Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 29, 1995 TAG: 9510300036
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: WARREN FISKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Ten thousand feet above the ground with the jet engines humming, a pinch of tobacco inside his lip and his endless legs sprawled on an empty seat facing him, Gov. George Allen appears relaxed. There's not a television camera in sight.
Politicians often drop their guard in such settings and, for a moment, it seems that Allen will be no exception. He finishes a story about kissing a pig at a charity fund-raiser a few years back.
"It was squealing, but less than the Democrats do," Allen laughed. "They put lipstick on its mouth. I kissed it on the snout. ... It was a nice-looking Yorkshire."
So it's time for truth. Allen, the first Republican governor in 12 years, has spent the day flying around the state, denouncing Democratic candidates for the General Assembly as "oligarchists" who are "out of ideas and cling to their failed policies of the past in a desperate attempt to hold onto power."
Does he really believe all that? the governor is asked. Will he not concede a single positive contribution during the past century of Democratic control of the legislature?
"If you give me some time, I'll come up with something," Allen replies.
What about Virginia's ranking as the second-lowest taxing and spending state in the nation?
"I suppose that could be one, but we could be even better."
Is there nothing, then?
"I don't want to be an absolutist. I think some of the things [former Gov.] Doug Wilder did to rein in spending were good. And the General Assembly has had enough sense to be helpful in major business deals. But that's not enough. Even a blind hog finds an acorn now and then."
Allen is giving no quarter to Democrats this fall. At 43, he is on the brink: He will either put an imprint on state government that will last well into the 21st century or become a lame duck for the final two years of his term.
It all comes down to the Nov. 7 legislative races and whether Republicans can gain three seats in both the House of Delegates and the Senate to seize an unprecedented majority in the General Assembly.
"He's walking a tightrope without a net," says Tom Morris, a political scientist who is president of Emory & Henry College. "He's going for it all. He's putting the success or failure of his administration on the line."
Allen has raised $390,000 for GOP candidates this fall - an unprecedented sum for a Virginia governor during legislative races. He's spending evenings and weekends jetting around the state, imploring voters to back Republicans, accusing Democrats of being wasteful, weak on crime and resistant to his agenda for "honest change."
If Republicans win, Allen dreams about a "renaissance" of government and ideas not seen in Virginia since the days of Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry.
"It will be a rebirth in Virginia of opportunity and leadership and glory," he says. "Virginia led the renaissance of the nation and it's our time to lead again."
If the GOP loses? "I can continue to recruit businesses and be successful," Allen says. "But to carry out the pledges I've made to the people, I simply need to have a Republican majority."
Hyperbole aside, there is a tremendous amount at stake. It comes down to whether Virginians want a conservative or moderate state government. The renaissance Allen speaks of largely is an embracing of classic Republican ideology.
In practical terms, that means tax cuts and deep reductions in social programs. It means tough back-to-basic standards in schools as a prerequisite to spending more money on education, deregulating businesses, building prisons, parental consent for teen-age abortions and starting a test program that would offer public support to privately run schools.
At issue is whether Virginians really desire change. A poll this summer - commissioned by The Roanoke Times and its sister paper in Norfolk, The Virginian-Pilot - showed that two of three residents credited state government with doing a good job and more than half saying that Virginia's taxes are fair.
And although Allen remains personally popular with the public, most voters refused to characterize the elections as a referendum on the governor. They seemed more concerned with the qualifications and reputations of their local candidates. Two of three Virginians said Allen's endorsement of a candidate would not affect their decisions at the polls.
"Contrary to the governor's claims, the lights are not going out in Virginia," says House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell, D-Roanoke County. "If we continue doing business in Virginia just the way we've been doing it for the last 50 years, things will be fine."
To bolster his case, Allen has made some misleading statements about the Democrats' record. For example:
The governor frequently says the state budget has grown by 300 percent over the past 15 years. In fact, the budget has grown by 182 percent - from $5.7 billion to an estimated $16.1 billion this year.
When adjusted for inflation, the actual increase is 57 percent. That doesn't take into account that the state's population increased by 25 percent during the period, driving up tax collections and demands for services. Allen does not mention that average spending growth in other states exceeded Virginia's increase by 45 percent between 1980 and 1992.
In speeches and TV commercials, Allen claims Democrats opposed his efforts to impose tougher prison sentences on violent criminals. Democrats supported the abolition of parole. They did disagree with Allen about financing new prisons, however: They authorized less than one-fourth of the $409 million in borrowing authority Allen sought for prisons last year, arguing that most of the structures are still in early planning stages. Democrats said they would authorize more spending when the state is ready to begin more construction.
Allen argues that lottery profits should be returned to localities because that promise was made to voters when they approved the game in 1987. In fact, there is no record of such a pledge ever being made. When asked for proof of the promise, Allen says it was "implicit."
Many Democratic leaders say Allen's rhetoric has made bipartisan cooperation with the governor all but impossible. "I've worked for some fine Republican governors before - Linwood Holton, Mills Godwin, Johnny Dalton," says House Speaker Thomas Moss, D-Norfolk. "Each one of them, when they got to be governor, thought they reached the apex of their career and reached out across the aisle for cooperation. But this guy [Allen] just seems totally politically motivated."
But the GOP governors of the 1970s had little choice. Back then, Republicans occupied only about a quarter of the seats in the General Assembly and made little effort to buck the majority.
Many Democratic leaders who defeated Allen's agenda during the last legislative session see the governor as a walking contradiction. For all of Allen's tributes to Virginia's revolutionary history, they say the governor shows little appreciation for the 20th-century tradition of frugality in state government.
In addition to Virginia's low ranking on overall taxing and spending, Democrats point out that the state has been cited twice in the past four years as the best-run state in the nation by Financial World magazine. They note that Virginia is one of only two states that did not raise taxes during the recent recession. And they warn that any attempt to cut revenues now will come at the expense of education.
"He's a nice young man but he's got a lot to learn," Moss says.
In background, appearance and personality, the youthful Allen cuts a starkly different figure from the gray-haired portraits of other 20th-century governors that hang in the state capitol. He is a native of Southern California, the son of a legendary football coach and the youngest chief executive in Virginia since 1926.
He has a guileless way of connecting with people in conversation and making them feel important and remembered. He loves fast food, continuously gobbles mints and candies to hide the tobacco on his breath, and has been known to gun his red Ford Explorer in hopes of ditching his bodyguards.
A little more than two years ago, few thought that Allen would have an opportunity to revolutionize Virginia politics. He was an out-of-work politician at the time, having lost a congressional seat he held for one year when legislative Democrats merged his district with that of a senior Republican - Rep. Thomas J. Bliley of Richmond. Allen began his campaign for governor dubbed as "Boy George" by fellow Republicans and trailing Democratic nominee Mary Sue Terry by 33 percentage points in polls.
"It's always good to have people underestimate you," says Allen, who won in a landslide.
No one in state politics overlooks Allen anymore. Beneath his amiable style, Allen is widely acknowledged as an aggressive and disciplined competitor - a trait he credits to his father, George H. Allen, a former coach of the Washington Redskins.
It's hard to know all the factors that drive the governor because he almost never reveals his thoughts or departs from his campaign pitch. At his political core, Allen is an unwavering conservative in the mode of Ronald Reagan, a longtime family friend.
Allen distrusts central government. He believes the best prescription for economic growth is keeping money in the pockets of those who have earned it. He argues that people must be responsible for their own welfare. The role of state government, he says, should be limited to transportation, education, public safety and private business recruitment.
"George never compromises on philosophy," says state Sen. Kenneth Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, a close adviser. "Nobody can say to me that he doesn't fully believe in what he's doing."
For example, Allen has refused to apply for about $7 million in school funding available from the federal government under the Goals 2000 program. Although 47 other states have signed up for the money, Allen says he's skeptical of federal assurances that the money would come without shoestrings.
Similarly, Allen resisted a federal mandate allowing residents to register to vote at the Department of Motor Vehicles and other state agencies. He relented last month after a federal court threw out his challenge to the law.
Allen says his fight with Democrats is about keeping campaign promises he made in 1993. With bipartisan support in the legislature, he has succeeded in keeping two major pledges - the abolition of parole and enactment of tough welfare reform that requires recipients to find jobs in two years or lose benefits.
But his signature proposal to trim state income taxes is something he never discussed during the campaign, and it's cited by Democrats as proof that Allen has overestimated his mandate from voters.
Last winter, Democrats soundly rejected Allen's proposal to reduce state income taxes by $150 million - which would have resulted in $33-a-year savings for a family of four with a total income of $70,000.
Democrats argued that the price of the cut was too severe. To pay for his plan, Allen proposed cutting public schools and colleges, dropout prevention and mental health programs, Meals on Wheels and local aid for police.
Allen promises to try to cut taxes again next year. He hasn't revealed specifics yet and suggests he'll offer a different set of spending reductions. He argues that lowering taxes is mandatory if Virginia is to compete with neighboring states in recruiting industry.
Democratic leaders argue that Virginia already has a lower overall tax burden than neighboring states. The most critical factor in attracting businesses, they say, are the public schools and colleges whose budgets Allen wanted to reduce last winter.
Stung by criticism that he is unfriendly to schools, Allen this fall is acknowledging that more money is needed for public education. But he insists those dollars must be accompanied by back-to-basics reform in teaching, better classroom discipline and standardized testing.
Allen also is looking to the private sector for improvement in education. He endorses a charter school program, which would allow private groups approved by education boards to run schools with public funding.
Contrary to the assertion of many Democrats, Allen says charter schools are not the first step in an ultimate plan to offer vouchers to parents who send their children to private schools.
While Allen insists the Republican agenda is based on principle, not politics, he refuses to give the Democrats the same credit. "The Democrats have tried to obstruct every change we've proposed," he says. "They offer no new ideas. They sit smug and satiated with stultifying mediocrity."
At times, the fight with Democrats appears personal and visceral to Allen. In his inaugural address, he labeled the Democrats as "monarchical elitists." In a 1994 speech at the state Republican convention, he invited 13,000 GOP loyalists to help him kick Democrats "soft teeth down their whiny throats."
Republican Stolle admits that Allen's rhetoric at times can be overblown. "Allen is not going to accomplish his goals by talking about Democratic accomplishments of the past," Stolle says. "And just because the Democrats have done what I consider to be a good job in the past doesn't mean they have the right ideas for the future.
"I don't think George really intends to reinvent government," Stolle says. "I think he's trying improve it."
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB