ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, September 20, 1996 TAG: 9609200066
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.
And then there were three - again.
The Virginia Independent Party lost its 5th District nominee for Congress last month. But now it has a new candidate - former independent U.S. Senate hopeful George "Tex" Wood of Patrick County.
The VIP, which is the Virginia arm of Ross Perot's Reform Party, notified the state Board of Elections Thursday that Wood is now its nominee.
Wood will join Republican George Landrith and Democrat Virgil Goode on the ballot.
A VIP news release said the new candidate would "put some spunk and life" into the race. The party's 5th District chairwoman, Sue Harris DeBauche, said Wood holds the same independent-minded values her party does.
"He's excellent in debate," she said. "I think he will hold his own."
On Aug. 29, the VIP's first nominee, Gary Thomas, said he was pulling out of the race because he didn't have the cash to take on his well-financed opponents.
Bruce Meadows, the Board of Elections' top official, said that once Thomas dropped out, state law gave the VIP the right to come up with a substitute nominee by Sept.25.
Wood, a college instructor, published poet and decorated Vietnam veteran, is a down-home populist who says citizens are sick of wasting their votes on the Democrats and Republicans. He charges that both are slaves to big-money interests, such as the corporations that caused the savings and loan and Defense Department scandals in the 1980s.
This summer, Wood acted as his own attorney in winning a lawsuit against the Board of Elections - forcing the state to postpone its deadline for independents to collect nominating signatures. However, he failed to qualify for the Senate ballot because he did not turn in his nominating petitions by the new August deadline.
LENGTH: Short : 42 lines KEYWORDS: POLITICS CONGRESSby CNB