THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 28, 1994 TAG: 9410280638
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBERT LITTLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
The high-pitched, inquisitive voice of a young child squeaks out of the radio. ``Mommy,'' the child asks, ``how come daddy stays home all the time now?''
``Well, honey,'' a matronly voice responds, ``Norman Sisisky and the Democrats have cut so much money out of the defense budget, your daddy has lost his job.''
The dialog is part of congressional challenger George Sweet's advertising salvo against the Democratic incumbent, whom Sweet blames for slashing military spending and eliminating as many as 20,000 local shipyard jobs.
Apparently, however, Sweet never talked to daddy.
Representatives from seven labor unions and management groups at Norfolk Naval Shipyard here in Portsmouth called a news conference Thursday to deplore the ad and say that Sweet is distorting the truth when he blames Sisisky for the loss of area defense jobs.
``We just absolutely cannot believe these misrepresentative ads,'' said Ron Ault, deputy administrator of the local Metal Trades Council. ``No one has worked harder to keep work in our shipyards and in the defense industry in Tidewater than Norman Sisisky.
``It would have been much worse if we had anybody with less than Sisisky's stature working with us.''
Sweet, running for the 4th Congressional District seat held by Sisisky since 1982, says the commercial simply points out his contention that national defense has been trimmed too much. And Sisisky, he maintains, bears much of the blame because he voted for recent federal budgets.
But labor leaders said the ad shows Sweet doesn't know a shipyard from Shinola.
``It galls me,'' said Jimmy Blick, a representative of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers. ``Norman Sisisky has always done everything in his power for us.''
One Sweet television commercial refers to the yard as the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard instead of the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. The local yard is in Portsmouth, but the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is on the border between Maine and New Hampshire.
``George Sweet's ad makes about as much sense to us as it does to send our jobs from Portsmouth, Va., to Portsmouth, N.H,'' read a statement issued by the labor leaders Thursday. ``Maybe Sweet should go up to New Hampshire and try a run for Congress there.''
A nod from labor unions is hardly anything new for Sisisky, who is a Democratic member of the House Armed Services Committee and has had union support much of his career. But Sweet, tipped that the news conference was scheduled, showed up hoping to cool tempers and win over voters.
There was some chiding (``I don't know if he wants to shake my hand or put his hand in my pocket,'' said Metal Trades Council worker Robert Barfield), but it was a civil confrontation nonetheless.
``We're glad he's here,'' Ault said. ``We definitely have some things to tell him, but he's welcome.''
Sweet said he wasn't discouraged by the show of opposition, and said he has received support from other shipyard workers.
``There've been 5,400 people who have lost their jobs from this facility over the last few years, and that's going to continue to happen if they continue to slash the budget. That's my whole contention,'' Sweet said, standing outside Gate 10 at the yard.
``When it first started, it was a good thing. But now, it's gone too far.'' ILLUSTRATION: George Sweet, left, has received harsh feedback for his campaign
ad blaming U.S. Rep. Norman Sisisky for a loss of shipyard jobs.
KEYWORDS: CONGRESSIONAL RACE CANDIDATES SHIPYARD by CNB