Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 21, 1995 TAG: 9509210069
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ROBERT LITTLE AND WARREN FISKE STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long
Fashioned after the Newt Gingrich-inspired "Contract With America" that helped the GOP seize majorities in Congress last year, the pledge is expected to be a focal point of discussion in many legislative races around the state.
All but 11 of the 120 Republican candidates for state office signed the document during a morning ceremony on the front steps of the Capitol. Two of those who didn't take the pledge were from Western Virginia - Del. Tommy Baker, R-Pulaski County, and Larry Linkous, who is challenging Del. Jim Shuler, D-Blacksburg.
Linkous said he didn't sign to show how independent he'll be in office. "Unlike our current representative, whose voting record is almost a mirror image of the power brokers in Richmond, I will be a voice of strength and leadership," he said. "I will not make any promises to anyone except the voters."
The Republican candidates who did sign the pledge, however, stood with Gov. George Allen and Attorney General Jim Gilmore and hailed the document as a voters' guide to their sharp ideological differences with Democrats.
Republicans need just three seats in each house to win control of committee assignments, voting schedules and virtually all the day-to-day operations of the General Assembly.
"I think these things can be done in an afternoon if we have a Republican majority," said Newell Falkinburg, challenger to Del. Clifton "Chip" Woodrum, D-Roanoke. Jeff Artis, Republican challenger to Del. Victor Thomas, D-Roanoke, called it "a good common-sense conservative document."
But Democrats quickly countered that Republicans were trying to force a national mold on Virginia politics.
"I understand that there's a contract on Virginia, much like the Contract With America," said House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell, D-Roanoke County, speaking at a rally at Virginia Tech. "Well, Virginians have had enough of what's going on in Washington, New York and New Jersey. This past session, the governor had a plan that reflected New York's tax cuts, New Jersey's tax cuts and budget cuts - and they didn't want it in Virginia."
Lt. Gov. Don Beyer, also a Democrat, derided the pledge as a vague assortment of tax cuts and popular spending increases that does not say how those goals would be financed. Beyer said Republican efforts to slash state income taxes by $148 million died earlier this year when legislators realized the reductions would be financed by cuts to education, mental health, police protection and a subsidized meal program for homebound senior citizens.
Beyer said the state spending cannot be cut significantly without asking residents to make sacrifices. "The easy things have been done a long time ago," he said.
Other Democrats said any cuts would fall hardest on rural areas. "It's a contract on Southwest Virginia," said state Sen. Madison Marye, D-Shawsville, with an emphatic nod.
Del. Robert McDonnell, R-Virginia Beach, one of the architects to the pledge, said he expected Democrats would criticize the effort. "I really wish we'd been more specific," he said. But each proposal is grounded in a specific bill that Republicans have presented to the General Assembly in the past, he said.
The planks of the seven-point pledge are:
Public Safety: A promise to build adequate prisons and "take strong action" against crimes committed by juveniles.
Lottery Money: A promise to take more than $300 million in lottery profits from the state budget and give it to local governments. Republicans contend that would give localities the option to spend the money on public safety, education or reducing local taxes; Democrats counter that it would leave a hole in the state budget, which would hurt education funding.
Jobs and Spending: An unspecified call for "eliminating wasteful government spending and reducing excessive taxes."
Education: Creating tougher academic standards in reading, math, science and history. The plan also calls for increased school safety and discipline.
Parental Notification: A requirement that physicians notify at least one parent before performing an abortion on a patient younger than 18. Similar bills have died in the General Assembly 10 straight years.
Welfare Reform: Though both parties have claimed victory with the bipartisan welfare reform package passed earlier this year, the pledge promises not to change the policy once some welfare recipients start losing benefits.
Judicial appointments: Instituting "merit" selection of judges "in meetings open to the public," instead of what Republicans describe as the current "political" process in which the Democratic majority meets behind closed doors to pick judges.
Staff writers Brian Kelley, Kimberly N. Martin and Margaret Edds contributed to this report.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB