DATE: Wednesday, July 16, 1997              TAG: 9707160010

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B12  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: BY JOHN GOOLRICK 

                                            LENGTH:   71 lines

WHEN TOBACCO WAS KING

It is almost inconceivable. Tobacco is shaping up as a major issue in a Virginia gubernatorial campaign.

When I first started covering the General Assembly in the early 1960s, tobacco was still king in the state. You didn't mess with tobacco unless you wanted the collective wrath of the conservative rural Democrats who ran things descending upon you.

After all, tobacco interests employed thousands of people in the Richmond area and elsewhere, and tobacco farmers in southside and Hampton Roads were part of the backbone of the Byrd Organization for many years.

Besides that, smoking was almost a social obligation among the state's leaders. I sat at a press table in the House of Delegates chamber puffing on a cigarette while smoke from the cigars and cigarettes of legislators wafted upward. I recall the agitated speech of a delegate named Willie Cleaton from Southside when a new member from Northern Virginia had the temerity to suggest that state taxes on tobacco be increased to improve public education. Needless to say, the suggestion was dead on arrival.

Virginia tobacco taxes are still among the lowest in the nation, but the issue of what the state should do about tobacco has been joined, at least tentatively, by Democratic gubernatorial nominee Don Beyer and his Republican counterpart, Jim Gilmore.

In the wake of big tobacco's proposed settlement with states over the alleged huge costs resulting from tobacco-related illnesses, both Beyer and Gilmore are seeking political capital.

Beyer continues to criticize Gilmore for not being among state attorney generals who joined in talks that led to the potential settlement. Gilmore contends his action will give Virginia a stronger hand in the final settlement with an industry that provides about 48,000 jobs in the state.

Last week Gilmore told tobacco farmers in Southside that Beyer is trying to divide urban and suburban voters from rural farmers. ``The trouble is that politics today seems to be about trying to set one group against another group, one region against another region.''

And just a day later, Gov. George Allen, a user of smokeless tobacco, announced he had created a panel to advise the state's congressional delegation on possible compensation for farmers and workers whose lives might be affected in some way by the $368 billion proposed settlement. Standing with a tobacco farmer and his family, Allen said of tobacco opponents, ``I'm just trying to find some way for them to understand that . . . these are real human beings being affected by what you might be doing.''

For his part, Beyer said he wanted to be protective of farmers and workers, but that he also wants to protect children from the perils of smoking. He has frequently accused Allen and Gilmore of doing too little to protect the health of children. He added, ``I'm as concerned about the kid who lives in Danville as I am about the kid who lives in Richmond or in Staunton.''

Though Beyer might be perceived as anti-tobacco in regions such as Richmond and Southside, where tobacco plays a crucial part in the economy, such a perception might help him in Northern Virginia, his home region, where many of tobacco's fiercest opponents live and work.

When I first went to Richmond to cover the legislative scene, the rural interests were dominant. Now the state's most dominant force is suburban interests and the next governor is going to have to do well in such regions to win. Tobacco accounts for only about 3 percent of Virginia's gross state product, far less than industries that manufacture the sophisticated technological devices that make computers work and are critical to electronics. Even so, if Gilmore can energize the vote in rural areas of the state, as well as his conservative Richmond suburban area, he can then attempt to win enough votes in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads to narrowly beat Beyer. It is a high-risk strategy, but at this juncture he really has no other options. MEMO: John Goolrick, a former political reporter, is now an aide to 1st

District Rep. Herbert Bateman. Opinions expressed are his own.

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