Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 14, 1995 TAG: 9509140066
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Medium
Del. Tommy Baker, R-Dublin, said one of his proudest legislative accomplishments was helping to include Edwards Hall on the list of projects for the 1992 education bond issue, after state Sen. Madison Marye, D-Shawsville, had it added in the Senate.
"I oppose the governor's cuts in higher education also," said Republican Pat Cupp, the Blacksburg Realtor challenging Marye. He said he also thought Gov. George Allen might have cut not too many state employees but cut them too fast, not allowing for attrition. "Other than that, I think Gov. Allen has done a good job."
Marye said, "... I've gone along with him [Allen] on a lot of things, too," after Cupp claimed the senator had voted against the governor 82 percent of the time. Marye said the charts generating those percentages do not cover the thousands of bills that legislators voted on, and so have limited meaning.
Cupp said he supports Virginia Tech, Radford University and New River Community College as "the economic engine of the New River Valley."
"Education should not be politicized," said Del. Jim Shuler, D-Blacksburg. He said the College of Global Studies axed from Radford University had the potential to add 2,000 students here. He predicted the college will resurface in Northern Virginia. "Bet your bottom dollar you'll see it crop up at George Mason [University]," he said.
"I think what was done to Radford University was almost a crime," Marye said.
Larry Linkous, Shuler's Republican opponent, got an agreement from his opponent when he said stiffer penalties should be enacted for criminals who use guns in committing crimes.
State Sen. Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo, R-Fincastle; Del. Morgan Griffith, D-Salem; and Baker are unopposed for re-election, and had the luxury to say what they wished without an opponent's comeback.
Baker said he voted against Allen's initiatives when he thought they hurt the New River Valley. "This district was more important to me than politics," he said.
Trumbo said arguments between Republicans and Democrats now called partisan politics are often the same arguments that went on decades ago within the Democratic Party, when the GOP was a tiny minority. He urged voters to look at candidates rather than party labels.
Griffith came closest to injecting partisan politics into the mix, charging that Democrats might vote differently on minor bills but never on a party position taken in a Democratic caucus because to do so would bring party punishment. Shuler said he is not part of a caucus and he votes his convictions.
The Marye-Cupp race drew most of the questions from the 30 people attending the forum. The event was sponsored by the Pulaski Chamber of Commerce as part of New River Valley Industry Appreciation Day.
Marye repeated that his three priorities are "education, education and education" and that he still favors using all profits generated by the state lottery for education.
Cupp said prisons are also necessary. "You've got to have money for both of them," he said. "Take that criminal who's killed somebody. You going to let him out because you want to give somebody an education?"
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB