Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 26, 1995 TAG: 9510260010
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-14 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
They are Jim Shuler, a Democrat and first-term incumbent, and Larry Linkous, a Democrat-turned-Republican and current chairman of the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors.
Each is a thoughtful moderate. Each enjoys long and strong personal ties to the New River Valley, and shows an excellent grasp of issues facing the region.
Shuler is a popular Blacksburg veterinarian, a Virginia Tech graduate and former member of Blacksburg Town Council. Linkous is a popular Blacksburg auctioneer and catering-service owner whose family roots in the New River Valley go back 200 years. He has been an effective supervisor.
Two favorite sons, one might say. A hard choice, perhaps, for many voters who know and admire both candidates.
The choice, nonetheless, should be Shuler. His demonstrably deep support for public education and higher education, goods of great importance in this district, is one reason. Another is his greater reliability as a counterforce to the most egregious and retrograde items on Gov. George Allen's agenda.
Not that Linkous is anti-education. As a county supervisor (elected as a Democrat in 1991), he voted (as a Republican in 1994) for a modest increase in the real-estate tax that was basically for public schools. He notes that, during his tenure on the local governing body, spending for schools has increased by 22 percent.
Linkous opposed Allen's proposed cuts in spending for education, including Tech's budget, and for other government services. He stresses his independence, credibly arguing that as a legislator he would not be a rubber stamp for Allen or hew to a party line. He surely would be an advocate for Tech.
Shuler, though, cited support for education as his top priority when he first ran for the House in '93 - before Allen's latest ideas for spending cuts were on the table, giving all Democratic candidates a rote issue. And Shuler fought hard on Tech's behalf in the assembly - for instance, to spare the extension service.
The Democrat comes across as less than hyper-partisan. He worked well with Republican state Sen. Bo Trumbo, for instance, to get legislation granting an exception to Warm Hearth Village from the state's ban on new nursing-home beds. Shuler has good cause, though, to stress the statewide stakes involved in Virginia's assembly races. Party affiliation in this election matters.
Regardless of the outcome in the contest for control of the legislature, Shuler's quiet, unassuming reasonableness should serve him well if he is re-elected. He has served his district well for one term. He deserves another.
Keywords:
POLITICS ENDORSEMENT
by CNB