THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 2, 1996 TAG: 9606020070
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY WARREN FISKE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 209 lines
Conservative, conservative, conservative, conservative. U.S. Sen. John W. Warner uses the word four times in a 30-second television commercial to describe his voting record.
Liberal, liberal, liberal. Challenger James C. Miller III uses the word three times in a 60-second radio commercial that claims to set the record straight on Warner.
Warner bolsters his case by citing his 100 percent voting compliance rating from the Christian Coalition and waving a fistful of endorsements from prominent conservatives such as Bob Dole and George Bush.
Miller rebuts by noting that Warner supported President Clinton 58 percent of the time in 1994 and voted against the nomination of arch-conservative Robert H. Bork for the U.S. Supreme Court in 1987.
``No conservative would have ever voted like John Warner has,'' he thunders.
What's a voter in the June 11 Republican primary to believe?
An extensive review of Warner's 17-year voting record shows him fitting comfortably and consistently in the philosophical center of Senate Republicans.
The record also supports Miller's claim that Warner voted more conservatively last year as he prepared for re-election than at any previous time in his career. Miller says Warner did so deliberately. ``John Warner has all but ignored the agenda of social conservatives,'' Miller said, ``but now, candidate Warner is signing on as a co-sponsor of every pro-family, pro-faith bill around.''
Warner's overall record is easily to the right of Northern Republicans such as Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Alfonse M. D'Amato of New York. On the other hand, it is to the left of Bob Dole, presumably the GOP's presidential nominee, and practically all Southern Republican senators, including Jesse Helms of North Carolina.
``My impression is that Warner is a dependable Main Street Republican vote in the Senate who's likely to throw in a few surprises on social issues,' '' said Thomas R. Morris, a political scientist who is president of Emory & Henry College. The record supports that thinking.
In 13 of his first 17 years in the Senate, Warner received higher-than-average scores among Republicans for displaying party unity - the percentage of times he joined a majority of Republicans in voting against a majority of Democrats. In such partisan splits, Warner sided with his party 82 percent of the time. The average for Senate Republicans was 77 percent.
In 10 of the 12 years he has served under GOP presidents, Warner received higher-than-average scores among Republican senators for casting votes that supported the White House agenda. Warner backed Ronald Reagan and George Bush 80 percent of the time. The average for Republicans was 75 percent.
Since entering the Senate, Warner has supported bills backed by the pro-business national Chamber of Commerce 86 percent of the time; he has backed the American Conservative Union's agenda 78 percent of the time. Both groups are considered barometers of Main Street Republican conservatism.
Conversely, Warner has backed the more liberal interests of the American Civil Liberties Union 20 percent of the time. He has supported the pro-union issues of the AFL-CIO 16 percent of the time.
According to a study compiled by the National Journal over the past 15 years, Warner has voted conservatively on economic issues 80 percent of the time, 72 percent on foreign policy, and 68 percent on cultural and social issues.
Warner does not dispute any of the figures.
``The record is there for all to see,'' he said recently. ``I've cast thousands of votes. Are there some votes people are going to disagree with? You bet. But the overall record is solidly conservative.
``Do you think someone like Bob Dole and Trent Lott (R-Miss.) would be endorsing me if I wasn't a conservative?'' Warner added.
Warner noted that he even received a plaque from a public interest group headed by Miller - Citizens for a Sound Economy - for a perfect conservative voting record on fiscal and regulatory issues in 1994.
Miller now says the award was no big deal. But Warner says that his voting record wouldn't be an issue if state Republican leaders weren't mad at him for refusing to support recent GOP nominees: Oliver L. North for the Senate in 1994 and Michael P. Farris for lieutenant governor in 1993.
Miller, a former federal budget director under President Reagan, acknowledged during a recent interview that Warner's voting record isn't all bad.
``He's cast some good votes and he's cast some bad votes,'' Miller said. ``The problem is that he's not a dependable conservative. He's just not there when the party really needs him. I will be a consistent conservative senator.''
The ``bad'' vote Miller cites most often was Warner's 1987 ballot against Supreme Court nominee Bork. Warner complained that Bork ``lacked compassion.'' Miller has argued that Bork's confirmation would have given the Supreme Court a solid conservative majority to rule on social issues such as abortion.
Much of Miller's criticism centers on Warner's independence on social issues. The senator has had a mixed voting record on abortion and gun control, has supported funding of the National Endowment for the Arts, and backed a bill for condom distribution in public schools without parental consent.
Miller has vowed to take a harder line on all those issues. He's also signed a pledge to vote against any form of tax increase, an action Warner dismisses as irresponsible.
``I think a politician owes it to the people to explain up front how he's going to vote,'' Miller said.
Here is a look at Warner's voting record on some of the tension points between the candidates.
ABORTION. Warner's self-proclaimed ``pro-choice with limitation, pro-life with exceptions'' voting record on abortion has long baffled activists on both sides of the issue. They complain he is unpredictable and inconsistent on abortion votes.
