ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, February 3, 1997 TAG: 9702030097
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
LET'S SEE, have we got this straight?
The House of Delegates didn't have enough time last Wednesday to debate a measure that would ban lawmakers from soliciting campaign gifts from lobbyists during General Assembly sessions. Democratic delegates, you see, had to hurry off to a fund-raising event. They put the finger on lobbyists to pay up to $1,000 a ticket to attend.
The follies hardly end there.
*A bill would make it a crime for someone to carry matches or a lighter if that person intends to commit arson. Police, presumably, would determine the person's intentions by asking him or her.
*Buried, probably for good, was a proposal to identify state candidates on the ballot by party affiliation. Right. Wouldn't want voters to imagine politics might figure into an election.
*Give credit at least to House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell of Vinton for keeping a sense of humor about some of the assembly goings-on. Of a proposal making it a crime to come between a fisherman and his catch, he said: ``We don't want people interfering with people's constitutional right to fish."
*Speaking of questionable constitutional rights: A Senate committee advanced a bill to ban handguns from Richmond's public parks. A good idea for Richmond, but not for Roanoke?
LENGTH: Short : 34 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1997by CNB