DATE: Friday, June 6, 1997                  TAG: 9706060002

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B10  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Editorial 

                                            LENGTH:   47 lines

A TAD COZY AN OPEN MEETING WOULD HAVE BEEN BECAUSE IT WOULD HAVE BEEN SEEN BY ONLOOKERS AS MORE DEMOCRATIC.

In early May, 25 Democratic Party delegates in Norfolk's 86th Virginia House District rubber stamped veteran Del. George H. Heilig Jr.'s unopposed candidacy for the seat he has occupied for 26 years.

But everything changed three days later but not as things turned out,the selection method. Citing failing eyesight, Heilig, 54, withdrew from the race. Tomorrow the same 25 delegates are scheduled to name another nominee. That's too cozy for the party's own good.

Helig's unexpected withdrawal caught Democrats off guard. That Heilig will leave the General Assembly, where he is strategically placed, is a blow to Norfolk, for which he did so much. Heilig had seniority on key Virginia House of Delegates committees. No newcomer will walk into the Capitol with his clout.

The delegates are likely to choose Ocean View developer Donald L. Williams, 55. Active in civic affairs, Williams sits on the Norfolk Planning Commission. He would be a credible Democratic candidate in the 86th District race against Republican Beverly Graeber. Williams has Heilig's blessing.

But Joseph A. Leafe Jr., a former Norfolk mayor and a former member of the House of Delegates, also announced his candidacy for the nomination. Leafe grew up in Ocean View and lives on Norfolk's west side. Name recognition, experience and popularity all but assure that he would be a formidable candidate in the general election.

Leafe called for an 86th District meeting open to all. He undoubtedly believed that an open meeting would improve his odds of being nominated. Maybe so. But whatever its outcome, an open meeting would have been better because it would have been seen by onlookers as more democratic.

Norfolk's Democrats - like Norfolk's Republicans - are free to pick candidates in more than one way. But the city's Democrats have developed a knack for fielding weak candidates. Norfolk once was an impregnable Democratic stronghold. Able Republicans now occupy three of the city's five constitutional offices.

Williams would not be a weak nominee. But with two Democrats vying to succeed Heilig, tomorrow's closed conclave may turn off some of the district's voters at the expense of the Democrats.

The Republican tide - in nation, state and region - rises. The cozy-circle procedure may give some 86th District voters yet another reason to swim with the GOP, whoever is the Democrats' choice.

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