George,

Virgil Goode has flip-flopped on at least three issues.

When he was running for L.F. Payne's seat, he came to Ch'Ville and spoke to the Saturday Morning Democrats' Breakfast at the NOOK. He declared he opposed vouchers for private schools, favored a woman's right to make her own medical decisions about reproductive matters and would always be a Democrat. His campaign literature supports these assertions and so do the notes I took that day.

Is he Honest?

Not if one considers his votes and his actions when he got to Capitol Hill. He appears to have moved quickly to the majority side of the aisle in his votes even though he sat on the minority side. Eventually he negotiated a seat on the Appropriations Committee in exchange for making his party affiliation official. He voted for vouchers for private school tuition, he signed on to bills which would damage separation of church and state (Istook's School Prayer Amendment), he voted for bills which withdrew support for planned parenthood clinics in foreign countries and the list goes on.

Can we depend on his word?

No. This is a prime example of Actions Speaking Louder than Words.

Martha Wood (electronic mail, October 30, 2002)