
DATE: Tuesday, October 28, 1997             TAG: 9710280275

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   94 lines

RACE FOR NORFOLK'S 86TH SEAT GOES FROM ISSUES TO ACCUSATIONS

Only a few issues appear to separate Norfolk planning commissioner Don Williams from his Republican rival, Beverly ``Bev'' Graeber, in the 86th House District.

Still, the race has become increasingly nasty.

The core of both campaigns has been a pounding of the local pavement, with thousands of door-to-door handshakes throughout Norfolk's northwest corner.

The district includes areas of Ocean View as well as some of Norfolk's toniest neighborhoods. Williams canvasses with his wife, Rose. Graeber goes it alone with campaign workers.

It is both candidates' first run for state office. They are vying to fill the seat left vacant by the retirement of Del. George H. Heilig Jr., the district's longtime Democrat who died of a heart attack near the race's midpoint.

Williams, a longtime Ocean View resident, positions himself as a Democratic friend of the district, emphasizing his Ocean View roots and his local political expertise. His platform is ``better schools, safer streets.''

He talks about his role in rebuilding communities, particularly Ocean View, where Norfolk officials plan to remove dilapidated buildings and replace them with an up-scale community.

The change is meant to discourage the crime and poverty that long have been part of this side of town.

Graeber, who lives on the banks of the Lafayette River in North Shore Point, also is touting herself as a friend of the district.

However, she emphasizes the need to preserve communities and is hoping her stance will resonate with voters who view Norfolk's plans for Ocean View as a city-mandated rehab project that places little emphasis on preserving the neighborhood.

Both candidates have addressed the need to ease traffic and truck congestion along Hampton Boulevard, the north-south spine of the district.

Williams wants to improve the flow by placing more emphasis on funding the third crossing of Hampton Roads, another bridge-tunnel complex linking the Southside with the Peninsula. So does Graeber.

Williams said tolls could be the answer to funding the multimillion-dollar project. Graeber hasn't gotten into that much detail. Neither candidate has mentioned that the General Assembly has little control over federal funding, which would likely pay for the lion's share of the project.

Graeber is emphasizing her Norfolk roots while also extolling her public service on a borough council and school board in Northern New Jersey before she and her husband moved back to Norfolk.

Williams, a Norfolk planning commissioner and local builder, talks of spending the past 30 years investing his and his family's future in Norfolk and Ocean View.

Both candidates support increasing economic development in the district to help create safer streets and better schools.

The issue of abortion has entered the race. Graeber favors a woman's right to choose but is against late-term abortions. Williams has said politics should play no role in a woman's right to choose.

Graeber has said she will accept no money from political action committees. Williams has said he has and will, including funds from the Tidewater Builders Association, of which he was past president.

``I guess they looked at me and liked me,'' Williams said of the PAC contribution at a recent forum in Larchmont. ``That's what I have a treasurer for.''

But, lately, it's not the issues that have generated the most publicity.

About two weeks ago, Williams' camp came out with ads accusing Graeber of raising taxes while she served on the borough council in Madison, N.J., in 1985.

Graeber did vote to raise taxes that year, but it was part of an approved voter referendum. She called the accusations deceptive.

``We've run a clean campaign up to now,'' she said during a recent fund-raising luncheon, ``and now this.''

Her troops, helped by a Richmond-based political consulting firm, countered last week by dragging up Williams' past troubles paying local real estate taxes in Chesapeake.

Williams owned up to these past problems while calling them water under the bridge.

Another example of how the ads may leave citizens in the district wondering involves the ``no car tax'' proposal being touted by GOP gubernatorial candidate James S. Gilmore III.

Graeber, the Republican, wholeheartedly supports the plan, which would eliminate the levy on privately owned cars and trucks worth less than $20,000 within five years.

Williams has said he also will support the cut, as long as it does not affect funding for schools, public safety or needed infrastructure.

However, in Graeber mailings last week, Williams was said to be wholeheartedly against the cut in the personal property tax. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

Whom Will You Hire ?

The 86th House District

Graeber

Williams

For complete copy, see microfilm KEYWORDS: ELECTION CANDIDATE HOUSE OF DELEGATES RACE

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