ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 19, 1997 TAG: 9704210059
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: WARREN FISKE THE ROANOKE TIMES
Several of the candidates for lieutenant governor and attorney general said at the Hotel Roanoke that campaign skill and popularity probably will decide who wins.
Despite all the time and money they spend running against each other, the Republican candidates for attorney general and lieutenant governor found little to disagree about Friday when they sat down to debate.
During separate hour-long debates at the Hotel Roanoke, the two candidates for lieutenant governor and the four seeking the GOP nomination for attorney general seemed to agree on just about all major policies except gun control.
In the end, several of the candidates said the June 10 Republican primary will be more of a referendum on their political skills and popularity than on driving ideological questions.
"It will come down to who will be the strongest addition to the ticket," said Jerry Kilgore, a former state secretary of public safety running for attorney general. One of his foes agreed. "I think this is about electability," said state Sen. Mark Earley of Chesapeake.
The four candidates all characterized themselves as anti-abortion, tough-on-crime Republicans and pledged to uphold the state right-to-work laws barring compulsory union membership and to protect the tobacco interests.
The candidates split, however, on whether state laws limiting handgun purchases to one a month should be repealed. Kilgore and Gil Davis, a Northern Virginia lawyer, said the law is onerous and unnecessary.
But Earley and state Sen. Kenneth Stolle of Virginia Beach said the law should stay on the books. Stolle said the legislation was designed to restrict gun running from Virginia to other states. He said ample exceptions are provided for Virginians with clean police records to buy more than one gun a month.
All of the candidates except Davis agreed with Gov. George Allen's controversial veto of a bill this winter that would have banned carrying handguns into teen recreation centers in Fairfax County. Allen said it is important to keep gun laws consistent throughout the state and that he is opposed to granting exceptions to any locality.
"It's really great to see consistency at the expense of the safety of our children," Davis replied sarcastically. "Gov. Allen has been a great governor, but I certainly disagree with him on this one."
Stolle scoffed at a recent news story that said he has added flourishes to his resume. The story pointed out that while Stolle has claimed a degree in criminology from Berry College in Georgia, his diploma actually was in "interdisciplinary studies" with a focus on criminal justice.
A college adviser said Berry's interdisciplinary program offered less training in criminal justice than colleges that offered four-year degrees in the subject. Stolle said he received strong college training in his field.
Earley goaded Stolle to release his college records. "Show me the transcript, Ken," he said. Stolle said after the debate that he has not decided whether to release his college records.
Stolle criticized Earley for being weak on the state's right-to-work law. He pointed to a bill sponsored by Earley in 1991 that would have required workers to reimburse unions that represented them in grievance procedures. Earley said he quickly realized that he misunderstood the legislation and wound up voting against it.
"That's pretty frightening," Stolle said after the debate, "that someone who wants to be the next attorney general of Virginia signs a bill that would devastate our economy and say he doesn't know what it's about."
The lieutenant governor candidates also disagreed on Allen's veto of the gun ban at Fairfax recreation centers. John Hager, a retired Richmond tobacco executive, supported the governor's action. Coleman Andrews, a McLean businessman, opposed it.
Earlier Friday, Hager picked up the endorsement of Michael Farris, a home schooling advocate and prominent evangelical activist in Virginia.
Farris questioned Andrews' commitment to oppose gambling in Virginia. He cited 1993 plans by a company Coleman headed to sell credit-card scanning phones that would allow people to bet on horse racing from home.
"I don't believe Coleman Andrews is the long-term family activist he claims he is and his promotion of gambling is promotion of an immoral activity," Farris said.
Andrews said he instructed his company to drop the bid in 1995 after changing his mind on gambling and becoming convinced it leads to increased rates of crime and bankruptcy.
In many of his campaign speeches this year, Andrews has pledged to be like a ``big ol' can of Raid'' to stop ``cockroaches'' in the gambling industry.
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: KELLY HAHN JOHNSON THE ROANOKE TIMES. Attorney generalby CNBcandidates (from left) state Sen. Kenneth Stolle, Gil Davis, state
Sen. Mark Earley and Jerry Kilgore disagreed on little but gun
control during their debate Thursday. color. KEYWORDS: POLITIC LT. GOVERNOIR ATTORNEY GENERAL