THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 7, 1994 TAG: 9406070307
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TONY WHARTON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940607 LENGTH: VIRGINIA BEACH
It's all more or less true. But Wagner's dark secret? He's a policy wonk.
{REST} If you let Wagner rattle on for a few minutes, pretty soon he'll launch into the details of his program to reform education, or how to make defense conversion work, or exactly why Congress can't balance a budget. In fact, he won't shut up about it.
``It's problem-solving that I really enjoy, I guess because of my engineer background,'' said Wagner, 38, serving his second term in the 21st state House district. ``You know, if we were ever to sort through and solve the great abortion debate, we'll attack the problem of an awful lot of women getting pregnant who didn't want to.
``That's the problem, and the terms of that debate are completely different than the one that's going on now.''
His immediate problem is more concrete. Wagner wants to be the Republican candidate against Democratic Rep. Owen B. Pickett in the 2nd District congressionalelection this fall.
First, Wagner has to remind enough people there's a GOP primary June 14, and get them to vote for him, to beat fellow Republican Jim Chapman.
Heaven knows Republican voters have a choice. These two are not cut from the same cloth.
``I've known Frank for quite some time, and Frank is more of a practical, nuts and bolts type of politician,'' said George Schaefer, chairman of the Republican Party in Norfolk. ``Jim, on the other hand, is more ideologically based . . . . Frank will talk about what's doable, what can actually be achieved.''
The campaign has revolved around the question, who is the true conservative? But the answer depends on your politics.
Chapman is undoubtedly further to the right, with unyielding positions against gun control and abortion and for school vouchers. Wagner supported the one-gun-a-month limit and a ban on the ``street sweeper'' semiautomatic shotgun, and supports abortion rights.
Yet Wagner maintains he is the true conservative, dedicated to lower taxes, less government regulation and tightfisted fiscal policy. He is unwilling to support school vouchers, he says, because it amounts to public financial support for private schools. And being pro-choice means he's against government interference.
``Jim Chapman focuses a lot on education and education directives coming out of Washington,'' Wagner said. ``He doesn't mind those directives as long as they're his kind of directives. My goal is to have less education policy coming out of Washington and more originated at the local level.
``You tell me which one is more conservative.''
Chapman says that's not true. At a recent appearance he said, ``I think we need to get the federal bureaucracy out of public education, and return it to the local level, to parents and teachers who really know best.''
Wagner says he's the candidate with a legislative track record, and an engineer to boot. He calls Chapman, who has never held office, just another lawyer who wants to be elected to something.
``I probably carry this to the nth degree,'' Wagner said. ``Not only am I not a lawyer, but I oppose a lot of the lawyers' agenda. And I think a major proportion of the people think that is a problem, the lawyers' influence on our government.
``Lawyers tend to be eloquent, that's their advantage. It's in the nature of their profession to say things that sound great but don't mean much.''
Chapman said, ``Let's not forget in this country that Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln were lawyers. . . Frankly, I'm proud of my education. I got a public education growing up, I worked my way through law school, I'm still paying off educational loans.''
Jack Birsch is a Virginia Beach manufacturer of industrial cleaners who has contributed to Wagner's campaigns. He thinks Wagner is an effective legislator.
``Frank is a great debater and he is knowledgeable on military downsizing and about converting from a military-based economy to a civilian-based economy,'' Birsch said. ``He's also one of the best about answering my questions and telling me what the bureaucrats really mean.''
Wagner's muscular athleticism, easy-going manner and background as a Navy diver sometimes conceal a brain that compares the legislature to ``a three-tiered chess match'' and shifts easily into discussions of exactly what pollutants are in stormwater runoff and how to remove them.
``Unfortunately, many candidates tend to react to hot-button issues, which is less than 2 percent of what we actually do,'' he said. ``What we do in the legislature has mostly to do with money, and with power, and how to make that work to get policy made.''
Wagner's constant struggle, and the question he thinks the public should consider, is how to use government to solve problems without promoting regulation.
For example, Wagner said, the real problem in education, the ``variable'' as he calls it, is this: ``There's been a growth of single-parent families, and the growth of a need for so many families to send both parents into the workplace.
``Now, we don't want to intercede and become parents. But maybe we are. How much government do you want, to find the solution to the problem of less parenting?''
There is a clue to Wagner's makeup in one of his more unorthodox opinions: He doesn't mind saying that he admires former Democratic Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, unheard of in a Republican.
Wagner thinks Wilder overcame incredible obstacles to become Virginia's first black governor, but that's not all. When he talks about Wilder's political ability, Wagner just says, ``He's the best in the business.''
Wagner's love of politics may be the real reason he runs for office and wants to go to Congress. Asked about why he's in politics, he first said he loves people and can't imagine another job ``where you can interact with people more.''
Then he said he likes, as an engineer, ``taking concepts and getting them made into reality.''
But finally, after a silence, he said, ``I guess, too, there's the invariable chess match of either getting elected or getting your legislation approved. Ultimately, it's the one-on-one competition.
``It's an awful lot of fun.''
{KEYWORDS} CANDIDATE PROFILE PRIMARY SECOND DISTRICT CONGRESSIONAL RACE
by CNB