ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 11, 1996 TAG: 9601110074
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Ray L. Garland
SOURCE: RAY L. GARLAND
THE MOST interesting political figure in Virginia just now isn't Gov. George Allen, nor even the embattled U.S. Sen. John Warner. It is state Sen. Virgil Goode of Franklin County, that breeding ground of rabid Democrats which may be considering whether it could find more comfort with the GOP.
Goode made news by challenging Charles Robb for the Democrats' U.S. Senate nomination in 1994. He made a great start by quickly gathering some 30,000 signatures to have his name placed on the primary ballot. But his conservative message didn't click with Democrats, and he ended with only 34 percent of the vote in a dismal turnout.
There was solace for Goode in the fact he did so well with so little money. And his home area of Southside Virginia turned out strongly for him. In his own district, he beat Robb by an astonishing 15-to-1! There are few politicians in any time or place who have so thoroughly solidified the support of their constituents.
The run at Robb was somewhat surprising. Had Goode wanted to go to Washington, the 5th Congressional District was his for the taking in 1988 when the long-serving Democrat died in office. But it went instead to the present Democratic incumbent, L.F. Payne, who has had no great difficulty holding it.
As one never touched by the slightest hint of scandal, Goode was no doubt offended by Robb's conduct unbecoming. He may also have been offended by the senator's barrage of conservative rhetoric masking a very liberal voting record. Goode himself has moved to the right since his early populist days. But the Republican Party of today is more populist, which might suggest a match.
When the 1995 legislative elections gave both parties 20 seats in the 40-member Senate, it was widely assumed that Democrats, relying upon Lt. Gov. Don Beyer's tie-breaking vote, would brass it out and organize that body as they had every year since Rutherford B. Hayes was president.
As recently as 1991, Republicans held only nine seats in the Senate and were regularly seated below the salt. They held only one slot out of 15 on four major committees, including Finance. A fair division would have entitled them to at least three seats on all committees. If Goode was upset by this injustice, he never said so publicly. But that was then.
After the last election, Goode passed the word he wanted a power-sharing arrangement between the parties and wouldn't vote for any plan of organization that didn't provide it. He was joined in that by Sen. Charles Colgan, D-Prince William, who said Republicans ought to chair at least three of the less important committees. Colgan urged a compact that would remain in force past 1997, when control of the Senate could be changed by the election of a Republican lieutenant governor.
Colgan pointed out the obvious: If Democratic control is sustained on Beyer's vote - and that withstands a possible challenge in the courts - what will keep Republicans from turning the tables if they win the lieutenant governorship two years from now? "I think we would be very foolish," he said, "not to make concessions."
As this is written, it seems likely Republicans will chair at least four of the Senate's 11 committees, with Democrats keeping the big three of Finance, Courts of Justice, and Commerce and Labor.
Only one conclusion is possible: Had Goode not broken ranks, it almost certainly wouldn't have happened. Colgan has never been conspicuous for bravado.
Goode has certainly burned some bridges in the Democratic Party. But beyond the ranks of those activists who turned their backs on him when he challenged Robb, he comes out looking pretty good. For one thing, Goode has behaved with the dignity of a true statesman, largely inaccessible to the news media, standing quietly but firmly on the rock of principle: We must honor the will of the people as expressed in the last election. That requires power to be shared, end of story.
But is it the end of the story? Has the enigmatic Virgil simply done his duty as conscience dictated, or is there a more personal motive? Could he be considering another race for higher office, only this time as an independent, or possibly as a Republican?
The wall of consenting silence loyal Democrats erected to protect Robb appears to have unsettled Goode. If so, he reciprocated last fall by refusing to lift a finger against Allen Dudley, the freshman Republican delegate who represents Goode's home base. Dudley, who narrowly won in 1993, was high on the short list of GOP incumbents Democrats hoped to unseat. But with Goode's tacit endorsement, he was easily returned.
Does that mean Goode has a future in the Republican Party? He has never so much as hinted at it. But the GOP does offer him the prospect of immediate advancement to Congress. If Goode accepted the party's draft to run against Payne, he would be heavily favored to win.
Of course, to go from a senior state senator to a freshman in Congress - exchanging a pleasant small-town life for the Washington rat race - may hold little appeal. But disposing of Payne, who carries ersatz conservatism to more absurd heights than even Robb has thus far scaled, would entitle Goode to be considered for any nomination within the gift of the Republican Party, not excluding the governorship. And just rising 50, he needn't be in any great hurry about it.
Goode's considerable gifts - both intellectual and political - are now in greater harmony with the GOP than with his father's party, and can be put to more productive use there. He would be the party's most promising convert since Mills Godwin. But unlike Godwin, he will have earned his spurs by coming to the party's aid on a point of principle when there was nothing in it for him.
Ray L. Garland is a Roanoke Times columnist.
LENGTH: Long : 102 lines KEYWORDS: POLITICS GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1996by CNB