THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 11, 1996 TAG: 9602110058
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
Albemarle Republicans rallied around fried chicken garnished with motherhood, balanced budgets, less taxes, and a whiff of bourbon Friday at a fund-raiser for U.S. Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr. of Farmville.
Jones, the son of a late, legendary Albemarle Democrat who served 26 years in the U.S. House, is seeking re-election in November to the 3rd District congressional seat that he won in a stunning eastern North Carolina political upset two years ago.
Nearly 100 GOP stalwarts from all over the Albemarle forked over $65 a couple to crowd into the Elizabeth City Bed and Breakfast on Fearing Street for the Jones love-in.
They got their money's worth of Republican rousing.
``Anyone who has done as much for us in one term as Walter Jones Jr. has to be re-elected,'' said Danny Gray, a Dare Countypolitical leader from Hatteras Island who was part of an Outer Banks Jones delegation.
Most of the Republicans showed up in three-piece suits or cocktail frocks, but Gaylord Perry, a famed big league pitcher whose spitball passed all known sanitary inspections, arrived gunning for Democratic b'ar in a tasseled buckskin Dan'l Boone jacket.
``I moved to Dare County last Feb. 1,'' said Perry while retiring a side of fried chicken and fixings. After his years in baseball, Perry returned to his home in Williamston, N.C., and became increasingly active with the Republican Party while operating a peanut business.
In recent years, Perry has appeared as a commentator or participant in sporting events, and he has been enthusiastically drafted for campaign duties by Dare County GOP leaders.
Jones was accompanied by U.S. Rep. Bill Paxton, a New York state Republican who is chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. Paxton praised Jones as ``the best, the very best of the young GOP leaders now in Congress.''
Both representatives emphasized successful Republican leadership in the present Congress and predicted that the next Congress would see an increase in the GOP majority.
Paxton is married to Rep. Susan Molinari, a Staten Island, N.Y., Republican, and they are expecting a baby girl in November, he said.
Jones said: ``We owe it to our children, to Bill Paxton's baby, to balance the budget now. If we don't, the General Accounting Office tells us that in 17 years, 80 cents out of every dollar will go to pay taxes.''
Jones and Paxton promised to ``hold Bubba's feet to the fire'' - a reference to President Clinton - while reducing the national debt and protecting Medicare. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Walter B. Jones Jr., who seeks re-election, had a GOP love-in
Saturday.
by CNB