THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Tuesday, December 20, 1994             TAG: 9412200007
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A12  EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Editorial 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   33 lines

THE GOVERNOR AND THE BALLET PAY IF YOU GO

Call it a pas de dud, this reported back-and-forth between the Richmond Ballet and Governor Allen's office over 13 free tickets for ``The Nutcracker.'' The Ballet says an aide to the guv demanded the freebies even though state subsidies to arts organizations are down, making the Ballet even more dependent on revenues from ticket sales. This Christmas favorite is a prime revenue producer, at $36 a seat.

A guv's aide says the guv paid for the seats. And, besides, George Allen isn't the governor who slashed the state's arts budget from $5.4 million in 1990 to $1.4 million in 1992. Fellow name of Doug Wilder, Mr. Allen's Democratic predecessor, did that.

But come now: There are ways to do this so nobody has to wonder.

The Ballet, which acknowledges having given complementary tickets to other politicians, should set a policy: He who comes to ``The Nutcracker'' pays, period, even if he has to buy the cheap (are there any?) seats.

And the governor whose budgetary motto is no free lunch (or parole, or welfare), a motto with which Virginia voters heartily agreed, should set a clear policy for his own administration: no free nuttin', including ``Nutcracker.'' by CNB