According to the National Right to Life Committee, Warner has cast 53 anti-abortion votes and 29 pro-abortion rights votes since joining the Senate in 1979. He received a perfect 100 percent voting record from the group last year. But in 1992, the same organization gave him a zero.
Warner angered anti-abortion groups by consistently voting in the 1980s to allow federal funds to be used to pay for abortions in the District of Columbia. In 1990, he reversed himself.
He has offered a variety of reasons for his different votes favoring federal funds for abortion. He has said that D.C. should be entitled under home rule to make its own determination on abortion. He has also argued, at times, that funding for abortion was only a small line item in the federal appropriation for D.C., which Warner otherwise supported.
Warner also has supported using federal funds to pay for abortions for military personnel.
``We have women in uniform in all corners of the world,'' he said. ``I can't see depriving them of U.S. medical services - the best in the world - when they're in Third World countries.''
Warner has supported fetal tissue research and parental notification. He opposed the nomination of Henry Foster, a physician who had performed abortions, for U.S. surgeon general.
The senator says his record shows consistent opposition for abortion except in cases of rape, incest or when a mother's life is endangered.
Miller is running as a tough abortion foe, favoring the procedure only when a mother's life is at risk. Like Warner, Miller also appears to have hardened his anti-abortion line in recent years; in 1993, he told GOP activists that he supported abortion in cases of rape and incest.
DEFENSE. As second-ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Warner has racked up a solidly conservative and hawkish voting record over the years. He has supported the development of expensive weapons, including the Strategic Defense Initiative - ``Star Wars'' - and the MX missile.
Warner strongly favored deploying troops to the Middle East for Operation Desert Storm in 1991. More recently, however, he opposed using U.S. troops for peacekeeping in Bosnia. Warner argued that the United States has no vital national security interest in the region.
Over the years, Warner has consistently received 100 percent ratings from the National Security Index and other pro-military special interest groups.
TAXES AND SPENDING. For the most part, Warner has consistently supported Republican supply-side economics. Throughout the 1980s, he backed the Reagan and Bush administrations on almost all budgetary issues. He supported cuts in the capital gains tax rate.
Like Miller, Warner has supported a balanced budget amendment and a line item veto.
Miller has criticized Warner for supporting President Bush's 1990 tax increase. ``So did a majority of Republicans at the time,'' Warner said. ``The nation was facing an economic crisis. We had to finance a war with Iraq, and the president and his advisers came to Congress and said, `This is the best way to do it.' ''
Miller also faults Warner for voting against a $500-per-child tax credit proposed last year by Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas. Warner said he was concerned that Gramm's plan was designed to steal momentum from Bob Dole in last year's wrangling for the GOP presidential nomination. Warner ultimately joined Republicans in voting for another version of the $500 tax credit.
Unlike Miller, Warner has refused to sign a pledge not to raise taxes. Warner says it is irresponsible for elected officials to take such oaths.
Miller strongly supports overhauling the tax code with a simple flat tax similar to the one proposed by former presidential candidate Steve Forbes. Warner has criticized the proposal, saying Miller would eliminate popular deductions for mortgage interest and charitable contributions. Miller has since modified his proposal, saying people should have an option of paying a flat tax rate if it would save them money.
Warner has consistently received high ratings from public watchdog groups on the economy such as the Concord Coalition and the National Tax-Limitation Committee.
JOBS, BUSINESS AND LABOR. Warner also gets good reviews from pro-business groups such as the national Chamber of Commerce and relatively low ratings from pro-labor organizations such as the AFL-CIO.
Over the years, Warner has opposed raising the minimum wage, arguing that it would lead to layoffs. He has supported measures that reduce inspections by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and opposed bills that would ban companies from replacing striking workers and require plants to give employees advance notice of plans to close. Warner has supported free trade agreements with Canada and Mexico.
Miller has not criticized Warner for any of these votes.
GUNS AND PUBLIC SAFETY. Once a friend of the National Rifle Association, Warner has angered the group in recent years by supporting the Brady bill, which mandates a five-day waiting period before handgun purchases, and the banning of certain types of semi-automatic weapons.
Warner said that although he is a supporter of gun rights, he believes the waiting period is a reasonable way to reduce crime. Warner said he is no longer convinced a ban on semi-automatic weapons deters crime and might reverse his vote if the matter comes up again.
Miller, who is endorsed by the NRA and owns eight guns, is running as a strong opponent of gun control.
CONTRACT WITH AMERICA.'' Warner said he supports all items of the Republican manifesto except the call for term limits for members of Congress. Warner, a three-term incumbent, said voters should have the right to keep effective veteran office holders. Warner says he would support sending a constitutional amendment on term limits to states for ratification.
Miller supports term limits and has vowed that he would serve no more than two six-year terms in the Senate. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
Sen. John W. Warner
James C. Miller III
Photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
While other Republicans were amassing against him at the state
convention in Salem, Sen. John W. Warner had a full house at his own
hospitality suite, at the Hotel Roanoke nearby. ``You don't go where
you're not invited,'' he said.
KEYWORDS: U.S. SENATE RACE VIRGINIA REPUBLICAN PARTY
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