
DATE: Tuesday, September 2, 1997            TAG: 9709020106

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LEDYARD KING, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: BUENA VISTA                       LENGTH:   79 lines

CAMPAIGN SEASON STARTS WITH POINTED JABS GILMORE AND BEYER EACH PLAY ATTACKER, VICTIM ON PARADE DAY IN BUENA VISTA.

His rival just a few feet away, Republican gubernatorial nominee James S. Gilmore III blasted Democratic opponent Donald S. Beyer Jr. Monday for running a ``negative'' statewide television ad rapping Gilmore's education record.

In turn, Beyer, too, played the victim, saying Gilmore's characterization of him as a flip-flopper who couldn't be trusted amounted to a personal attack.

With its mile-long parade that annually attracts the major candidates, Labor Day in this working-class town at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains marks the official start of Virginia's political season. And, if Monday is any indication, it's shaping up to be a mean one.

Beyer, the incumbent lieutenant governor, and Gilmore, who resigned as Virginia's attorney general in June, have remained relatively civil during a summer that has lacked broad voter enthusiasm. A Virginia Commonwealth University poll released Wednesday showed Gilmore and Beyer in a statistical tie, with a quarter of voters undecided.

And though both candidates agree in principle on key issues - tax relief, greater education spending and hiring more police officers - they used the holiday weekend to begin drawing sharp contrasts.

Beyer, without mentioning Gilmore by name, emphasized his plan to expand environmental controls and protect public education from private school vouchers and spending cuts.

Before the same 200 or so gathered at the Glen Maury Park pavillion following the parade, Gilmore laid out core elements of his platform: hiring extra elementary school teachers to reduce class size, and eliminating the personal property tax on cars and trucks.

The proposed tax cut has struck a popular nerve among some who watched the candidates work the parade spectators. Voters like Chris Baker of New Market, whose family has three cars, but only one salary.

``That takes a big chunk of our income,'' said Baker as she cradled 3-year-old Makayla in her arms and waited for the parade to start. ``It's a big issue for us.''

Then Gilmore laid into Beyer for the television ad.

``Don has now started his negative television advertising against me already and it's hardly even Labor Day,'' Gilmore told about 200 people sitting in a pavilion that offered relief from the steamy sunshine. ``It's the same old pattern that we've seen in the past.''

The ad, which began airing around the state Friday, points out Gilmore's opposition to millions in federal education aid last year, his support of vouchers to subsidize private schools and his backing of Gov. George F. Allen's 1995 proposed tax cut that would have lopped $90 million in education funding.

After his speech, Gilmore admitted he hadn't seen the ad. But from what he'd heard, it sounded ``nasty.''

Gilmore spokesman Mark Miner said the ad, while not factually incorrect, fails to tell the whole truth: Gilmore was concerned accepting the U.S. Department of Education Goals 2000 money would ``federalize'' Virginia education; Gilmore supports considering vouchers, but has not made a decision yet; and the ad doesn't explain Gilmore supported more than a $1 billion of increased spending in education during the past four years.

Beyer, who also campaigned in Newport News and Abingdon on Monday, described the ad as ``purely comparative,'' not negative.

The difference?

``We're not going after him personally. We're going after his positions,'' Beyer said after his speech.

Beyer makes no apologies, saying his proposal is a responsible alternative to Gilmore's. ILLUSTRATION: THE ROANOKE TIMES photos

Lt. Gov. Donald S. Beyer Jr., Democratic candidate for governor,

greets Gail Clark and her dog Princess during the annual Labor Day

Parade in Buena Vista, the traditional start of Virginia's campaign

season.

Republican candidates Mark Earley, left, and John Hager, right,

joined gubernatorial hopeful James S. Gilmore III on Monday in Buena

Vista. Earley is running for state attorney general, Hager for

lieutenant governor. KEYWORDS: CANDIDATE ELECTION CAMPAIGN ADVERTISING