Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 22, 1995 TAG: 9510230059
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Before the speaking started Saturday morning, Virginia Beach Del. Robert McDonnell sat down at a table in Trixie Averill's headquarters and meticulously wrote out his remarks in longhand on a sheet of legal paper.
But his most telling words may have come off the top of his head, when the Republican legislator was asked why he and his colleagues came all the way to Vinton to speak on Averill's behalf.
"This is a special one," he said. "Trixie is a special candidate." And then, with a sly grin, he added: "And she has a very special opponent."
Republicans from Gov. George Allen on down have made that point about House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell before, but a delegation of four out-of-town GOP legislators made it again Saturday - taking time out from their own campaigns to make it again.
"We didn't come in today to be against Mr. Cranwell or against the Democratic Party," Del. Randy Forbes, R-Chesapeake, told the crowd of about 40 supporters who gathered in the front yard of Averill's Vinton headquarters.
But that's sure the way it sounded, as he and his colleagues - McDonnell, Del. Frank Wagner of Virginia Beach and Del. M. Kirkland Cox of Colonial Heights - ticked off why they view the Roanoke County Democrat as "the chief obstructionist" to the Republican agenda.
"We really do believe Dick Cranwell has been the primary obstacle to things we've been trying to get through for five, 10, 15 years, and some of it is just political," McDonnell said. "He's made comments, especially in the parole abolition debate, that he's against it because it was George Allen's initiative. He's more interested in power than in policies or people."
The Republican delegates - many of whom are expected to hold leadership positions if the GOP wins a majority in the House on Nov. 7 - ticked off the standard litany of issues the Republicans are pushing this fall.
How they're pushing for tougher academic standards while Democrats are emphasizing more school funding. How they want the state to turn over lottery proceeds to localities instead of keeping the funds in the state budget, as Democrats prefer. How they want to stress punishing criminals while Democrats are focusing on crime prevention.
But the GOP legislators also offered testimonials, of a sort, about what they see as the dark side of Cranwell's influence in Richmond. "What you don't see are how many bills are killed in committee," said Forbes, who is mentioned by some as a possible House majority leader if Republicans win control.
McDonnell charged that Cranwell is personally responsible for killing many bills that would lengthen prison sentences. "This year, Dick Cranwell made a motion to take 50 bills increasing penalties and lump them into one motion and kill them. He said these bills cost money, and we didn't have the time to deal with them, even though many had no fiscal impact."
Cranwell contends that the state indirectly lengthened prison sentences when it abolished parole, so there is no reason to extend others until the legislature gets a better sense of what the effect will be on prison costs.
Or take the 1994 bill to abolish parole. Yes, Forbes conceded, Cranwell voted for it on the floor. "But he tried everything he could to keep that bill from coming out of committee. The one person who did everything he could to stop it was Mr. Cranwell."
The Republican speakers charged that's typical of the way Cranwell operates in Richmond - that if he can't kill a GOP initiative, he'll have the Democrats claim it for their own.
"For years, Dick Cranwell fought against tougher DUI laws," McDonnell said. "He fought tooth and nail against it. When he realized he couldn't stop it, what did he do? He stole it. He introduced his own bill, killed Randy Forbes' bill and took credit for it."
Cranwell laughed off the attacks, noting that Saturday's delegation of legislators pushes the number of big-name Republicans who have publicly aided his opponent to nearly a dozen.
"How many Republicans does it take to screw in a light bulb? Really, how many people does it take to prop up a campaign that has nothing to offer? Their plan for education, by the candidate's own admission, is to cut nearly $92 million from education."
He suggested the unusual number of GOP leaders who have come to the district to campaign for Averill is simply a way "to shield my opponent from the glare of public scrutiny."
Cranwell also disputed the Republicans' account of the criminal justice bills in question. He said he never opposed the concept of abolishing parole, but did push to rewrite parts of the bill so that it requires nonviolent offenders be transferred into alternative forms of punishment. "We wound up saving the cost of about seven prisons," he said.
And he said that he was trying to toughen DUI laws before any of Saturday's speakers were in the legislature.
"Mr. McDonnell hasn't been in the legislature long enough to know that in 1981 I led the fight to reduce the blood alcohol level from 0.15 to 0.10. In the late 1980s, I was the primary architect of the bill to put vehicular homicide on the books. I did administrative revocation," which allows police to seize the driver's license of anyone accused of driving under the influence. "I personally wrote the bill. I don't know what to say except the truth."
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB