Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 24, 1993 TAG: 9303240316
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
LAWMAKERS' EXITS CUT REGION'S CLOUT
IN THIS era of term limits and political discontent, seasoned legislators sometimes seem to be viewed as leeches on the body politic to be rid of, the sooner the better. Seldom are they credited with hanging on to elective offices for anything but a glory ride, or worse.Some, though, do it - often at considerable sacrifice of family and career interests - from a genuine commitment to public service. And because they're darn good at it.
In this category are three veteran Southwest Virginia legislators who this year are giving up presumably safe seats in the House of Delegates. Their departure represents one more diminution of the region's clout in state politics.
The three are:
Ford Quillen, D-Gate City, chairman of the House Committee on Privileges and Elections, retiring after 23 years.
Joan Munford, D-Blacksburg, chairman of the House Committee on Labor and Commerce, stepping down after 11 years.
Steve Agee, R-Salem, giving up a House seat after 11 years to seek the Republican nomination for attorney general.
These three are among the most highly regarded members of the General Assembly. Each has built a reputation as hard-working and effective, with a deep commitment to looking after the interests of his or her constituents.
Quillen, for instance, has striven ceaselessly to raise the standard of living in Virginia's rugged, mountainous Far Southwest. He was a principal architect of coal-severance tax legislation to improve roads and transportation in the coal counties. He was battling for a fairer share of state funds for public education in his region many years before the "disparity" issue rose to prominence.
Munford is one of the legislature's most successful advocates for children and the elderly, for better health services, and for human resources. Out of concern for rising teen-pregnancy rates, she championed state-mandated family-life education. At this year's assembly session, she pressed vigorously to reform and strengthen state laws governing day-care programs for children.
Criminal justice has been the niche that Agee has tried to carve. As a member of the minority party, he has not always succeeded in getting crime bills passed. This year, however, he was a key mover in passage of the one-a-month handgun-control measure. Agee - for years the only Republican in the valley's delegation - gets high praise from House Majority Leader Dick Cranwell of Vinton for his cooperation with the Democrats on issues of special interest to the Roanoke Valley.
No member of the General Assembly is indispensable. Other people will come along to serve capably. Still, the departures of Quillen, Munford and Agee from the legislature mark another step in the decline in Western Virginia's political influence.
For decades, this section of the state has grown in population relatively little (or not at all) compared with the rest of Virginia. The result has been, after every 10-year census, legislative districting that reduces further the number of General Assembly seats from the western half of the state.
Western Virginia's tendency to re-elect its own, thereby promoting the seniority of its delegation, can compensate only so much for the sheer decline in numbers of seats from the region - and can do it for only so long. It is appropriate and reasonable for Quillen and Munford to want to return to "normal" life; the same is true of Agee's effort to seek statewide office.
But the three are bid farewell with regret. With their voices absent from the General Assembly, the region's voice will be weaker.