Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 6, 1995 TAG: 9509060089
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
First, Allen singled out Cranwell for blame during his Labor Day address in Buena Vista, which kicked off the fall General Assembly campaigns. He warned that the Roanoke County Democrat was ready to "backslide" on the state's tough new welfare rules.
Tuesday, Cranwell fired back, saying he had been leading the fight to get welfare recipients onto work rolls well before Allen was in the governor's mansion.
Further, Cranwell suggested that the Republican administration had intentionally delayed implementing a Democratic-sponsored welfare plan the General Assembly approved last year so Allen could hog the credit for his program instead.
Cranwell also accused Allen of spreading a "divisive" message of "hate and fear" by attempting to "demonize" those who oppose the governor's policies.
The point-counterpoint between the Republican governor and the Democratic leader most responsible for killing Allen's legislative agenda this year confirmed what political watchers have long expected - that Cranwell's re-election campaign against Trixie Averill, a former Allen campaign worker, in many ways will become a statewide struggle with the governor himself.
In his Labor Day remarks, in which he laid out the Republicans' major campaign themes, Allen took credit for pushing one of the nation's toughest welfare reform programs through a reluctant General Assembly dominated by Democrats.
Cranwell said Tuesday he was "dismayed and disheartened" that Allen had singled him out as an obstacle to putting welfare recipients to work.
"The governor conveniently forgets that [Democratic Lt. Gov.] Don Beyer and I have been working on welfare reform for over three years," Cranwell said. "He forgets that more than a year and a half ago, the Virginia General Assembly passed one of the most comprehensive welfare reform bills in America ...
"He forgets that his Secretary of Human Resources called that legislation one of the toughest welfare reforms in the nation and then sat idly by and did not request the federal waivers necessary to put that legislation into effect."
Had the Allen Cabinet secretary "acted expeditiously," Cranwell said, Virginia's welfare reform would have taken effect in 1994, not 1995. "I suspect that the reason she did not request the necessary waiver was because she wanted the Allen administration to take credit for the plan Don Beyer and I have been working on for over three years."
Cranwell and Beyer did, in fact, lead the legislative push for a welfare-to-work plan in 1994 that put Virginia at the forefront of the national welfare reform movement.
And the Allen administration did wait until late 1994 to request the necessary federal waivers to implement the plan - by which time the focus had already turned to the more comprehensive welfare plan Allen was about to introduce.
An Allen spokesman said Tuesday the administration had delayed asking for the federal waivers because some legal issues hadn't been worked out yet.
The crux of the disagreement between the two sides, however, is not whether there should be new welfare rules, but how they should work.
The welfare reform bill that Allen endorsed this year incorporated some of the ideas in the Democratic-sponsored 1994 bill, but added others, and will be phased in statewide.
Although most Democrats supported the final version, some expressed concern that a few of the Allen-backed proposals to restrict welfare benefits and impose other conditions would hurt the children of welfare recipients.
At the end of this year's General Assembly session, Cranwell sought to assure those welfare reform critics within his own party, saying "there's a difference between being tough and being mean." If the new law turns out to be "more than tough, we'll rectify it," he pledged.
That, Allen said Monday, was evidence Cranwell is now ready to "backslide" and undo welfare reform.
But Cranwell accused Allen and his advisers of intentionally trying to mislead voters. "They have to demonize other people," he said. "They believe in spreading hate and fear. It's a divisive message, and I hope the people reject it."
Cranwell professed amazement that the governor would personally target him for defeat.
"Why do they single Dick Cranwell out? I have no idea. But if they got rid of me, and people like me, then they'll do what they want with Virginia," he said, again renewing his charge that Allen's policies would cut funding for education and cultural programs in Western Virginia.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB