DATE: Friday, June 6, 1997                  TAG: 9706060636

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B9   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: WINCHESTER, VA.                   LENGTH:   51 lines

GILMORE TOUTS HIMSELF IN STATE-FUNDED DISPLAY

Attorney General James S. Gilmore III, the Republican nominee for governor, is spending $23,000 in state money on a touring display that touts him as a champion of consumers.

The 8-foot-tall, 10-foot-wide exhibit is stationed this week at Apple Blossom Mall in Winchester. The display includes a 2-square-foot color photo of Gilmore and a yellow-and-black banner reading: ``Partners in Preventing Consumer Fraud - Virginia Attorney General Gilmore and You!''

Some passers-by were surprised to learn that the display was a state, rather than a political, exhibit.

``Instead of preventing consumer fraud, he's doing it,'' said Arlene Watkins as she took a break Wednesday from her job at the nearby Sears store.

But Cleo Russell, a kindergarten teacher from Berryville, saw nothing she considered unusual. ``They should just get up and make their speeches and save the money,'' she said.

The mobile display is now at its 21st mall. It is among several state-funded productions of Gilmore's office that have put the attorney general's name before voters.

Others include comic books, bookmarks, pamphlets and ``Jim Gilmore'' refrigerator magnets. The expenditures, none of which cost more than a few thousand dollars, are legal.

Gilmore, who plans to resign next week to devote more time to his campaign for governor, said the promotions were part of a drive to make the attorney general's office ``very active in trying to help the community.''

``You shouldn't pass up an opportunity to do your job in the most aggressive and pro-active way that you can,'' he said. ``If you're a public official and you're doing your job right, people are going to know about it.''

But Gilmore's predecessor, Democrat Mary Sue Terry, said the activities go beyond those of any other attorney general of either party.

``The word that comes to mind is `exploitive,' '' said Terry, who lost to Republican George F. Allen in the 1993 governor's race.

Gilmore's office said the materials were paid for with money that courts awarded to the attorney general's office for consumer education as a result of verdicts or settlements in lawsuits.

Gilmore's opponent, Democrat Donald S. Beyer Jr., has had few state resources at his disposal as lieutenant governor, a part-time post. His office has an annual budget of $290,000 and a staff of six.

Gilmore has an annual office budget of $18 million and a staff of 270. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

An exhibit portrays Attorney General James S. Gilmore III, GOP

nominee for governor, as a champion of consumers. KEYWORDS: PRIMARY ELECTION CANDIDATE

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