Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 28, 1995 TAG: 9510300081
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KIMBERLY N. MARTIN AND TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Medium
At a news conference, Payne gave Democratic House of Delegates candidate Claude Whitehead his seal of approval.
"He is someone who I have a great deal of respect for, and I think would make a great delegate in the Virginia House of Delegates," Payne said after citing a laundry list of Whitehead accolades in the areas of economic development, agriculture and education.
However, Payne's endorsement wasn't the only one campaign organizers were hoping to get on the record Friday.
On Thursday, campaign operatives said they were expecting Sen. Virgil Goode, D-Rocky Mount, to give Whitehead, who is challenging Goode's high school classmate Republican Del. Allen Dudley, a public endorsement. Goode's unwillingness to back Whitehead verbally has become one of the main issues in the campaign.
Goode did attend the news conference - he's appeared at several of Whitehead's functions over the past few months - but, once again, he did not stump for his fellow Democrat.
Instead, it was Payne whom Goode was on hand to praise. He was charged with introducing the congressman.
After the 10-minute news conference, Whitehead said he wasn't disappointed that Goode still hasn't conveyed his support.
"I certainly wouldn't want to speak for him, but I think his presence certainly indicates what he's going to do," Whitehead said. "From that standpoint, I don't know if I ever said I supported him either."
But for Payne, who did speak up, Whitehead had a gift - a can of potted possum. Whitehead described it as "stirred road kill."
Payne graciously accepted and joked that he'd have it for lunch.
Meanwhile, Dudley had an endorsement from U.S. Rep. Thomas J. Bliley to tout Friday.
Bliley, whose name is synonymous with tobacco - a major cash crop in Dudley's district - wrote a letter in which he endorses the Republican incumbent.
Bliley writes that Dudley has a "thorough understanding of what is needed, and what is not needed, from government to help the tobacco industry. While your opponent also claims this position, do not forget that he has chosen to align himself with the party and the people who are constantly calling for more and more regulation."
Whitehead, a tobacco farmer, is chairman of Friends for Tobacco - a Southside political action committee that recently contributed money to Payne.
Cranwell gets best of Averill
Republican House of Delegates candidate Trixie Averill did something this week few candidates do - she admitted her opponent had gotten the better of her on one point in a debate.
In a debate Wednesday night sponsored by public radio station WVTF-FM, Averill tried to portray House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell, D-Roanoke County, as a proponent of higher taxes. As evidence, she pointed out that when then-Gov. Douglas Wilder wanted to float a bond issue, Cranwell proposed a referendum to let Virginians vote on whether to raise the sales tax one-half cent to pay off the bonds. Cranwell contended he simply was being a good fiscal conservative, because he didn't want to stick future generations with paying for this generation's debts.
Later in the debate, the subject turned to whether Virginia should change its laws to allow more voter-initiated referenda, the way California does.
Averill said yes; Cranwell said no - at which point Cranwell asked why, if she favors initiative-and-referendum, she objected to his proposal to let voters decide whether to pay off bonds through a higher sales tax.
"Touche," Averill conceded. "For now."
Staff writer Dwayne Yancey contributed to this report.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB