Send it to Citizens' Agenda, The Roanoke Times, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke 24010, or fax it to 981-3346 or e-mail dyanceyinfi.net. Please include your name, address, daytime phone number and specify which candidates your question is for.
by CNB