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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 17, 1995                   TAG: 9505170059
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

DEMOCRATS FEAR POLITICAL MOTIVES IN WORKER BUYOUTS

Some Democratic lawmakers say they're worried that the Allen administration's cuts in the state work force could lead to vacancies being filled by friends of the governor and other Republican leaders.

Administration officials say that will not happen.

The administration recently offered buyouts or early retirement packages to 5,500 state employees in the largest-ever exodus of state workers. That is almost 5 percent of Virginia's public work force.

Del. Marian Van Landingham, D-Alexandria, a frequent critic of Gov. George Allen, told two Allen aides that the 1991 early-retirement program under Democratic Gov. Douglas Wilder not only failed to save money, but the majority of the positions were refilled.

Relying on a recent analysis of the Wilder plan by the legislative watchdog commission, Van Landingham suggested Monday at a meeting of the House Appropriations Committee that a politically inspired repeat could cause ``major scandals.''

If the vacancies under the Allen plan are filled by contract workers, she said, Virginia might ``see the politicalization'' of state government.

She demanded - and got - reassurances from the Allen officials that the administration's reduction of government was not a trick to fill agencies with politically connected workers.

``This administration has the highest ethical standards'' in its hiring of temporary and permanent workers, Robert Lauterberg, Allen's budget director, told the committee. Additionally, he said the state's strict bidding process would preclude helping administration friends.

Michael Thomas, the governor's secretary of administration, briefed the committee on the plan, which is to save almost $170 million in fiscal 1997 alone.

In an interview later, Thomas emphasized several substantial differences between the Wilder plan and that initiated by Allen. Among other things, the new plan envisions refilling very few vacant positions outside higher education, and there is a two-year prohibition against rehiring employees who have left.

Despite concerns by some members, the House budget panel has dropped plans to conduct its own analysis of the Allen program.

``There is no need'' for an independent review, said Rebecca L. Covey, the Appropriation Committee's staff director. ``The administration provided information'' that her staff had requested.

On another budget matter, state Finance Secretary Paul Timmreck reported that tax collections from July through April were growing by 6.9 percent over the same period in the previous fiscal year. ``That is 1.9 percent above the official forecast of 5 percent growth,'' he told the panel.

It is likely, he said, that the expected surplus will ``trigger a substantial deposit'' to the state's rainy-day fund. It might reach $76 million, he said, though he offered no assurances.

by CNB