Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 22, 1995 TAG: 9510210023
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: G-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It has, for example, moved to improve often-testy relations between the county and local municipalities. It has taken the regional-cooperation lead on several worthwhile intergovernmental projects, including an industrial park in Christiansburg, a planning agreement with Radford on development along Virginia 177, a recreational facility in Blacksburg and a new regional solid-waste authority.
It also has lent tentative support to citizen-initiated "Focus 2006" proposals to improve public education - one of the county's most urgent needs.
If the board has moved with less than alacrity to redress past failures both in land-use planning and school-budget funding, it at least has begun moving in the right direction. It is navigating better now between the Blacksburg-Always-Knows-Best and the Don't-Ever-Raise-My-Taxes-Or-
Mess-With-My-Property shoals of Montgomery County government.
First-term Supervisors Joe Gorman, a Democrat, and Nick Rush, a Republican, have been part of that change. Democrat Ira Long, seeking his fourth term, seems also to recognize the times demand change, and has helped facilitate it. For this reason, the three incumbents deserve to be re-elected.
Joe Gorman, in particular, has shown an uncommon understanding of the complex challenges facing a once-rural county experiencing rapid growth.
A retired Radford Army Ammunition Plant executive and former member of Blacksburg Town Council, he has been a consistent advocate of investing in the schools and improving long-range growth planning and environmental protection. A supporter of an open-space plan that the board unfortunately rejected in 1993, and a proponent of tax increases to support education, Gorman would have to be considered courageous - if he were from a district other than Blacksburg.
Gorman is challenged in District G by Republican Curtis Cox, a machinist and self-described ``Joe Blue Collar.'' A volunteer at a day-care center, Cox emphasizes his deeply held Christian faith. He comes across as self-effacing, likable, extremely intelligent. But he has made no case for ousting Gorman.
Nick Rush is a young driver for Federal Express and an ambitious entrepreneur. He and his wife own a dance studio in Christiansburg. He's also part-owner of the minor-league football team, the Roanoke Rush, that made its debut this year.
As the supervisor representing District B, Rush has focused on economic development and regional cooperation. By all accounts, he has helped promote business expansions and new jobs, and helped broker agreements with other New River Valley governments on various joint projects.
Rush has supported increased school funding. But he voted this past year, in effect, against a tax increase to fully fund the School Board's proposed budget. He also has criticized the School Board, with some cause, for inadequate planning of new-school construction projects.
Rush's opponent is Democrat Robert Goncz, a businessman and member of the School Board since 1986. Generally, Goncz has supported School Board spending plans that Rush judged excessive. Goncz stresses the need for long-range, strategic planning in all areas, and would doubtless make valuable contributions as a supervisor. Even so, Rush's political skills and respectable record in office give him the edge.
Ira Long is a true-blue, occasionally hot-tempered, fiscal conservative. He also opposed a tax increase this year, forcing the School Board to slice nearly $2 million from its budget. But he has said he would support a bond referendum for a major school-building program.
As a supervisor and, in particular, chairman of the Public Service Authority, Long has helped provide water and sewer services to rural areas, and also has guided development of the county's first staffed recycling and trash-collection station near Prices Fork.
Long's opponent in District E is Republican Richard Gordon, who, after retiring from the Army, worked in Montgomery County Sheriff's Department for 14 years. Gordon is short on qualifications and tends to nitpick at Long's record while offering no clear, constructive agenda of his own.
Keywords:
POLITICS ENDORSEMENT
by CNB