ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 12, 1997 TAG: 9701130023
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
HIS SUPPORTERS HOPE the following will turn out to be true: You can take Virgil Goode out of Franklin County but you can't take the Franklin County out of Virgil Goode.
There's an Amtrak calendar hanging on a wall in Virgil Goode's congressional office.
Goode liked it so much that he grabbed it from a pile of stuff another congressman was throwing away.
A salvaged bulletin board is on another wall, and Goode had his eye on a set of old file cabinets he saw, too.
Goode has left his influential place among Virginia's 40 state senators to become a freshman legislator in the U.S. House of Representatives.
He has 400,000 more constituents; his congressional district dwarfs the area he represented as a state senator.
With the changes that surround him, some of his die-hard supporters fret that the Goode they know will be transformed into something else by the high-powered, political glamour of Capitol Hill.
He'll bet the Amtrak calendar that Washington can't change him.
If his first few days on the job are any indication, the folksy, frugal, Franklin County icon may be right.
Tight as a drum
Goode's congressional salary is $133,800 per year, compared with the $18,000 he made as a state legislator. He also gets about $800,000 to operate his Washington office and the four he'll have in the 5th District.
But you'd think Goode was operating on a shoestring.
University of Virginia political analyst Larry Sabato said it wouldn't surprise him if Goode were already saving his salary.
"He'll put $3,000 in every bank in the district," Sabato said.
Not only did Goode go salvage shopping last week, but he also wanted to do taxpayers a favor by using his law office in Rocky Mount - inside a building Goode paid for years ago - at little or no cost to the federal government.
But, because other congressmen have abused the situation by using federal money to support their private businesses, Goode has been told that he'll have to find another place for his Franklin County office.
"It's too bad, isn't it?" he said.
He and his wife, Lucy, are renting a two-room apartment for $1,030 a month near the Capitol.
Goode isn't thrilled by the cost, but, compared with what some other politicians are paying, he thinks he got a good deal.
Rep. Robert ``Bobby'' Scott, D-Newport News, chuckles about the furniture Goode brought with him to Washington. It's the same weathered desk and tree stump chair that helped shape Goode's career in the General Assembly.
The story is well told. In 1977, a new legislative office building was opened in Richmond. State legislators, along with a new office, each got $3,400 worth of new furniture.
Goode refused to take it, citing the high cost to taxpayers.
He continued to use the small, old desk and the stump chair made for him by high school students.
Scott was a state senator at the time.
``When Virgil was getting all that publicity, I was thinking to myself, `I wonder if the media is going to do the same thing when he finally starts using the new furniture,''' Scott said.
Twenty years have passed.
``He's still using that old stuff,'' Scott said.
In fact, about the only thing new in Goode's office is something old. Goode's daughter, Catherine, gave him a framed photograph of his father and political mentor, Virgil Goode Sr., standing on the steps of the Capitol building in the 1920s.
Goode Sr., who died in 1975, is a legend in Franklin County. He served in the state legislature and was the county's commonwealth's attorney for years.
"Virgil Jr. is a little more polished and more quiet, but he's got just as big a heart as his father," said Nelson Amos, a longtime friend of the Goode family.
If Goode stays the way he is, that will suit Scott just fine.
"He's always been one to vote his conscience," Scott said. "Frankly, I think we need more people up here who vote their conscience."
Always a maverick
Goode's unique political philosophy might not be as well known in Washington as it is in Southside Virginia, but it soon will be.
In the New Members of Congress Congressional Almanac, given out to every member of the House and Senate, each freshman is profiled. A lot of the short biographies are as boring as a piece in a medical journal, but Goode's is a little more revealing.
"If fellow freshman Democrats don't exactly welcome Virgil Goode into their ranks with open arms, they should not be accused of rudeness right away. Goode, who overcame a stiff challenge from religious conservative-backed George Landrith, has in the past toyed with switching parties and, in the Virginia state Senate, frequently voted with the other party."
It later says: "Goode's credentials would make him the envy of many conservative Republicans."
The new congressman cringed at the tone of his profile.
But he will go along with the part about his desire to foster cooperation between Democrats and Republicans. Goode, along with his history of supporting issues of both parties, is now a member of the Blue Dogs, a group of 21 conservative Democrats in the House.
With the Republicans holding a slim majority in Congress, the Blue Dogs have an important niche. Goode, who's one of a handful of new Blue Dog members, had been appointed co-chairman of the group's transportation task force. Goode hopes he can secure funding for Southside projects such as improvements to U.S. 58 and the Interstate 73 project.
Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke, has positioned himself into a leadership role among Republicans in the House. He's known Goode for years. They met while both were practicing law, and they'll now serve together on the House Agriculture Committee.
"There are opportunities there," Goodlatte said. "I've always thought that if Virgil was elected, he would be very easy to work with."
Scott, the Democrat, said: "I know there are going to be things that Virgil and I disagree on. But that's Virgil. I don't have a problem with that, because he's going to do his homework and he's going to know what he's voting on."
Goode has already spied an issue that's likely to put him at odds with many in his own party: gun rights.
He mentioned Carolyn McCarthy, a freshman Democrat from New York. Her husband was killed and her son wounded by Colin Ferguson, the now infamous Long Island Railroad gunman.
Once a Republican, McCarthy - who supports stringent handgun control measures - switched parties and decided to run for political office after becoming angry at the incumbent's record on gun issues.
Goode, on the other hand, is one of the National Rifle Association's best friends.
He sponsored legislation as a state senator that made it easier to get a concealed-weapon permit in Virginia.
"I can tell you right now that she and I aren't going to agree on gun issues," he said.
Goode thinks law-abiding citizens should have the right to carry a concealed weapon so they can defend themselves in a situation such as the Colin Ferguson incident.
His forthrightness about his beliefs is one of his strongest attributes, Lucy Goode said.
Another freshman congressman, Bill Pascrell, a Democrat from New Jersey, got a taste of Goode's personality at a popular restaurant near the Capitol last week.
Pascrell came in, saw Goode, and walked over to greet him.
"Virgil, you're going to have to bend elbows with me," he said. "Do you know what that means?"
Goode didn't reply.
``That means we're going to have to have a drink together,'' Pascrell said.
A little while later, Pascrell, who sat down at a table nearby, hollered to Goode: ``Virgil, let's have that drink.''
``I'll have to take a rain check,'' said Goode, whose favorite drink is milk.
``You're kidding, right?'' said Pascrell.
``Naw,'' Goode said.
The homeboy
Virgil Goode's people love him like a brother.
To them, he's not a politician, but a neighbor who will extend a helping hand.
That's why three busloads of people left Franklin County at 6 a.m. Tuesday to see the conservative Democrat on his first day in Congress. The buses carried about half of the 250 people who came from all over Southside Virginia to celebrate Goode's swearing-in.
"He's done me a lot of favors over the years," said Brady Hall of Rocky Mount, a World War II veteran who was on one of the buses.
People on the bus talked about the similarities of Mr. Goode and Jimmy Stewart's Mr. Smith going to Washington
The party the crowd threw Goode - which took over the section of Goode's office building that he shares with several other members of Congress - felt like a scene from a Stewart movie. There were hugs and group pictures and jokes.
There weren't enough plates to feed the masses, but nobody cared.
It was Virgil's day, they said.
Now their hope is that the Goode they've all come to know and love will put his stamp on Congress.
"All my Republican friends say Virgil is going to become a crook" like some other politicians in Washington, Aquilla Poindexter said. ``And I say `No, no, no, no!'''
"Washington can't change Virgil," said Nelson Amos, one of Goode's most ardent supporters. "They tried that in Richmond, and it didn't work too well."
But it's not going to be as easy for Goode, 50, to make his mark with a bigger district and four times the constituents. Goode used to have to stock five phone books; now he has close to 20 on the shelf.
He's now one of 435 peers instead of one of 40.
And he's in Washington, which is farther away from home than Richmond.
There's no way Goode can spend as much time doing what's made him so popular over the years - attending rescue squad meetings, church functions and other civic get-togethers.
But he's still going to make every effort to stay close to his constituents.
He's stationed his press secretary, Linwood Duncan, in Danville rather than Washington so he'll be more accessible to the people in the district, even though Goode and his staff will have to burn more of their time relaying information.
He's also kept many of former 5th District Rep. L.F. Payne's staff so constituents won't have to get used to new faces.
Goode also plans to put plenty of miles on his car.
"I'm not much for big cities," he said when asked his initial impressions of Washington. "I like my home territory. I'll be going back as much as I can. Washington's not that far from home. It could be worse."
LENGTH: Long : 213 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY STAFF. 1. Virgil Goode spent part of hisby CNBfirst full day as a member of the 105th Congress on Wednesday
working the phone. Three busloads of people left Franklin County at
6a.m. Tuesday to witness his first day. 2. Goode (above) attends a
meeting of a group called the Blue Dogs, conservative Democratic
members of Congress. The group was working on the '97 budget. His
wife, Lucy, (in photo at right) works as a volunteer in her
husband's office. On the wall behind her is an Amtrak calendar that
Goode, known for thrift, rescued from another congressman's trash.
3. Goode chats with fellow Democrats (left to right) Marion Berry of
Arkansas and Max Sandlin and Jim Turner of Texas. 4. Goode and
Democrat Jim Turner of Texas, another freshman, walk down a hallway
in the Longworth Building, where their offices are. 5. Goode says
his schedule Wednesday left no time for exercise, so the stairs in
his office building were a logical substitute. color. KEYWORDS: PROFILE