THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 9, 1995 TAG: 9511090368
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Guy Friddell
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
The day after Gov. George Allen lost his bold bid for a GOP majority in the General Assembly, former Gov. Linwood Holton had some advice to offer him.
Work with, not against, Democrats.
In Tuesday's election, voters split the 40 Senate seats down the middle, 20-20, between the two parties, and they gave the Democrats a 52-47 majority in the House of Delegates.
When Holton was elected in 1969 as Virginia's first Republican governor in a century, Democrats held 80 percent of the General Assembly's seats. Virginians wondered how the Democrats and the Republican governor would get along.
Splendidly, it turned out.
His first day in office, Holton recalled Wednesday, Democrat J. Sargeant Reynolds, who had been elected lieutenant governor, came to his office.
Each would be mindful of some obligations to party, Reynolds said.
``But if there's anything I can do now or any time to help you help Virginia, I'll do it,'' Reynolds promised. And that was how it was, Holton said Wednesday, all the way.
They bonded. When young Reynolds was stricken with a brain tumor in 1971, Holton sought to comfort his valiant, dying friend.
Throughout Holton's term, he and Democratic legislators stayed in consultation over bills.
``And 90 percent of my program passed,'' Holton said.
``And it's still possible,'' Holton said, to encourage Allen.
``The General Assembly needs leadership, and the governor's office is the best place for it to come from,'' said Holton.
That became a tradition within Virginia's maturing two-party system.
Republican Gov. John Dalton, elected in 1977, worked closely with Democrat Richard Bagley of Hampton, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and with Sen. Ed Willey, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.
``We consulted every day,'' Bagley said Wednesday. ``Every morning on the way to the Capitol, I'd go by the governor's office and we'd have a cup of coffee. I must say we operated hand in hand.''
The trust flourished with Mills Godwin, who was elected a Democrat governor in 1965 and then came back as a Republican governor in 1973. ``I operated with Mills no matter which party he headed,'' Bagley said.
Allen has been thoroughly partisan. His offer of a cut in taxes caught Democrats, as well as some Republican leaders, by surprise. He presented a budget aimed at eliminating a host of vital projects and proposed building a half-billion dollars' worth of prisons.
It took nerve for Democrats to fight offers of cuts in taxes and the budget and to reduce his swollen estimates for prisons. Allen amassed a war chest and directed a campaign to decimate Democrats.
The Old Dominion is always confounding doubters. Enough Virginians showed considerable savvy Tuesday in rejecting Allen's plea.
Allen took a conciliatory tone Wednesday. He had better focus on being a worthy Virginia governor and renounce any notion of becoming a neophyte knee-jerk Newt Gingrich on the national scene. Quite enough is in Virginia to engage Allen's energies.
For Virginia's sake, Democrats, stick out your hands to the governor; but until you're convinced of his redemption, look out for sudden karate. ILLUSTRATION: Republican Gov. Linwood Holton easily got along well with
Democrats.
KEYWORDS: ELECTION FOLLOW UP 1995 by CNB