Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 4, 1995 TAG: 9511060054
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY, LESLIE TAYLOR AND DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Also called "advocacy polls," the calls aren't designed to get an accurate reading of how people will vote. Instead, they aim to influence voters by disclosing negative information about a particular candidate.
Mabel Mitchell of Northeast Roanoke says she was outraged by the call she got Wednesday. She says it began by the putative pollster launching into a diatribe about House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Congressional GOP efforts at major changes in Medicare and Medicaid.
Linking Republican state Sen. Brandon Bell of Roanoke County with Gingrich, the caller then asked Mitchell if she intended to vote for Bell's Democratic opponent, John Edwards.
"It was a low blow, and it made me mad," Mitchell says. "It was designed to try and hurt Brandon."
Senior citizens nationally have been up in arms about $270 billion in cuts proposed from Medicare over the next seven years. The government-run insurance program, which is slated to go broke without major changes, covers virtually all Americans over the age of 65.
The Republican proposal doesn't actually cut taxpayer subsidies for Medicare. Instead, it reduces the increase in tax dollars that will go into the program in the future. Some of the savings come from reducing costs by limiting patients' choice of doctors. If enacted, seniors also can expect increases in their out-of-pocket health care costs.
Democrats have argued that Medicare could be saved with much less-drastic funding cuts. And they've suggested the GOP Medicare savings will go directly into the pockets of wealthy Americans in the form of tax cuts.
Edwards denies any knowledge of the poll, and there seems to be some evidence to suggest he's not directly involved in it.
James Faulkner, Bell's campaign manager, said seniors have received similar calls in Lynchburg, where Democrat Gil Cobb is battling Republican Preston Bryant for the House of Delegates seat being given up by Steve Newman.
"It's a typical Democratic scare tactic," Faulkner said. "It happens every election."
Contribution used to pay back loan
Republican Newell Falkinburg's latest campaign report shows a hefty $30,000 loan repayment - the same amount given him last month by Roanoke millionaires Edward and Peter Via.
Coincidence?
The contribution was used to pay back a loan Falkinburg had taken out to buy television ads early enough to ensure that he would get good air time toward the end of the campaign, he said.
"I knew I was going to be getting an additional $30,000 contribution to the campaign," he said. "We wanted to use the money to buy media at the end of the campaign, so I loaned the campaign $30,000 and the $30,000 that came into the campaign paid me back."
Using campaign contributions to repay personal loans for campaigns is legal and does not violate state election laws.
"We just wanted to make sure we would be able to use the resources the way we wanted to," Falkinburg said. "I really didn't want to do it because it looks kind of funny going in and coming out."
Aliens in Northern Va.?
So many Republicans have trouped through Vinton this fall to verbally beat up on House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell, D-Roanoke County, that he jokes his campaign has been good for the local tourist industry.
Now some Republicans aren't bothering to leave home to take on Cranwell. Five senior GOP legislators from Northern Virginia called a news conference this week to urge voters there to cast a Republican ballot - on the grounds that the key budget-writing committees in a GOP-led General Assembly would be headed by Northern Virginians.
"Anyone who doesn't vote Republican is voting against the interests of Northern Virginia," said Del. Vince Callahan, R-McLean, who's in line to become chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
But, according to a Richmond Times-Dispatch account, the Republican legislators also zeroed in on some comments Cranwell made to The Roanoke Times a month ago, in which he warned that a Republican-dominated General Assembly led by Northern Virginians would try to rewrite the state's education and highway funding formulas. "They'll suck money out of Southwest Virginia like George Allen wanted to suck water out of Lake Gaston," Cranwell had said.
The Northern Virginia Republicans took offense. "Whenever Democrats want a bogyman, they create the alien from Northern Virginia," said state Sen. Warren Barry, R-Fairfax. "In the minds of some Virginians, the state ends at the Rappahannock River."
However, Callahan advised: "I think Northern Virginia will get a fairer shake than ever before."
by CNB