Goode pushes pro-drill policy

By Brian McNeill
Media General News Service
Published: August 20, 2008

CLARKSVILLE — Most years, the Virginia Lake Festival draws scores of skiffs, speedboats and jet skis to Clarksville’s Buggs Island Lake.

This year, the lake was all but empty during the annual festival in the Southside waterfront hamlet of 1,400.

Virgil Goode
- Age: 61
- Residence: Rocky Mount
- Education: University of Richmond, B.A.; University of Virginia School of Law, J.D.
- Career: Attorney; member of Virginia Senate, 1973-96; member of U.S. House of Representatives since 1997
- Family: Wife, Lucy
- Web site: http://www.virgilgoode.com

The reason? Exorbitant gas prices have made recreational boating a budget-busting endeavor.

U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode, who was campaigning at the festival, told each passerby that he is eager to do anything and everything to bring down the cost of fuel.

“We need to solve this energy crisis,” said Goode, taking a break from campaigning at the recent Lake Festival. “We need someone like me with a consistent record.”

Goode, a Republican and six-term incumbent, has placed the nation’s energy policy — and gas prices, in particular — at the centerpiece of his re-election campaign against challenger Democrat Tom Perriello.

First of all, Goode wants Congress to lift a ban on offshore drilling for oil and natural gas. Plus, he wants to authorize oil companies to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Such a move, Goode says, would lead to a decline in prices at the gas pumps. As evidence, he points to the recent lowering of gas prices that occurred after President Bush lifted a longstanding executive order banning offshore drilling.

“A pro-drill policy would have a positive impact on the price of crude oil,” Goode, 61, said. “The president removed the ban and the price started to drop.”

Apart from drilling, Goode wants to boost the federal government’s support of alternative energy sources, including nuclear power. He advocates for tax credit incentives for wind and solar power producers. And he supports greater investment in hybrid technology.  “You gotta drill,” he said. “But you also gotta focus on alternatives.”

Controlling immigration

While the price of gas is the issue du jour, Goode is also a passionate opponent of illegal immigration. Visitors to Goode’s campaign Web site are greeted by its top message: “Illegal immigrants take jobs from our citizens. I’m working to stop illegal immigration and secure America’s borders.” It goes on to say that America’s borders must be closed to keep out illegal immigrants, drug dealers and terrorists.

Goode supports building a fence along the nation’s border with Mexico. He also believes that the laws governing legal immigration need to be amended.

Specifically, he wants to end the U.S. Department of State’s Diversity Immigrant Visa program, which awards permanent residency to 50,000 immigrants chosen by a lottery each year.

The immigrants must be Green Card holders and must come from a country with a low rate of immigration to the United States.

He also wants to end what he calls the “anchor baby situation.” Female illegal immigrants, he said, sneak into the United States to give birth because their babies will automatically become American citizens and qualify both the mother and the baby for Medicaid, food stamps and other benefits.

Goode wants to end the nation’s policy of automatic citizenship for American-born children of illegal immigrants.

“We need someone like me who will say ‘No’ to illegal immigration.”

Powerful, controversial

Goode’s campaign manager, Tucker Watkins, said Goode will win re-election because he has long leveraged his seat on the House Appropriations Committee to direct federal funds for transportation, agricultural and municipal projects throughout the 5th District.

Since his last re-election, Goode has had his share of controversies.

Following the 2006 election of Keith Ellison, the first Muslim ever elected to the U.S. House, Goode criticized Ellison’s decision to be sworn in on a copy of the Quran, rather than the Bible. Goode went on to suggest that America would have many more Muslims elected unless the nation stops illegal immigration. Ellison, who is not an immigrant, was sworn in on a Quran once owned by Thomas Jefferson.

More recently, Goode walked in a July 4 parade in Scottsville along with a not-exactly-fuel-efficient Hummer plastered with Goode’s campaign signs. Video of the Hummer was shown on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” prompting a satirical comparison between Republicans and rappers. Both love guns and money, for example, the show quipped. Goode says he has never watched “The Daily Show.” And he told the Danville Register & Bee, “I don’t know what a rapper is.”

Could such incidents impact Goode’s re-election bid? Not a chance, Watkins said.

“People in this district know Virgil and they trust him,” he said. “It’s all principles with him. It’s all, this is right or this is wrong. He’s got integrity and people know it.”