http://www.washingtonjewishweek.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=4&ArticleID=4305&TM=102.596
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
From center, Potts aims to buck polls
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
by Paula Amann
News Editor
A Winchester lawmaker is aiming to emulate Minnesota's Jesse Ventura,
Maine's Angus King and Connecticut's Lowell Weicker.
This trio of political independents beat major party candidates to win the
governorship in their respective states.
But Virginia State Sen. Russell Potts, 66, seems not to have captured much
voter attention in a three-way race for the state's top job with fellow
Republican Jerry Kilgore and Democrat Tim Kaine. Polls show his battle to
become governor lagging far behind the major party candidates.
Yet in an in-person interview, Potts argued that he could still muster a
Ventura-style win. He, King and Weicker "all got to 34 [percent] with
similar numbers," Potts said, citing a swath of undecided voters, and what
he calls his "principled stands on stem cell research, gay adoption and
abortion"
Despite a strong church-state separation stance, Potts does not appear to
pull more support among Jewish voters than among the commonwealth's general
electorate.
But Maggie Wolff Peterson, 47, of Winchester, likes Potts' unvarnished
political persona. "He's honest and he doesn't sugarcoat the issues," said
Peterson, a mother and freelance writer. "It's really his intent to make a
positive difference in the state." Peterson, a Republican who says she
advised the campaign on transportation policy, sees this issue as a Potts
strength.
"Russell Potts has a plan for improving transportation and a method to fund
it," said Peterson, a member of Beth El Congregation. "Neither of the other
two have that."
This plan, a centerpiece of his campaign, calls for both "more roads and
more mass transit."
Some $2 billion in revenues, he argues, could fund such projects as
widening I-66 inside the Beltway, expanding Northern Virginia Metro trains
from six to eight cars and laying the groundwork for another Potomac River
auto bridge.
To underwrite such efforts, Potts says he would draw on five funding
streams: tolls, a one-cent sales tax, a one-dollar tobacco tax, a 29
percent hike in real estate recordation tax and a one percent income tax
increase for people with incomes over $100,000. The Potts campaign draws
esteem and blame from left and right alike.
"I have a lot of respect for Russ Potts," said Clifton Democrat Joyce
Putnam, 49, calling him "straightforward," but for this Jewish labor
activist, "not as good on workers' issues."
Potts draws heat from Winchester's Rachel Schwartz, 36, for co-sponsoring
and voting for bill SJ337, which prohibits civil unions.
"When he came out later in support of single gay adoption, I was excited,
but I don't trust it, because I know of his support for this law I find
hateful," said Schwartz, a Democrat who backs Kilgore.
On the GOP side, Vienna's Steve Silver, 54, calls Potts a "spoiler" in the
governor's race.
Fellow Republican Dan Cohen, 47, of Alexandria credits Potts with "some
interesting ideas he attempted to inject into the race" but fears Potts
"will take more votes away from Kilgore" than from Kaine.
Born in Richmond, Potts grew up in Winchester with two working-class
parents. As a young boy, he talked his way into a paper route to supplement
the family income.
"I started paying for my clothes and meals when I was 8 years old," Potts
said.
While he was working his way through the University of Maryland at College
Park, he says he formed lifelong friendships with Jewish students there. A
former sports writer, Potts has a business promoting sports events, Russ
Potts Productions, Inc.
Married for 40 years this month to the former Emily Strite, the four-term
state senator has three grown daughters, whom he describes as
"accomplished" and "confident."
In his interview, Potts said he supports church-state separation in a range
of institutions, including the public schools.
"Our forefathers had it right," said Potts, with a nod to founding
patriarch James Madison. "He hoped that America would not be revisited by
the terrible intrusion of religion into politics and the schools."
In that vein, he opposes school vouchers and tuition tax credits to
underwrite private, sometimes sectarian, schools and is a foe of
faith-based funding.
As to the vexed question of reproductive rights, Potts espouses a woman's
right to choose an abortion and says he helped stop efforts in the state
Senate to block access to the morning-after pill. "I'm the only pro-choice
candidate in the race," Potts said. "I pledge to stop any effort to end Roe
v. Wade, if it's bounced back to the states."
He notes having introduced a bill on stem cell research in Richmond and
given a floor speech to promote it.
"I strongly support stem cell research," the Winchester lawmaker said.
Asked about how he would ensure fair application of the death penalty in
Virginia, which ranks No. 2 for executions in the country, Potts had no
concrete suggestions.
"I'm a strong proponent of the death penalty," he said, calling it an
"effective deterrent" and adding, "I believe the laws on the books are
sufficient to address the death penalty."
The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington is on record
as opposing capital punishment, in part because of its disproportionate use
to punish the poor and members of minority groups.
In another decision of the past year, the JCRC has endorsed civil equality
for gays and lesbians.
"I do not support civil unions, but I support survivor benefits for gays,"
said Potts, who also flagged his backing for adoption by gays.
In the event that he is elected, Potts pledged continued funding of the
Virginia-Israel Advisory Board, which fosters commerce between the
commonwealth and the Jewish state, which he visited in the early '90s.
"I hope we can build upon those trade relationships with Israel," Potts
went on. "We ought to be selling them Virginia apples and Virginia peanuts,
and we ought to be buying Israeli computers."
This long-shot candidate frames his cause in terms of a growing discontent
with what he sees as the rightward trend of the state GOP.
"I believe in a clear separation of church and state and abhor the
direction of my Republican party," Potts said.
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Posting and reading from alt.politics.usa.constitution OR alt.education
You are invited to check out the following:
The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm
American Theocrats - Past and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocrats.htm
The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
[and to join the discussion group for the above site and/or Separation of
Church and State in general, listed below]
HRSepCnS · Hampton Roads [Virginia] SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
[Its not just Hampton Roads folks who are members, there are members from
all over the U.S. and a couple from overseas as well]
***************************************************************
.. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic reasoning. Words
take their meaning from social as well as textual contexts, which is why "a
page of history is worth a volume of logic." New York Trust Co. v. Eisner,
256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct. 506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921) (Holmes, J.).
Sherman v. Community Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445 (7th Cir. 1992)
.. . .
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THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
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