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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, January 11, 1993                   TAG: 9301120405
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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BRIEFLY PUT . . .

THE BARD called cats harmless and necessary. Del. Andy Guest of Front Royal says, frankly, they're neither.

His candor was one reason Guest couldn't cut it as a GOP candidate for governor in 1989. He had a habit of speaking his mind, however un-Republican his views might be.

Now Guest seems to have given up any thought of seeking statewide election again. He says he'll introduce legislation to allow local governments to fine people whose cats wander leashless through neighborhoods.

"I hate cats," he confesses.

That's not only un-Republican; it's politically catastrophic. It will have feline-fanciers across Virginia sharpening their fangs.

Harmless? Don't believe it.

THE NEED for "change," much discussed in the nation's recent congressional elections, remains acute, of course. But a burst of legislative initiatives won't suffice. More basic reforms are needed - in particular, reforms of campaign-finance laws.

Indeed, a big part of the reason for legislative gridlock in recent years has been special interests' stranglehold over Congress. The $117 million given to House and Senate candidates in the past campaign was a powerful incentive for them to favor the contributors' narrow interests - often exercised by blocking legislation - over the larger, national interest.

For a slew of new legislators who ran as agents of change, performance on campaign-finance reform should be a basic test of sincerity.

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