The Roanoker - November/December 2014 - 33

Washington & Lee University in Lexington.
Maryellen went with him, and the two were
married in Lee Chapel that fall.
After obtaining his law degree Bob Goodlatte spent two years working with then-Congressman Caldwell Butler before opening his
Roanoke law practice in 1979. He joined Bird,
Kinder and Huffman as a partner two years
later. He stuck with politics, though, working
in the grassroots and serving as local and district unit chairman.
In late 1991, Goodlatte anticipated thenCongressman Jim Olin's retirement announcement and seized the moment.
"Goodlatte got out ahead and said he
thought Olin was going to retire. He was right,"
says Dwayne Yancey, Roanoke Times editorial page editor and the reporter who covered
Goodlatte's first campaign.
Goodlatte followed his prediction with
something that's become a hallmark of his
career: Old-fashioned hard work.
"I immediately set to work with the help of
a fellow who became my campaign manager,
Tim Phillips, to contact Republicans all across
the 6th district I had met with working for
Caldwell Butler as his 6th district director or
through my work as 6th district chairman,"
Goodlatte says. "I told them I wanted to run
for Congress and wanted their support."
By the time he formally announced his
candidacy, Goodlatte already had secured the
support of Republicans in the Roanoke Valley,
which then as now carried the weight of the
district. He appealed to GOP voters across the
ideological board.
"Goodlatte was well connected because of
his work with the party," Yancey says. "At the
time, he was a good bridge between different
wings of the party. He worked for Caldwell
Butler, who symbolized the moderate wing
of the party, and he was in the same law firm
as Don Huffman, who symbolized the more
right wing part of the party. He was someone
everyone could agree on."
What noW appears to be a foregone
conclusion was then very much in doubt, but
Goodlatte's legwork - working the phones,
meeting with key party leaders and building
a coalition of support - paid off. Numerous
candidates were mentioned in late 1991, including George Allen, who contemplated a
move into the 6th before ultimately deciding to
run for governor. But by the 1992 Republican
The

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nominating convention, Goodlatte faced only
one other GOP challenger. He easily defeated
her and then dispatched Democrat Steve Musselwhite in the general election by winning 60
percent of the vote, establishing a running pattern in his campaigns.
Goodlatte has never won less than 60 percent of the vote, whether his opponent is Roanoke Mayor David Bowers (1998) or current
state House Del. Sam Rasoul (2008). Many
years Goodlatte doesn't even face a Democratic challenger. However, he doesn't rest on
his laurels.
"He always gets that the next election is
never more than two years away, so he's always trying to expand the coalition and find
new people to support him," Suetterlein says.
"Most of these guys who get defeated, they get
comfortable, or they think that they don't need
new people to support them."
One of the most common criticisms of
Goodlatte is that, unlike Olin before him, he
didn't stick to his 1992 pledge to step down
after six terms in Congress. Goodlatte has responded to that charge by saying that he supports systemic term limits, but they don't work
unless they're applied to everyone.
"In office, I've strongly supported term
limits - voting for these limits each time they
have come before the House of Representatives," Goodlatte said in an emailed statement.
"However, term limits are only effective and
fair if they apply to all Members of Congress.
Of course elected officials will always serve at
the will of the people. Ultimately, the voters
have been entrusted with judging the performance of their representatives and determining whether to limit the number of terms those
officeholders may serve."
In 2012, When Tea Party and libertarian activists were elected to leadership roles in many
of the local Republican units, Goodlatte was
booed by some delegates at the 6th District
Republican convention. He faced his first-ever
primary challenger, whom he easily defeated
by a 2-to-1 margin. For the next two years he
was peppered with embarrassing resolutions
passed by the 6th District Committee, such
as one that urged him to vote against John
Boehner for Speaker of the House. (Goodlatte
supported Boehner anyway.)
This year, Goodlatte's supporters struck back
with a vengeance. In local election after local
election, anti-Goodlatte activists who were

"BoB is one of the most
serious and capaBle
policymakers i have
worked with. he always
puts the interests of
hard-working virginians
first. as chairman of the
Judiciary committee,
BoB has worked
hard to protect our
constitutional rights,
to keep watch over
the executive Branch,
and to fix our Broken
immigration laws. he
wants to move virginia
forward, and i'm honored
to serve with him."
- 2012 gop vice-presidential
candidate paul ryan, congressman
from wisconsin
elected in 2012 were defeated. Goodlatte has
floated above the fray, but his campaign's fingerprints are all over this pro-incumbent shift.
"It shows his organizational skills," says Fred
Anderson, who chaired the 6th District Republican Committee from 2000 through 2010.
"Even though he was not personally involved,
his friends were personally involved because
they recognized what they had with a good
congressman and they didn't want to lose him,
so they were willing to get out there and really
work hard to make things happen."
Goodlatte was booed neither at the 6th
District Republican convention nor at the
statewide convention, which took place in
Roanoke. He faced no primary opponent, nor
a Democratic opponent in November.
Contrast that with what happened in the
7th District, where House Majority Leader
Eric Cantor saw his handpicked man defeated
for committee chairman before Cantor himself
suffered a shock primary defeat to Tea Partybacked challenger David Brat.
Goodlatte, meanwhile, has managed to
further shore up what already looked like a
secure seat. The fact he doesn't have to worry
so much about elections - one never knows
what's around the corner in politics, but it's
easy to imagine that Goodlatte, like his predeNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2014

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The Roanoker - November/December 2014

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