ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, May 31, 1996 TAG: 9605310054
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
Gov. George Allen is losing his top policy adviser, a move that signals an end to sweeping reforms that marked the first half of the Republican governor's administration.
Frank Atkinson confirmed Thursday that he will leave the Allen administration at the end of the summer and return to private law practice.
"While there's more work to be done, my role has been on the front end of strategic planning," Atkinson said. "The principal things we set out to do have been done."
In its first two years, the Allen administration has won General Assembly approval for conservative policies that include efforts to lengthen sentences for violent criminals, reduce welfare rolls and hold schools accountable for academic performance.
"We have the policies enacted," Allen said Thursday. "Many things are being implemented."
Atkinson joins a handful of ranking administration officials who have announced their resignations in recent weeks. He is the most senior official to leave, a Cabinet officer who is one of Allen's closest advisers.
Atkinson, 38, said he was returning to law practice in order to spend more time with his wife and two sons, Rob, 7, and Paul, 5.
"It's not an easy job for people who work in the policy office; they work long hours," Allen said. "I'm not going to stand in the way of someone and their family."
Atkinson said the need to spend more time with his family became clear when the annual General Assembly veto session conflicted with his elder son's first Little League baseball game.
"I made it to the game, but I missed his first at-bat, which was a hit," Atkinson said.
Atkinson is well-known to Virginia political observers as the author of "The Dynamic Dominion," a book about the rise of the Republican Party in the state.
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