ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, October 26, 1996 TAG: 9610280062
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: EMORY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
The three congressional candidates from the 9th District had their single face-to-face debate Friday at Emory & Henry College, and one of only two such debates in the nearly 14 years that Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, has held the seat.
GOP challenger Patrick Muldoon started right out with the L-word, calling Boucher a big-spending liberal and "a master of illusion" because a conservative district has elected Boucher seven times.
Tom Roberts, a Blacksburg engineer running as the Virginia Independent/Reform Party candidate, told the audience members he was not asking for their votes but their ears. He wanted listeners to pay attention to such issues as the $5trillion national debt which requires deficit spending. "That's stealing from the next generation," he said. "That's taxation without representation."
In citing the cuts he believes are needed to head off a national economic disaster, Roberts said, "Again, it's political suicide to stand up here and say what you think. We're going to have to limit the expenditures to the outlay."
Boucher said the ballooning debt came during the Reagan administration. He said he joined with President Clinton in committing to eliminate the debt by 2002.
"Talk about out of touch - Ronald Reagan was the greatest president in my lifetime," Muldoon replied.
Boucher said he stays in tune with his constituents through some 100 town meetings each year, learning what their legislative priorities are. He said federal investment in industrial parks during his time in office in the district's 23 localities has brought more private investment and jobs to the region.
Muldoon said the district still has the state's highest unemployment. He said Boucher failed to represent the district when he did not vote against so-called partial-birth abortions. "What kind of a society are we, Mr. Boucher, if we kill our babies?"
The proposed legislation to which Muldoon referred was unconstitutional on its face, Boucher said. "I am opposed to this procedure in general application as well," he said, and would vote against it in a proper bill.
All three opposed federal regulation of tobacco, a key district crop, as a drug. Boucher said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is unable to handle the responsibilities it already has.
Muldoon said Boucher's party and president have "released the attack dogs of the FDA on the tobacco industry." He said President Clinton should concentrate instead on lowering drug use, rather than joking on MTV that he would probably inhale if he tried marijuana again. "If ever there was a time when he should have lied, this was it."
Boucher said regulating tobacco is one of the issues on which he and the president disagree.
Muldoon suggested barring political action committees from contributing to campaigns, although he said he was proud to have the support of Oliver North's PAC. Boucher nodded at that.
Roberts also called for ending PAC money. "If we had visitors from outside," he said, "they wouldn't call this contributions. They'd call it bribery."
Boucher agreed that telecommunication PACs contribute to his campaign. The telecommunication industry is not unified on issues itself, he said, but seems to think he makes good judgments on them.
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshots) Boucher, Muldoon, Roberts. KEYWORDS: POLITICS CONGRESSby CNB