THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 20, 1996 TAG: 9610180696
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: DECISION '96
As Virginians look forward to the Nov. 5 election, they're thinking a
lot about issues that are important in their lives. Leadership.
Economic security. Education. Crime. National priorities. Each Sunday,
we will hear from candidates and citizens about these issues.
LENGTH: 101 lines
Carrie Pepper
Chesapeake
``The system needs a complete overhaul. It seems like the money they're collecting goes to the wrong things. You hear about how much money they're spending on things that don't matter and cutting money from the people that need it.''
Stuart S. Grimes
Virginia Beach, teacher
``The Republicans and the Democrats set priorities but they don't work together to get them accomplished. They're more interested in seeing what kind of damage they can do to one another. I'm afraid that's kind of a negative assessment, but that's how it seems to me. For example, when they shut down the federal government. There was no reason to do that. They should have compromised, but instead they argued with each other and caused an awful lot of people to worry about whether they could pay their bills.''
Ted Deutsch
Norfolk, retired
``I don't believe a tax cut is at all feasible. Simple arithmetic. You cannot decrease that amount of revenue and still increase the economy.''
Carolyn S. Babcock
Virginia Beach, office manager
``If the government has less income, it'll only make the deficit worse. I would like to see a break in taxes for personal reasons, but it depends on where it falls and where you cut spending. . . . Something has to give. You can't have it all. I wish there was someone, somewhere who had a magic plan that said we had to give up this and this before the deficit was paid off.''
Robert L. Anderson
Norfolk
``The taxes eat you up. They have to understand that for ordinary people, making $15,000 a year, it's tough, especially if you're trying to support a family. . . . They're not spending it on the right things. They'd rather spend it on bombs and warheads and stuff like that. They need to spend money to help people.''
Edwin S.C. Brinkley
Portsmouth, part-time worker at Virginia Sports Hall of Fame
``Neither of the parties have told me anything about what they're going to do. I would like to know what they're going to do with Social Security, what they're going to do with health care. I think everybody would like to know those things.''
Josephine Felder
Chesapeake, retired
``I think we need to look at the corporations that get all that government money. Everybody yells about the little lady with three children who gets taken care of, but nobody yells about the corporations that get government help.''
Russell E. Hurdle
Portsmouth, shipping and receiving clerk
``The way I see it, the middle income to lower income are headed in the opposite direction from the very wealthy. It seems like the less you make, the more they (government tax collectors) take.
``They need to make certain tax breaks for the working people. I feel like it should be like a domino effect. If the big corporations get tax breaks, then the people working for the big corporations should get tax breaks, and on down the line.''
``We need to look within the communities themselves. We need to look at who needs tax breaks the most. Portsmouth is basically a blue collar worker town. And if you're a blue collar worker like me, you need all the help you can get.''
Arden Lyons
Chesapeake
``They need to balance things out better. Some money is spent foolishly, and not enough money is spent on what's really needed, like education and crime prevention.''
John Hutcherson
Virginia Beach
``I can't say any administration would really do things differently. I've paid my share of taxes, and I'm pretty satisfied. We could get rid of some of the freeloading-type benefits. Like Medicare and Medicaid should be reserved for the elderly. The welfare situation is my only big-time problem.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photos
Carrie Pepper
John Hutcherson
KEYWORDS: PUBLIC JOURNALISM ELECTION VIRGINIA U.S.
SENATE RACE VIRGINIA CONGRESSIONAL RACE VIRGINIA
CANDIDATES ISSUES by CNB