Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 13, 1995 TAG: 9509130060
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY AND DAN CASEY STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Cranwell retorted by invoking Revolutionary War images of Virginians rising up against "King George" and suggested that Averill was willing to take a "loyalty oath" to the governor that would make her and other legislators subject to his wishes.
Tuesday's campaign action highlighted one of the central issues in this fall's legislative races: Are Allen's efforts to curtail the role of state government good or bad?
Republicans say the state has no business doing some of the things it does and needs to cut back; Democrats contend Virginia's state government is efficiently managed and can be a constructive force for confronting important issues.
More specifically, Averill says Allen's policies would help residents by reducing their tax burden, but Cranwell contends the governor's proposed budget cuts would have hurt Southwest Virginia by reducing state support for education and key local projects.
Averill called a news conference to call attention to a Republican-sponsored analysis of 27 selected General Assembly votes that shows Cranwell voted to support Allen only 4.5 percent of the time.
"This election is going to be a referendum on the policies of Governor Allen," Averill said. "Governor Allen has only two years left. We need to give these proposals a chance." She called Cranwell "the biggest roadblock" to Allen's agenda.
However, Averill said she, too, would have opposed Allen's proposals to eliminate funding for the Hotel Roanoke Conference Center and to reduce state support for Center in the Square and other Roanoke Valley cultural groups.
She said the key difference between herself and Cranwell is that she believed cuts should have been made elsewhere in the state budget while he didn't think spending should be cut at all.
But Cranwell, who has said Allen went too far in cutting spending in a low-tax state, said Averill was effectively signing a "loyalty oath" to back whatever the governor wants.
In the past session, he said, "that would have meant taking 250 law enforcement officers off the street; taking $52 million from education, that would have inordinately hurt Southwest Virginia; taking $40 from higher education; virtually eliminating the Extension Service; and taking 32,000 hot meals from the mouths of senior citizens."
Cranwell noted that America's democracy is based on checks and balances among branches of government. "I don't believe our Founding Fathers envisioned a system of government where the legislative branch was subservient to the executive branch," he said.
Bell offers plan to curb dropouts
Noting that the state has a $10 million kitty that "rewards" schools with high dropout rates, State Sen. Brandon Bell on Tuesday proposed a separate $10 million pot for awards to schools where test scores and student attendance are improving.
The first-term Republican from Roanoke County made the proposal at an "Excellence in Education Initiative" forum at First Union National Bank's operations center in Hollins.
Bell's plan would allow cash prizes to school systems in the state that mark the greatest improvements in standardized test scores and attendance. School boards would be able to spend the money as they see fit, he added.
The size of the awards and how many school systems could win them in a given year are details that aren't worked out yet, he said. There are 133 school systems in Virginia.
Bell said his proposal is the antithesis of a $10.5 million state program that pays grants to school systems with high dropout rates.
In that program, "as school performance increases and the dropout rate goes down, [schools] are rewarded with less money. What I'm proposing is just the opposite," Bell said.
Gov. George Allen, with whom Bell has aligned himself on education issues, suggested cutting the dropout prevention grants this year. But the budget proposal came under fire from the state Board of Education and the Democratic-controlled General Assembly, which defeated the plan.
Allen's proposal would have cost Roanoke city schools $256,000 in the current budget year. Roanoke schools have used the grants to hire counselors and aides to curb the dropout rate, which fell from 7 percent in the 1993-94 school year to 5 percent by last spring.
James Faulkner, a Bell campaign aide, said the senator didn't support Allen's attempt to cut dropout prevention grants.
Citizen calendar
Candidates representing New River Valley localities in the state Senate and House of Delegates are scheduled to attend a candidates' forum at 2:30 p.m. today in Edwards Hall, a new building on the New River Community College campus.
Scheduled to participate are state Sen. Madison Marye, D-Shawsville, and his opponent, Pat Cupp; and Del. Jim Shuler, D-Blacksburg, and his opponent, Larry Linkous.
Roanoke Valley residents can hear four of their General Assembly candidates debate Thursday night.
Del. Clifton "Chip" Woodrum, D-Roanoke, and his opponent, Newell Falkinburg; Sen. Brandon Bell, R-Roanoke County, and his opponent, John Edwards, will speak at the Greater Raleigh Court Civic League meeting at Christ Lutheran Church.
A potluck dinner will begin at 6:30 p.m.; the debate starts at 7:30.
Staff writer Paul Dellinger contributed to this report.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB