ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, May 21, 1996 TAG: 9605210083
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.
THE ORGANIZATION that grew out of Ross Perot's presidential campaign will have a congressional candidate on the ballot in the 5th District, and may nominate a candidate for the U.S. Senate.
Win or lose, Gary Thomas will always be the answer to a trivia question.
Thomas, a high school teacher from Pittsylvania County, became the Virginia Independent Party's first congressional candidate Sunday, winning the 5th District nomination to challenge Democrat Virgil Goode and Republican George Landrith.
The Independent Party - an offshoot of United We Stand, the political organization started by Texas billionaire Ross Perot - was certified this year by the state Board of Elections as an officially recognized party in Virginia.
As such, the party's candidates have an automatic spot on the ballot along with Republicans and Democrats.
And while Thomas is the Independent Party's first candidate, he probably won't be the last.
According to state Chairman Louis Herrink, the Independent Party probably will field two other congressional candidates this year - one in Northern Virginia, and another in the 9th District to challenge incumbent Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, and Republican Patrick Muldoon.
The party also has a candidate who wants to run for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican John Warner.
George "Tex" Wood, a college instructor from Patrick County who is seeking the party's nomination, showed up to speak at the 5th District convention at the Williamsburg Restaurant in Martinsville on Sunday.
By consensus, a group of about 25 agreed that Wood should be the party's Senate nominee.
The 5th District representatives will take that recommendation to the party's state convention, scheduled for June 8 at the Howard Johnson's hotel in Lexington.
Wood is the party's only announced candidate for U.S. Senate.
With candidates actively seeking Independent Party support, Herrink said it is important that the party keep in mind one of the objectives mentioned when it was formed: "We ought not run candidates unless there's a probability that they can do some good."
With Thomas, Herrink said the party has a candidate for the only open congressional seat in Virginia this year.
Thomas will battle better-known and better-funded candidates in Goode and Landrith, both of whom are seeking to replace the retiring Rep. L.F. Payne, D-Nelson County.
He said recently that he's looking forward to the challenge and hopes to offer voters an alternative to politics as usual.
Virginia law says that for a party to win an automatic spot on the ballot, one of its candidates must have won at least 10 percent of the vote in a statewide race. The State Board of Elections ruled that the Virginia Independent Party qualifies because it backed independent Marshall Coleman in his 1994 campaign for the U.S. Senate.
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Thomas. color. KEYWORDS: POLITICS CONGRESSby CNB