DATE: Saturday, August 16, 1997             TAG: 9708160283

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MIKE ALLEN, THE WASHINGTON POST 

                                            LENGTH:   76 lines

LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR CANDIDATE SAYS STATE MUST INVEST IN FUTURE L.F. PAYNE JR. CALLS FOR AGGRESSIVE SPENDING ON JOBS, EDUCATION AND TRANSPORTATION.

Breaking from the tax-cut fever that has dominated Virginia's statewide campaigns this year, L.F. Payne Jr., the Democrat running for lieutenant governor, answered the call of Northern Virginia business leaders Friday by saying the state needs to spend aggressively on education and roads.

Payne, a conservative who represented Southside Virginia in Congress from 1989 until January, called for more discussion of ``needed investments in the years to come - particularly in the areas of work-force development, education and transportation.''

``It's good news that we're talking about personal property tax relief,'' Payne said during a speech to civic leaders in Fredericksburg. ``But I believe we must also begin thinking now about the long view, and what kind of Virginia we want in the next century.''

Payne's invest-for-the-future stance echoes what the Democratic candidate for governor, Lt. Gov. Donald S. Beyer Jr., emphasized early in his campaign. But Beyer, to the disappointment of some Northern Virginia business leaders, began to shy away from discussing his larger vision after Republicans accused him of planning to raise taxes.

Now Beyer, like Republican gubernatorial nominee James S. Gilmore III, is proposing a tax cut but he also continues to promote more spending - a mixed message some Democrats say hasn't helped Beyer in what polls show is a tight race.

Members of the Northern Virginia Roundtable, a group of business and academic leaders, have felt sidelined as Beyer and Gilmore, a former state attorney general, have debated their plans to save residents money on the widely hated property tax on cars and trucks.

Friday, some of those Northern Virginia leaders hailed Payne's attention to spending instead of cutting.

``Good for him! Good for him! Maybe one of these politicians is getting real,'' said Sidney O. Dewberry, chairman of Dewberry & Davis, a Fairfax County-based engineering firm. ``Nobody has, I think, faced up to the realities of the fiscal situation in the state. My hat's off to him.''

Dewberry is supporting Gilmore. But he and other members of the Northern Virginia Roundtable have said they are willing to support any candidate who takes up the group's agenda of investing in schools and economic growth.

``If we're going to stay the leaders, we're going to have to make some big investments in education and transportation,'' Dewberry said.

This week, Beyer said he wants ``to leave enough revenue in Virginia's budget to make the critical investments in education and public safety.''

``I think we need to bring relief to hard-working families, but that's not all that we can do or should do,'' Beyer said after a speech in Alexandria. ``We need to have a nobler vision and a higher sense of purpose than just tax relief.''

Meanwhile, Gilmore's spokesman chortled at Payne's comments Friday. ``That's the speech Beyer was giving three months ago, and now runs from,'' Gilmore spokesman Mark Miner said.

Both gubernatorial candidates have pledged to oppose tax increases if elected. Payne said he will not take that pledge, although he said he has no plans to advocate higher taxes.

``These are important matters of public policy for people who are elected to exercise their judgment given the situation at the time,'' he said.

That position leaves Payne alone on the Democratic ticket. The party's candidate for attorney general, Arlington lawyer William D. Dolan, said Friday he would take the pledge that Gilmore and Beyer have. ``I will not support any tax increases,'' Dolan said.

Payne's opponent in the lieutenant governor's race, retired tobacco executive John H. Hager, said Friday's speech shows ``he spent too long in Washington.''

``He misses the point,'' Hager said. ``It's not just a matter of how much is in the budget. . . . I want more responsive . . . government, as opposed to the days when there were unlimited funds.''

Strategists in both parties said the speech was a shrewd move for Payne, who represented Virginia's 5th Congressional District after developing the Wintergreen resort in Nelson County. KEYWORDS: LIEUTENANT GUBERNATORIAL RACE CANDIDATE

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