DATE: Friday, October 10, 1997              TAG: 9710100669

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: DECISION '97

SOURCE: BY LAURA LaFAY, STAFF WRITER

DATELINE: RICHMOND                          LENGTH:   84 lines

GILMORE CALLS BEYER LIAR, CANCELS LOCAL DEBATE DEMOCRAT INSISTS HIS STATEMENTS WERE RIGHT.

Virginia's gubernatorial candidates devolved from mean-spiritedness to petulance Thursday as the GOP candidate, James S. Gilmore III, called his opponent a liar and demanded an apology for what he called ``false and misleading comments'' made during a televised debate in Richmond earlier this week.

The Democratic contender, Donald S. Beyer Jr., would not budge. He would not say he was sorry, and he insisted his claims were correct.

Gilmore then pulled out of a tentatively scheduled debate in Hampton Roads because, Gilmore campaign manager Bryan Slater wrote in a letter to the moderator, ``we will not give Mr. Beyer another opportunity to deceive Virginians.'' The Norfolk debate was scheduled for Oct. 21 and sponsored by the Virginia Capitol Correspondents Association. Mike Gooding, a reporter for WVEC-TV and the president of the association, said the Gilmore campaign gave verbal agreement to the debate more than 10 days ago.

``I'm just stunned,'' Gooding said in a release. ``I can't believe Jim Gilmore does not want to come to Hampton Roads and debate before the people of this community.''

The candidates are still scheduled to debate Wednesday in McLean.

The tiff started at Monday night's debate, when Beyer ambushed Gilmore with research that, he said, showed that Gilmore, who was the chief prosecutor in Henrico County from 1989 to 1993, authorized plea bargains with 35 of 100 people accused of sex crimes against children.

``As I read the 35 cases, it made me sick to my stomach,'' Beyer lamented at the debate. ``I'm not looking at this as a prosecutor. I'm not a lawyer. I'm looking at this as a parent.''

Gilmore has built his political career around a tough stance on crime.

He defended himself Monday, saying that ``sometimes it's best to get a conviction (through a plea agreement) so you can at least get it on their records for the next time around.''

By Thursday, his remarks had become less vague.

``Don Beyer must immediately apologize to the people of Virginia for making false and misleading comments,'' he said in a statement.

``In most cases, the defendants pled guilty to the crimes they were charged with and were sentenced by a judge. These cases did not involve plea bargains.''

For proof, Gilmore pointed to a press conference held Thursday morning by Toby Vick, the Republican who succeeded him as Henrico County commonwealth's attorney when Gilmore left to run for attorney general in 1993.

Vick said Beyer was wrong about the cases. Written plea agreements were made in only nine of the 35 cases, he pointed out. Such arrangements are routinely made in order to spare child witnesses the further trauma of testifying in court, he said.

``Don Beyer so severely misstated the facts of those cases as to make one conclude he is either deliberately trying to mislead the public or he had such a callous disregard for the facts of those cases as to be frightening,'' Vick said.

Richard Cullen, who replaced Gilmore when he resigned as Virginia's attorney general in June, also joined the criticism.

``There are prosecutors in that office who have worked under four commonwealth's attorneys and who are considered among the elite in the state when it comes to children's issues,'' said Cullen, also a Republican.

``For Beyer to say that they did something wrong 35 times to me is inexcusable. He ought to apologize. Now that he knows the information he put out is wrong, I would hope he would acknowledge his mistake and say he was sorry.''

But Beyer would not.

``There were nine cases with obvious agreements,'' said Beyer spokeswoman Page Boinest.

``There were nine cases where the charges were reduced or dropped the same day the guilty plea was entered. There were three more cases where Gilmore's office recommended sentences. The balance of the cases are very light sentences for very serious crimes.''

``Jim Gilmore may want to defend a system in which a sex offender gets a very light sentence. But Don Beyer isn't going to defend that system.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos

Gilmore says Beyer should apologize for what he said in the debate

Monay night.

Beyer vowed he wouldn't back down from challenging Gilmore's record. KEYWORDS: ELECTION VIRGINIA GUBERNATORIAL RACE VIRGINIA

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