THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 29, 1996 TAG: 9610290330
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B9 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: Decision '96
As Virginians look forward to the Nov. 5 election, they're thinking a
lot about the qualities they want in their leaders. Virginians attach
roughly equal importance to the candidates' stands on the issues and
the candidates' leadership qualities and characters. We posed
questions about leadership to the candidates for Congress. We'll run
one a day up to Election Day.
LENGTH: 105 lines
Many people believe that building consensus is a critical skill for a legislator. Describe a time when you helped build consensus. When is consensus a bad thing? SENATE
John W. Warner (R)
I drafted the Senate bill and worked as a floor leader to build consensus in 1991 that ultimately authorized President Bush to use American armed forces in the Persian Gulf. Within days of Senate approval, by a mere five votes, U.S. forces, with their allies, launched an impressive military operation liberating Kuwait and restoring security to the region vital to our security and economic interest.
Spirited debate leads to a consensus in a healthy and productive way to make laws and it reflects the diverse views of the American people. Consensus can be bad if it is so difficult to achieve that it results in weak, ineffective laws.
Mark R. Warner (D)
The Virginia Health Care Foundation, which I helped create, was and is a bipartisan effort. Additionally, when I served on the Commonwealth Transportation Board, I helped forge a consensus on the difficult issue of high-occupancy vehicles. I chaired a task force which included members who held widely different views, and many people thought we would never reach agreement. Finally, in my business, I work to reach consensus every day. Of course, consensus is bad when you compromise your core values to achieve it. 2ND DISTRICT
Owen B. Pickett (D)
Recently, we had an issue in the House in the National Security Committee where the majority was proposing to change retirement benefits for military members who entered prior to 1980. In 1986, there was an extensive revision of the retirement program and those who entered before 1980 were unaffected. Here we were 10 years later and the group was proposing to reduce the retirement pay of people who entered before 1980. I thought it was harsh. I was the first one to speak in opposition to it and continued to until the idea was abandoned.
John F. Tate (R)
When I served as the legislative director of the United States Defense Committee, we were successful in building consensus at the grass-roots level for the support of President Reagan's defense revitalization, including the 600-ship Navy.
In a political context, consensus is bad when you sell out your beliefs, your principles, and your constituents because party leaders have told you to. 3RD DISTRICT
Elsie Goodwyn Holland (R)
Sometimes a leader has to use his own judgment. I have been a school principal and I've worked in situations where the final decision was mine, and I had to make a call. There are times when one has to do that and pray it's the right one. You can't always have time to build consensus. If and when a decision is needed in an emergency situation, one has to bite the bullet and go ahead and make it. I don't believe in vacillating. Make a decision and stick with it.
Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (D)
Consensus is never a bad thing if you're doing the right thing. In terms of helping to build consensus, one example would be how the local delegation has done with funding with aircraft carriers. We have been able to develop such a consensus on aircraft carriers that we haven't even voted on them for the past several years. That's a stark contrast to the supercollider in Texas, the B-2 bombers and the space station, which have been very contentious issues over the last few years. 4TH DISTRICT
Norman Sisisky (D)
After the Base Realignment and Closure Commission in 1993 - we stopped BRAC from closing the Norfolk Naval Shipyard - I knew the next BRAC would be even more difficult. So I called everyone at the shipyard. I met with them separately, both military and civilian. I said to them, ``You've got to start talking to each other, listening to each other, treating each other as partners rather than as competitors.'' I said, ``If you cooperate, you can drive down overhead, drive down rates, be competitive and survive the next round of BRAC.'' They took my advice and they developed a genuine spirit of partnership and became more competitive. The consensus worked. They got so good that BRAC '95 never even considered closing them.
I really don't know that consensus is ever bad, unless it's used in a way that harms other people, and obviously we should also respect the legitimate rights of others.
Anthony Zevgolis (R)
When I was elected to Hopewell City Council in 1990, I spent my first term lobbying my fellow members to lower the tax rate. While I wasn't immediately successful, I was able to obtain an agreement not to raise the tax rate and eventually to lower the rate. And we did for the last two years, in 1995 and 1996. Building consensus in itself is not a bad thing. It becomes a bad thing when good old boys start doing business under the table, trading pork for pork to enhance their careers at the expense of their constituents.
KEYWORDS: SENATE RACE VIRGINIA 1996 CANDIDATES CONGRESSIONAL
RACE VIRGINIA 1996 by CNB