
DATE: Saturday, April 19, 1997              TAG: 9704190393

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY WARREN FISKE, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: ROANOKE                           LENGTH:  130 lines

GOP CANDIDATES USE GUN CONTROL TO JOCKEY FOR LEAD SPOT IN RACE

Despite all the time and money they spend running against each other, the Republican candidates for attorney general and lieutenant governor found little to disagree about Friday when they sat down to debate.

During separate hour-long debates at the Hotel Roanoke, the two candidates for lieutenant governor and the four seeking the GOP nomination for attorney general seemed to agree on just about all major policies except gun control.

In the end, several of the candidates said the June 10 Republican primary will be more of a referendum on their political skills and popularity than on driving ideological questions.

``It will come down to who will be the strongest addition to the ticket,'' said Jerry Kilgore, a former state secretary of public safety running for attorney general.

One of his foes agreed. ``I think this is about electability,'' said Sen. Mark L. Earley of Chesapeake.

The four candidates all characterized themselves as anti-abortion, tough-on-crime Republicans and pledged to uphold state right-to-work laws barring compulsory union membership and to protect tobacco interests.

The candidates split, however, on whether state laws limiting handgun purchases to one a month should be repealed. Kilgore and Gil Davis, a Virginia lawyer, said the law is onerous and unnecessary.

But Earley and state Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle of Virginia Beach said the law should stay on the books. Stolle said the legislation was designed to restrict gun running from Virginia to other states. He said ample exceptions are provided for Virginians with clean police records.

All of the candidates except Davis agreed with Gov. George F. Allen's controversial veto of a bill this winter that would have banned carrying handguns into teen recreation centers in Fairfax County. Allen said it is important to keep gun laws consistent throughout the state and that he is opposed to granting exceptions to any locality.

``It's really great to see consistency at the expense of the safety of our children,'' Davis replied sarcastically. ``Governor Allen has been a great governor, but I certainly disagree with him on this one.''

Stolle scoffed at a recent news story saying that he has added flourishes to his resume. The story pointed out that while Stolle has claimed a degree in criminology from Berry College in Georgia, his diploma was instead in ``interdisciplinary studies'' with a focus on criminal justice.

A college adviser said Berry's interdisciplinary program offered less training in criminal justice than colleges that offered four-year degrees in the subject. Stolle maintained he received strong training.

Earley goaded Stolle to release his college records. ``Show me the transcript, Ken,'' he said. Stolle replied that he has not decided whether to release his records.

Stolle criticized Earley for being weak on the state's right-to-work law. He pointed to a bill sponsored by Earley in 1991 that would have required workers to reimburse unions that represented them in grievance procedures. Earley said he quickly realized that he misunderstood the legislation and wound up voting against it.

``That's pretty frightening,'' Stolle said after the debate, ``that someone who wants to be the next attorney general of Virginia signs a bill that would devastate our economy and says he doesn't know what it's about.''

The lieutenant governor candidates also disagreed on Allen's veto of the gun ban at Fairfax recreation centers. John H. Hager, a retired Richmond tobacco executive, supported the governor's action. T. Coleman Andrews, a McLean businessman, opposed it.

Earlier, Hager picked up the endorsement of Michael P. Farris, a home-schooling champion and prominent evangelical activist in Virginia. Farris questioned Andrews' commitment to opposing gambling in Virginia.

``I don't believe Coleman Andrews is the long-term family activist he claims he is, and his promotion of gambling is promotion of an immoral activity,'' Farris said.

Andrews said he instructed his company to drop the bid in 1995 after changing his mind on gambling and becoming convinced it leads to increased crime and bankruptcy. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS

Candidates for the Republican attorney general nominations, from

left, Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle, Gil Davis, Sen. Mark L. Earley and

Jerry Kilgore, agreed on more issues than not during Friday's debate

at the Hotel Roanoke.

THE CANDIDATES

ATTORNEY GENERAL CANDIDATES

Mark L. Earley, 42, Chesapeake.

College of William and Mary, BA, 1976, and JD, 1982.

Practices law.

Virginia State Senate, 1987-present.

A leading social conservative in the General Assembly who led

passage of the parental notification bill this year. Supports a