DATE: Sunday, October 5, 1997               TAG: 9710040003

SECTION: COMMENTARY              PAGE: J5   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Opinion

SOURCE: MARGARET EDDS

DATELINE: RICHMOND                          LENGTH:   86 lines

GOVERNOR'S RACE - THE ROBERTSON CONNECTION FAIR GAME OR GUILT BY ASSOCATION?

Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson is friendly with Jim Gilmore.

Jim Gilmore is friendly with Pat Robertson.

Ditto Pat Robertson and Mark Earley.

Should this matter when Virginians are deciding whether to elect Gilmore as governor and Earley as attorney general?

That's one you'll have to decide on your own. The answer is purely a judgment call, depending on (1) what you think of Pat Robertson and (2) how you gauge the depth of his relationship with Gilmore or Earley.

In judging the latter, you'll have to rely a lot on intuition. There are several pieces of information that you can weigh. But you'd have to be part of the inner circle to know for sure how enthusiastically one picks up the phone when the other calls.

The question became a campaign issue this week as Democrats Don Beyer and Bill Dolan, who are running against Gilmore and Earley in their respective races, launched missiles attacking the links to Robertson.

Raising the subject was a clear signal that the final month of the statewide campaign has arrived and that the races are tight.

Equally telling was Gilmore's decision to air a nasty ad ominously picturing an empty playground, and asking, ``What was Don Beyer thinking when he voted to release convicted criminals from prison early?''

The 1992 vote in question allowed nonviolent offenders to be released three months early to relieve prison overcrowding. There is no documentation of children being harmed as a result, and Beyer supported the abolition of parole in 1995.

But back to Robertson. Guilt-by-association is one of the most reliable staples in the campaign consultants' bag-of-tricks. In Virginia, Robertson is the favorite bogyman of Democrats because of his high negative ratings in polls.

Populist Henry Howell of Norfolk used to fill a similar role for Republicans, as did former U.S. House Speaker Tip O'Neill, as did Sen. Chuck Robb and former Gov. Doug Wilder, back in the days when they were feuding.

The effectiveness of the tactic is a matter of debate. Some consultants say raising the specter of a despised foe does more to rally one's own troops than to persuade uncommitted voters. Certainly, the impact depends on how well the case for a connection is made.

Beyer's television ad attack last week includes one fact and one allegation. The fact is that Robertson has given Gilmore $50,000 in each of his two most recent campaigns.

The allegation is that the pair are linked in a plan to spend public money on private school vouchers, thereby undermining public school education.

Here's the tricky part. You can chose to believe what Gilmore says about vouchers. Or you can believe that $100,000 could buy some soulsearching once the election is over.

Gilmore indicates that vouchers aren't a top priority. He says he's open to the idea but has yet to see a plan he likes. He insists that he would not use existing public school funds for vouchers.

While known as a man who usually keeps his word, Gilmore is certainly not beyond wanting to have it both ways. Recently, for example, in a letter to Christian conservatives, he wrote:

``I will fight, as governor, to implement parental consent laws.''

Yet in an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch the day after the letter was mailed, Gilmore struck a different tone. Asked if he'd work for a consent law, he replied:

``I have no plans to do that, but you know, again, if the General Assembly wants to do that as long as they've got a bypass in it, if they want to do that next year, I'd sign it.''

In the race for attorney general, Dolan points to legislative action by Earley that would have benefited Robertson. In 1994, Earley introduced a bill in the state Senate that would have granted tax-exempt status to an upscale retirement community Robertson was considering basing in Chesapeake.

Earley says the request arrived at his office, via Robertson's lawyer, just before the deadline for introducing such bills. Property tax exemptions must be approved both by local councils and the legislature. The Assembly typically rubber-stamps local approval.

Even though the council had not yet acted, Earley said he introduced the bill in order to have a vehicle for action if the council later acted. It didn't, and the bill died.

That's a reasonable explanation. Voters will have to draw their own conclusions about whether there's a link between constituent service and the $35,000 Robertson has delivered to Earley's campaign this year.

How much access would Robertson have in a Gilmore-Earley regime? My guess is that it would be about the same as in the current administration of Gov. George Allen.

Judge for yourself whether that's good, bad or indifferent, and act accordingly.

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