Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 22, 1993 TAG: 9312300024
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Of Virginia's last four governors, three were lieutenant governor when elected to the top spot. Only one of Virginia's last six lieutenant governors hasn't become at least a major gubernatorial contender after one term of apprenticeship.
The exception is current Lt. Gov. Don Beyer. Rather than challenge fellow Democrat Mary Sue Terry for their party's gubernatorial nomination, Beyer chose to seek a second term where he is.
Beyer is exceptional in other ways, too.
Unlike four of his five immediate predecessors in the office, he isn't a lawyer. He's a Northern Virginia businessman who owns the family Volvo dealership founded by his father.
Unlike most who attain statewide elected office, he isn't a career politician. His upset victory four years ago came in his first try for elective office.
And unlike the standard run of lieutenant governors, Beyer has sought to invest the office not only with political symbolism but also with policy substance. He has worked to lay the groundwork for seriously addressing such long-range issues as welfare reform and Virginia's place in a 21st-century economy - groundwork that can be valuable not only now but also if there's a Gov. Beyer come 1998.
On the issues and on the strength of his work as lieutenant governor, Beyer ought to be a cinch for re-election. That he isn't stems in part from his avoidance of the infighting and bickering that can keep a politician's name in the headlines on a daily basis.
Many Virginians may not know, for example, of Beyer's work in:
Economic development.
Beyer lists five specific ways in which state government can help foster economic growth. Absent a gubernatorial directive, two - management of state government and Virginia's image with prospective trading partners abroad - are largely beyond a lieutenant governor's power to influence. So Beyer has concentrated - albeit in small ways, at the margins - on the other three: improving the work force, fostering technology and encouraging capital investment.
The result of Beyer's efforts has not been a slew of legislation. Rather, it has involved working with the private sector on adult-literacy programs and on the Virginia Economic Bridge Initiative to link the industrial-development communities of Northern Virginia and Southwest Virginia.
Beyer also has helped put a couple of good legislative ideas on the table that could well come to fruition in the not-too-distant future: adding an investment credit to the state income-tax code and investing up to 1 percent of state retirement accounts in qualified capital-venture funds.
Welfare reform.
Unlike some run-of-the-mouth politicians, Beyer understands that most recipients (a) don't abuse the system and (b) don't want to be on welfare. The key is enabling them to get off.
One Beyer initiative, a proposed program to move 600 welfare families into the work force, is under review by federal officials and may be implemented soon. Already in effect is another initiative he worked on, tightened child-support laws. The early results are impressive: Almost 11,000 deadbeat parents, involving more than 15,000 children, were found in the first 90 days. The average lapse time in identifying nonpayers who've taken new jobs has been cut from 125 to 35 days.
Fighting sexual assault on children.
A no-lose issue for any politician? Not necessarily.
Beyer has worked for stronger prosecutorial tools against sexual abusers of children and longer sentences for those convicted. That, politically, is the easy part.
The hard part, which Beyer also has fought for, is getting better treatment services for victims and rehabilitative services for adolescent offenders - the only way to break the terrible cycle in which most adult sex offenders were sex-abuse victims as children.
Beyer's re-election campaign, unfortunately, has focused less on his accomplishments than on the eccentric public-policy views of his Republican opponent, religious-right and home-school lawyer Michael Farris.
Granted, to oppose all state bonded indebtedness, as Farris does, is to step into economic lala land - particularly in a state whose fiscal prudence has earned it an AAA bond rating. To call for tax subsidies for private schools is to threaten the future of public education.
But Farris isn't the best reason to re-elect Beyer. The best reason is Beyer himself, a heckuva lieutenant governor.
Keywords:
POLITICS ENDORSEMENT
by CNB