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

DATE: Saturday, December 24, 1994            TAG: 9412230050
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Editorial 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   47 lines

TOO CLEVER BY HALF: IN GOVERNMENT WE DISTRUST

Two recent stories have little in common - except the appearance of questionable practice on the part of government, the kind of thing that causes the public to distrust institutions.

At Fort Monroe there's a problem with potentially dangerous buried ordnance - some dating back to the Civil War. Two years ago, when there was concern that the fort could fall victim to the BRAC base-closing process, a cleanup cost of $620 million was bandied.

Now, a new cleanup estimate places the probable cost at $22 million. This sort of thing isn't an exact science, but the new estimate is just 4 percent of the old. Could it be that the cost was overstated in the first instance in hopes of making it seem prohibitively expensive to close FortMonroe. You don't have to be overly suspicious to have the thought cross your mind.

Another case of dubious cost estimating on the part of a government comes from Virginia Beach. There, the School Board wants a parcel of land to build a new school. It offered its owner, an 80-year-old widow, $260,000 which she rejected as too low. Now it has offered $1 million - quadruple the original offer.

School Board Chairman James Darden calls the new offer fair. Logically, that means the original low-ball proposal was unfair. No one wants the government overpaying for property, but that doesn't mean the government should use its considerable power to muscle citizens into accepting disadvantageous offers for their own property.

Governments - which act in the name of the people and represent the rule of law - ought to be above reproach. They should practice scrupulously fair dealing, not the kind of wheeling and dealing they'd go after if private parties tried it.

Neither of these cases is a big deal, but in each there's at least the appearance of sharp practice. That can only make the average citizen conclude that dealing with the government can be hazardous to your financial health. Such attitudes poison further the well of public trust on which democracy depends.

Governments would be wise to follow Mark Twain's advice. ``Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.'' by CNB