ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, September 30, 1996 TAG: 9609300020
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: PULASKI
SOURCE: CHRISTINA NUCKOLS STAFF WRITER
THAT REQUEST HAS a familiar ring for the three candidates seeking election to the 9th Congressional District.
For Leonard Johnson, the American dream seems more like the American dilemma.
"I make more money than I've ever made in my life, and I have less money in my pocket than I have ever had in my life," said the 20-year Volvo employee and pastor. "I might make good money, but I don't get to keep much of it."
It's not like the 44-year-old Pulaski native has much time for discretionary spending. He's up every weekday at 4:15 a.m. and works on the assembly line at Volvo from 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. His afternoons and evenings are spent driving his two youngest children to and from school and athletic events, ministering to members of the United Holy Church and taking college classes to earn his bachelor's degree in Christian ministries.
So where does his money go? Bills. Lots of them. Rent, groceries, utilities, school expenses. Ever since Johnson's wife, Denise, was injured in a fall two years ago and had to quit her job, the family has struggled to make ends meet.
"I have to admit we're poor savers, but it's hard to find the money to save," he said. "It seems like all you get, there's a legitimate thing to spend it on."
Johnson sees his own situation mirrored in the lives of his parishioners, and his phone rings regularly with people in the community asking the church to provide assistance with food and medical bills.
"You've got a lot of folks working, but they don't have anything to put in the economy," he said. "All that working people and poor people do nowadays is exist. They don't live. They exist."
One problem, he said, is that working families who experience financial distress as the result of layoffs, medical bills or some other unexpected emergency can't get back on their feet because they can't get credit for debt consolidation.
Johnson's predicament has a familiar ring for the three candidates seeking election to the 9th District congressional seat, which runs from western Roanoke County to the Cumberland Gap.
"I guess if someone wanted to distill down what the Reform Party is about, it would be an answer to Leonard Johnson's problem," said Tom Roberts, a Blacksburg engineer whose Virginia Independent Party is the state branch of Ross Perot's Reform Party. "The reason why I'm in the Reform Party is my feeling that what he's going through right now is what the United States is going to go through."
Roberts said American families like Johnson's will find it increasingly difficult to make ends meet as long as the U.S. government continues its deficit spending and maintains a $5 trillion foreign debt. He said that's because the debt reduces the value of the dollar and thus the value of Johnson's labor.
"As a congressman I could not make it better for him instantly," Roberts said.
He said he would support legislation to reduce the number of government employees and would consider cuts in all federal programs, including entitlements.
Roberts held out little hope that he could solve the credit problem as a congressman. "You cannot get more government involved in something like that," he said.
Republican Patrick Muldoon said he would support tax cuts to help Johnson.
"A majority of the problem is the fact that the tax burden on Americans is so great now," he said, quoting statistics indicating that federal, state and local taxes consume 40 percent of the typical American's earnings. "You're working till May just to pay off your taxes, and there's no question that's a huge part of your income. The last thing I would do is increase the tax burden."
Muldoon said he supports Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole's proposal for a 15 percent tax cut and $500-per-child tax credit.
The Republican saw the national debt at work in the credit woes Johnson is observing. But Muldoon said the tax cuts he supports wouldn't add to that debt. Although the debt shot up in the 1980s following tax cuts, Muldoon said that happened because there were no accompanying spending cuts. He said he would support a 25 percent spending cut "across the board" with one exception - the military. Muldoon said he believes defense spending already has been cut too much.
Democratic incumbent Rick Boucher identified three areas in which he could help constituents like Johnson. First, he said he would support tax credits proposed by President Clinton to cover community college or two years of a four-year college education.
"I think it's important we move beyond the current programs of federal student financial aid to provide tax credits," he said.
Boucher said he also opposes attempts to cut existing financial aid programs.
On the issue of credit, Boucher said he has heard similar concerns from his constituents and is working with one man who has had difficulty obtaining a small-business loan.
"I don't have an immediate answer for his question on credit, but what I'm supporting is that Congress hold hearings next year on the scope of this problem and look for solutions," he said.
Finally, Boucher said he would continue to support federal funding of economic development in Southwest Virginia as a means to raise the standard of living.
Johnson said he was disappointed in the answers to the specific question on credit, and he wasn't optimistic that congressional hearings or tax cuts would resolve the problem.
Overall, he said, there were no surprises in the responses from the three candidates.
Got a question for the candidates? Let us know so we can follow up. In Roanoke, call 981-0100. In New River, 382-0200. Press category 7821.
LENGTH: Long : 112 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: GENE DALTON/Staff. Leonard Johnson and his wife Denise,by CNBseen with 23-month-old cousin Jordon and son Brad, 14, say it's hard
to save because no matter what they make, ``there's a legitimate
thing to spend it on.'' color. KEYWORDS: POLITICS CONGRESS