THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 19, 1995 TAG: 9509190043
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: ELECTION '95 YOU ASKED...
LENGTH: Long : 104 lines
Got a question?
Does it enrage you that lottery profits don't go solely to education spending? Are you interested in whether General Assembly candidates want to give cities more power over their own affairs? Are you having trouble getting politicians to address your concerns?
As part of our effort to make citizens' issues the central focus of this campaign, we want to carry your questions to the candidates.
Every week until the Nov. 7 elections for the legislature, we will pick a question from the ones submitted and ask candidates in the questioner's district.
We'd like to ask all the candidates, but with 17 contested races in South Hampton Roads, it would be far too time- and space-consuming.
The question: For the first one, we turn to Nat G. Craig, a resident of Virginia Beach.
Craig wants to know where the candidates in the 7th Senate District and 83rd House District stand on gun control, riverboat gambling, and horse-racing tracks in Virginia.
``I only want to know about these candidates because they're the only ones I can do anything about,'' Craig said.
Fair enough. We put that question to the legislative hopefuls involved: in the 7th Senate, incumbent Sen. Clarence ``Clancy'' Holland, a Democrat, and Republican candidate Ed Schrock; and in the 83rd House, Republican incumbent Del. Leo C. Wardrup Jr. and his opponent, Democrat Phil Geib.
The background: The phrase ``gun control'' represents a broad and continuous debate in Virginia and the nation. Most often, it refers to handguns, although it has included assault rifles.
In recent years, Virginia has both moved toward tightening controls and loosening them. Virginians are limited to buying one handgun a month and cannot buy certain semiautomatic weapons considered assault rifles. Yet it also is easier now to get a concealed-weapons permit.
Riverboat gambling - the proposal to allow riverboats to run casinos on Virginia waterways - is still a question mark. This year, Del. Jerrauld C. Jones of Norfolk withdrew a riverboat gambling bill before it was voted on in committee. Several cities already have contracted with riverboat companies to seek a license if the state ever approves it. Horse racing, on the other hand, is a done deal. Virginia has granted a license for a track in New Kent County, and off-track betting parlors will be operated around the state, including at least one in Chesapeake.
The answers: What do the candidates think of all this?
Holland: On gun control: ``I have supported in the past the one-gun-a-month legislation, and this year, I supported the permitting ability and also put a part in the bill that said that rather than judges being the ones to issue permits, that that should probably be looked at and done by the state police. . . . One, it takes away any indications of the possibility of any politics. Two: It goes directly to the agency that, I think, needs to have the ability to decide the use of a gun, and, thirdly, they have also the records and the easy accessibility on the gun intelligence statistics.
On riverboat gambling: ``I have not seen the benefits that some peple have, and I guess I would not be for it at this time simply because my fear is that within a very short time it would probably come ashore. And when it comes ashore, it would likely come to high-tourist areas, which is what the city of Virginia Beach is.''
On horse-racing tracks: ``We have the ability to put those in the state, and the horse-racing commission will decide the locations. But I was supportive of the Virginia Beach application that they submitted. I saw it as another area that people might utilize in an entertainment way as much as they would in betting.''
Schrock: On gun control: ``I think the current laws are adequate. I think, more importantly, we need to keep violent criminals in jail.''
On riverboat gambling: ``I have no problem with the issue if there is a referendum so people can decide. If there were, I believe it would fail.''
On horse-racing tracks: ``It's a moot point. We've got them, we can't go back.''
Geib: On gun control: ``I support the right to keep and bear arms, assuming such use of arms is reasonable and for sporting purposes. I'm a hunter, always have been.
``I would not have supported the concealed-weapons legislation that was passed last year. I would have opposed the saloon bill that allows guns to be brought into bars even if you have concealed weapons. Guns and alcohol don't mix.''
On riverboat gambling: ``I support the referendum procedure on riverboat gambling. If the voters want it, they should be allowed to vote. The localities should be allowed to decide under that process, by local referendum, to decide whether they want it in their community. I'm certainly not in favor of any funds from riverboat gambling going to anything but primary, secondary or higher education. And it needs to be highly regulated.''
On horse-racing tracks: ``The only thing I have to say about race tracks is that I will never support off-track betting. There's too much of a danger that this will be an uncontrolled industry. But as for the tracks, it's a done deal.''
Wardrup declined to field Craig's question:
``I can't answer a question like that. I've got a voting record on all of these issues. But I can't answer imprecise questions. And I'm not going to do it through the medium of a newspaper.'' MEMO: Staff writer Tony Wharton compiled this column.
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