ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 17, 1997 TAG: 9703170081
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
The likely GOP nominee for governor has not decided whether he will follow tradition and step down.
Republican legislators are divided over whether Attorney General Jim Gilmore should resign as attorney general to campaign full time as the GOP nominee for governor.
It is customary for Virginia attorneys general to step down to pursue higher office. Gilmore has not said whether he will follow that tradition.
``If the office is organized well enough and operates efficiently, then there is no reason to resign, as far as I can see,'' House Minority Leader Vance Wilkins, R-Amherst, said Saturday.
But Senate Republican Leader Joseph Benedetti of Richmond said Gilmore should quit to concentrate on the campaign.
``To accomplish what you need to accomplish - to get to every jurisdiction in the commonwealth - you have to do it full time,'' Benedetti said.
Wilkins, Benedetti and other Republicans were in Richmond to talk to Gov. George Allen's aides about gubernatorial action on legislation approved by the 1997 assembly.
Gilmore's likely Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov. Don Beyer, has already attacked the attorney general for his hesitancy on the resignation issue. Allen would name Gilmore's successor.
Most attorneys general have quit while running for governor rather than risk criticism that they are pursuing higher office at the taxpayers' expense.
Gilmore has been spending an increasing amount of time on political business. Aides already are on a campaign footing, with spokesman Mark Miner leaving the state payroll this week for the political staff.
``I don't think it should be a major issue because [Gilmore] has shown an ability to put a good staff in place,'' said Del. Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Heights. ``It's a question of how he spends his time. I think he can do both.''
Del. Joyce Crouch, R-Lynchburg, who has announced her retirement, said most voters won't care if Gilmore tries running the attorney general's office while running for governor.
``I don't know that the public feels that strongly about it,'' she said.
Gilmore has suggested that he can't resign because he needs the $97,000 annual salary. He's also drawing a contrast with Beyer, a part-time state official who bankrolled his first campaign in 1989 with millions in family money.
But Del. Harry Parrish, R-Manassas, said Gilmore's political fortunes could depend on relinquishing his current office:
``His opponent will be out there every day, and when he has to concentrate on running the activities of the attorney general's office, it's going to deny him equal access to the citizens of the commonwealth.''
-ASSOCIATED PRESS
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines KEYWORDS: POLITICS: GOVERNORby CNB