ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, September 23, 1996 TAG: 9609230114
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Virginia Journal
Presidents often talk about using the Oval Office as a "bully pulpit" to exert moral authority.
Mark Warner says if he's Virginia's next U.S. senator, he'd seek to use his Senate seat in a similar way, mostly to push his views on technology and how an information-based economy should be structured to benefit ordinary Americans.
"If you think the role of the senator is simply to go up on Capitol Hill and vote, then I greatly differ from John Warner," the Democratic candidate says.
Mark Warner makes it clear he conceives of the job of senator differently from the Republican incumbent, who has been associated mostly with defense and foreign policy issues during his 18 years in Washington.
"Sometimes I feel I'm a lone voice on the technology issue," Mark Warner says. However, "if I'm in the U.S. Senate, I'm going to keep raising that issue," suggesting he would position himself as the chamber's resident expert on the subject.
Mark Warner's focus on technology is well-known: The Alexandria businessman made a fortune of more than $100 million in cellular telephones and now heads an investment firm specializing in technology start-ups.
But woven throughout his campaign speeches and interviews are frequent references to how he views the Senate seat as a "bully pulpit." For instance, when asked last week in Roanoke about how to find jobs for welfare recipients, Warner replied that "my first reaction is to make use of the bully pulpit" to lobby businesses to seek out those looking to move off federal assistance.
He says there's a philosophical reason for this. If the federal government is to shrink, then senators must take the lead in finding non-legislative solutions to certain problems. He cites as a role model Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., who recently helped persuade networks to restrain daytime talk shows. "The old Democratic response to `trash TV' would have been let's see if we can't pass some legislation," Mark Warner says.
Most often, though, Warner's reference to the "bully pulpit" comes when he's talking about how making technology widely available is the key to the economy of the future.
"By the year 2000, 65 percent of the jobs created in the U.S will require computer skills," he says. "At our present rate of training, only 25 percent of the work force will have those skills. John Warner's response? `Look at The Washington Post want ads. High tech is fine.' With that very statement, he pointed out probably the major difference between us. It's not just the high-tech industries that are going to change. I was on a dairy farm in Campbell County where they use computers to tell them when to milk the cows. I was with a farmer in Galax who's got a computer on his tractor to tell him how and when to put down fertilizer. The world is changing, and we need policy-makers in Washington who understand that change."
The way Mark Warner envisions the job is important because many Virginians seem to be grappling with whether it's wise to give up the incumbent's seniority on the Senate Armed Services Committee, a position considered vital to the military interests in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.
"People say John Warner's got all this seniority. Well, we can't wait. The decisions on who has access to technology will be decided over the next 5-10 years," Mark Warner says, although many of those decisions won't be made on the Senate floor.
Among the examples Mark Warner cites of how he'd use his office as a "bully pulpit":
* He would take the lead in putting computers into schools by organizing technology companies to offer their services.
* He says he would persuade Roanoke's health care industry to "export" its services by marrying it with the region's growing fiber-optic capabilities.
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. ``His argument is `I've brought home the bacon.' Myby CNBargument is I'll be there to fight for defense, too. But what you'd
have in Mark Warner is someone who can grow a new economy in
Virginia.''- Mark Warner. 2. ``My approach to political leadership
has served me and this great commonwealth well, and I do not
anticipate changing it.''- John Warner. KEYWORDS: POLITICS CONGRESS