ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, August 18, 1996 TAG: 9608190127
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: MARGIE FISHER
SOURCE: MARGIE FISHER EDITORIAL WRITER
WHEN A twin-tower office building for state workers in Richmond was proposed in the early 1980s, Rocky Mount's Sen. Virgil Goode fairly sputtered with indignation: ``Nesting and hatching places for bureaucrats!''
Goode is certainly no country bumpkin unfamiliar with the ways of Washington, D.C. Still, I'd love to be there when he discovers the full extent of nesting and hatching places for bureaucrats in the nation's capital - not to mention K Street's many upscale lobbyist lairs. It's not hard to imagine steel-and-glass skyscrapers crumbling from the heat of his critical gaze.
Not, of course, that Goode is sure to win his current bid for Virginia's 5th District seat in the House of Representatives. Though an institution in Franklin County and its surroundings, the Democrat is less well-known elsewhere in the far-flung district, including areas that may not be charmed by his peculiar brand of good-ol'-boy conservative populism. He could lose this race.
Even so, it's fun to speculate: If he wins, imagine the culture shock that could be in store - for both Goode and the Washington establishment.
Consider, for instance: Goode is a country lawyer, practicing out of a Rocky Mount office that's not much bigger than the recycling bins for newspapers parked at several Roanoke shopping centers. (The office, however, is more cluttered.)
His Senate office in Richmond is not much bigger, even counting the small cubicle for a legislative assistant. And it still features a motley collection of furniture, including a battered desk that belonged to his uncle and a chair carved out of a tree stump for him by Franklin County schoolchildren. Last time I visited there, a hand-lettered sign was prominently displayed, reading ``The Ordinary Citizen Pays for Government.'' Which sort of explained why a Chippendale-style sofa, a handsome mahogany desk and other state-purchased appointments were pushed against the wall, unused. In 1978, Goode loudly and famously rejected those ``luxuries'' as a rip-off of taxpayers.
Goode could take the stump chair and his uncle's desk to Washington if he'd like, but they might look puny in the digs to which congressmen are assigned. And the allowance each receives for fax machines, computers and other equipment for office suites makes the cost of the Chippendale-style sofa a trifle. Goode didn't have a fax machine in his Rocky Mount office until 1994, and he made do with one rotary-dial telephone.
Consider, too, that while Goode as a state senator has gotten along nicely with one legislative assistant, as a congressman he would need and be expected to have a battalion of staffers. The average House member spent about $550,000 on staff payroll last year, and the average pay for a full-time aide was about $34,000 - nearly double Goode's own legislative salary now.
If Goode is elected, his pay as a public servant would go from $18,000 to $133,600 a year. That wouldn't include a spending allowance for travel to and from Washington and other incidentals - which, according to the National Taxpayers Union, ran as high as $883,931 for one congressman in 1995.
Goode, you may recall, once found a curvy back-road route from Rocky Mount to Richmond that was 16 miles shorter than the one the state used as the basis for mileage reimbursement. He got a bill passed to make the state pay him less mileage.
Goode, you may also recall, solidified his reputation as a conservative populist by battling, alongside liberal populist Henry Howell of Norfolk, Virginia's ``big boys'' - the utility chieftains, the bankers, etc. Oh, indeed, I'd love to be there when Goode (if elected) encounters Washington's ``big boys'' - who'll come out of the woodwork to push their PAC contributions and other favors on him.
I'd like to be there, too, when Goode - whose all-time favorite meal was a hamburger, fries and milk that could be had for less than $3 at Teddy Deeb's eatery in Richmond's old fleabag Raleigh Hotel - spies the prices on the menus at some of Congress' favorite watering holes.
And when (if elected) he meets Newt Gingrich and company. And especially when (if elected) he meets Barney Frank.
What might they make of this slightly eccentric, Phi Beta Kappa with a Southern drawl thicker than Franklin County kudzu - and what in the world might he make of them?
LENGTH: Medium: 79 linesby CNB