THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 21, 1995 TAG: 9511210276
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NANCY YOUNG, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: NASHUA, N.H. LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
Anything you can do, I can do better.
That's the message Gov. George F. Allen has for the federal government.
Allen is in good company at the Republican Governors' Conference in New Hampshire - where the federal government has been villified - but the recent Virginia legislative elections leave a question mark about whether he is in step as much with the voters as he is with his Republican gubernatorial peers.
While Democrats retained a majority in the House of Delegates and split the Senate, Allen maintained that Republicans have a ``philosophical majority.''
``It's a mixed message, but nevertheless, through it all, Republicans gained ground and for the first time ever Democrats cannot elect judges, they cannot pass tax increases, they cannot go into debt or use bonds without at least having some Republican support,'' said Allen. ``Sure, there will have to be a sharing of power. I don't think they (the voters) want us just to bicker.''
Things were clearer last year at this time.
The 1994 midterm elections swept a slew of Republicans into Congress, many of whom shared Allen's views about returning power to the states. The Republican ``revolution'' was brand new, and Allen had the distinction of hosting the Republican governors at last year's conference in Williamsburg, which the governors now refer to as an ``historic'' meeting. There was talk of mandates, not mixed messages.
Still, while Allen acknowledges a mandate would have been nice, the main thing is to give power back to the states.
``All we ask of the federal government is to take off the choke chains,'' said Allen, in his address to the governors on Monday. ``Don't tell us what to do in Virginia.''
Allen said it's not just a matter of Republican politics, but of philosophy.
``I don't like, obviously, liberal or left-winger mandates from Washington,'' said Allen. ``I don't like the left-wingers and the liberals doing that, but, by the same token, as a matter of principle I don't like conservative mandates from Washington.''
Allen acknowledged that voters don't necessarily differentiate between the state and federal governments, and might not be thinking about the debate over returning power to the states.
``They're (voters) worried about a hundred other things in their lives,'' Allen said.
Allen said the economy in Virginia is going ``great guns,'' with the influx of high-tech jobs into the state, and that he wouldn't, under any circumstances, raise taxes, because it would make the state less competitive.
The governors, including Allen, have argued for the shifting of money out of federal programs into the states in the form of block grants, which would give the states added flexibility - but also more responsibility to make do with less, something that could become a problem in the event of a recession.
In such an event, Allen said, he would look to charities and the private sector to help pick up the slack, and his top priorities would be education and law enforcement.
``Sure, there'll be a time when the market will be dropping, but what you want to make sure about is that while things are going well you're getting your share of these jobs,'' said Allen. by CNB