THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 19, 1995 TAG: 9509190089
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: CAMPAIGN NOTEBOOK
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
From the political party that gave us the Contract With America will soon come a Virginia version, one that state Republicans hope to ride to historic majorities in the General Assembly.
Democrats, meanwhile, are preparing to tour the state in a school bus, a protest of sorts to proposed education cuts that would have been a product of the Republican agenda.
Republican legislative candidates are planning to gather on the Capitol steps Wednesday to ratify an election-year ``contract'' of promises to voters.
Party members would not discuss the details or even confirm the document's title, but characterized the event as something ``the likes of which no slate of candidates has offered in Virginia before.''
Democratic candidates and party leaders will begin their school bus tour in Grundy, a southwest town whose education budget would have been most affected by proposed cuts offered by Allen this year.
Virginia Republicans have taken pains this year to characterize the Nov. 7 General Assembly elections as a referendum on both Allen and the collective agenda of the party. Signing of the contract would be the latest effort to homogenize the varying races around the state.
Republicans say privately that they are mimicking the Contract With America, a list of conservative campaign promises released by Republicans in last year's race for the House of Representatives. The GOP won majorities in both houses of Congress.
Last week, a Republican political action committee in Virginia released results of an ``Allen Support Index,'' ranking incumbent state legislators based on their support for some of the Republican governor's proposals.
Many of the litmus-test issues used in the index are high on the list of possible promises for the Virginia contract. They include prison construction, tax cuts, parental notification when young women under 18 undergo abortions. Also at issue: giving state lottery profits to local governments to spend on public safety, education or to offset taxes.
State Republican Caucus spokesman J. Scott Leake would not release a list of who plans to sign the document, but said ``the vast majority of Republicans are on board.'' Incumbents, challengers and contenders for open seats are expected to attend Wednesday's event.
Gov. George F. Allen has been asked to attend and be presented with the document.
The campaign staff of state Sen. L. Louise Lucas of Portsmouth on Monday cried ``plagiarism'' over a brochure circulated by her opponent, Frank Slayton of South Boston.
Slayton is handing out a brochure that is almost a word-for-word copy of campaign material by Trixie Averill, a Roanoke County Republican.
Here is one example:
``Too much of our hard-earned money goes to Richmond so that the General Assembly can maintain the status quo and help themselves,'' Slayton declares. ``That's why I want to give Governor Allen's ideas an honest chance to succeed.''
Averill's brochure includes the same quote, except she substitutes ``Democrats'' for the ``General Assembly.''
Slayton aide Jack Rohrer takes responsibility for lifting quotes from the Averill brochure, which he helped prepare earlier this year while working for Averill's political consultant.
``I wouldn't say ripped off exactly,'' Rohrer said. ``I'd say the candidates are very similar philosophically.''
Rhett Walker, a Lucas campaign aide, said he didn't know what surprised him more: the open plagiarism or the fact that Slayton - a former Democratic state lawmaker - would be so lavish in his praise for a Republican governor.
``You can draw your own conclusions,'' Walker said. by CNB