Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 25, 1995                   TAG: 9505250070
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: PULASKI                                 LENGTH: Short

BAKER WANTS TO KEEP HIS DELEGATE SEAT

If elected in November, Baker, 38, will represent Radford, Pulaski County and part of Giles County for a fourth term.

Baker, 38, had no opposition within his party and, so far, has none among Democrats. He was unopposed in the 1993 election, and won earlier races in 1989 and 1991.

Baker serves on the House Education, Courts of Justice, and Health and Welfare committees. At home, he is the attorney for his town of Dublin.

He has gained a reputation of putting the interests of his district before politics, even when it means opposing his own party's governor. Even state Sen. Madison Marye, D-Shawsville, commented at a Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce legislative luncheon last month that Baker stood up for his district when it counted.

Baker received the GOP candidacy at a gathering in the temporary Pulaski County courts building on Virginia 99.

He was credited with pushing Enterprise Zone legislation which allowed a state and local incentive package to keep some 1,200 jobs at the Volvo-GM Heavy Truck Corp. plant near Dublin in addition to others as the plant expands. Other states had sought to have Volvo relocate the plant within their borders.

Other accomplishments included $3.8 million for Edwards Hall, an economic development center under construction at New River Community College, and the restoration of some state funding that had been cut from Radford University.

Keywords:
POLITICS