Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 18, 1995 TAG: 9510180057
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Secretary of Public Safety Jerry Kilgore and Gov. George Allen's political action committee Monday criticized Sen. Madison Marye, D-Shawsville, for being ``missing in action'' when the time came to vote on the parole-abolition bill during last year's special session. The implication is that Marye didn't support the governor's effort to reform the parole system.
``The 1994 special session was held for one purpose and one purpose only - to abolish Virginia's liberal, lenient parole system,'' Kilgore said in a press release issued by Allen's Campaign for Honest Change. ``The Senate record shows that Madison Marye not only did not vote for Senate Bill 3001 (parole abolition), he did not vote at all, but was instead absent from the Senate floor.''
It's something that Cupp, the Republican challenger, has brought up repeatedly during the campaign, as he did Tuesday during a campaign forum with retirees in Blacksburg.
``Madison, if you went to Richmond to vote, why didn't you vote? If you took the taxpayers' money to vote, did you give it back, or did you take the money?'' Cupp asked.
Marye, for his part, has said throughout the campaign that he did support the governor.
``I voted for the bill!'' he said loudly, twice, as Cupp stood nearby after Tuesday's forum. ``I wanted him to hear that.''
So who's right?
According to Susan Schaar, clerk of the Senate, Marye did miss the Sept. 29, 1994, vote that passed Senate Bill 3001 by a 33-6 vote.
``He was out of his seat and we have a statement in the [Journal of the Senate] that says had he been in his seat when the vote was taken on the question of the passage of SB 3001, he would have voted yea,'' Schaar said Tuesday.
Senate records show Marye voted for the conference report, or final version, of Senate Bill 3001, the very next day, Sept. 30, 1994. It passed 34-4.
And Marye voted for the identical House version of the parole bill, House Bill 5001, when it passed in the Senate 34-6 on Sept. 29. He voted for that conference version, too, the next day.
The identical bills went to the governor; both were signed into law.
Marye said that when a member is out of his seat and misses a vote, a fellow senator can request a revote for his colleague. But such a procedure is rarely used when a vote is not close, as in the parole bill.
Marye lashed out at the 34-year-old Kilgore, a former part-time prosecutor in Scott County and, before that, an assistant U.S. attorney for six years. Kilgore's twin, Terry, is in the House of Delegates and is an honorary co-chairman of Allen's political action committee.
``The secretary of public safety is a nice person. But his twin brother - he's a delegate - got him a job. And he's a young fellow. I guess he just forgot there were two bills,'' Marye said.
Chris LaCivita, spokesman for Allen's PAC, said the ``missing in action'' label still applies even if Marye voted for the House version. ``If there's only two votes and he's not there for one of them, what's he doing?'' LaCivita asked. ``The voters in the 39th are paying him for 100 percent voter participation, not 50 percent.''
by CNB