
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 29, 1994                   TAG: 9408020078
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By OSCAR J. HONEYCUTT and JACK MAYER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

GIVE CRANWELL CREDIT FOR RETIREE DEAL

AS TWO of the principal negotiators and signatories of the memorandum of understanding setting forth what we believed to be the essential elements of any settlement of federal retirees' tax-refund claims, we were concerned that some recent accounts appeared to give Gov. George Allen and Attorney General Jim Gilmore entire credit for legislation passed by the General Assembly at the recent special session.

We want the record to be clear. Without the intervention of the Democratic leadership of the General Assembly, and particularly House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell's efforts, there wouldn't have been any settlement of this longstanding matter.

While it's certainly true that Allen and Gilmore campaigned actively on this issue, asserting frequently that ``fairness'' demanded full refunds be paid without delay to all federal retirees, it was Cranwell who first introduced legislation on Jan. 25 to establish an administrative or judicial mechanism to effect a settlement.

The Allen administration's ``50 cents on the dollar" take-it-or-leave-it settlement legislation wasn't introduced until April 15. This legislation, developed by Gilmore without any input from, or participation by, any of the affected retirees or our lawyers, was pronounced dead on arrival by all concerned, despite the governor's strong support.

At this point, it appeared to us that Allen and Gilmore were reneging on their campaign promises and using an intervening trial-court decision as leverage to force a bargain settlement on federal retirees to whom they had promised ``justice.'' We didn't see how any reasonable compromise could be reached.

Then, Cranwell began negotiating with representatives of civilian and military retirees and their counsel. After a series of eight to 10 meetings, we reached agreement May 25 on a memorandum of understanding which became the basis in all significant respects for the legislation ultimately signed into law by the governor on July 13.

Thus, while it can be said that Allen and Gilmore provided the impetus to get this settlement moving, it's equally true that their heavy-handedness and take-it-or-leave-it attitude deeply offended many federal retirees who supported them actively during the campaign, and left us feeling betrayed and frustrated about the possibility of negotiating a reasonable and responsible settlement of our claims.

We're firmly convinced that the administration's approach wouldn't have gotten us or Virginia's other taxpayers to where we are now, and we believe all federal retirees and your newspaper should give credit to Cranwell and the Democratic leadership for succeeding where the Allen administration failed.

Oscar J. Honeycutt of Richmond is chairman of the ad hoc committee and immediate past president of the Virginia Federation of Chapters, National Association of Retired Federal Employees. Jack Mayer of Chesterfield County is secretary of the Military Retirees Taxpayers Association.

by CNB