DATE: Monday, September 1, 1997             TAG: 9708300023

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B8   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Editorial 

                                            LENGTH:   53 lines

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION GILMORE VS. DUNLOP

GOP gubernatorial hopeful James S. Gilmore III has had the temerity to suggest that he would not reappoint Becky Norton Dunlop, the controversial environmental secretary who is a fellow Republican. But Dunlop does not intend to go quietly into the good night of political obscurity. Her response is to rage against the dimming of her light.

Gilmore, she told The Washington Post, is ``trying to damage my reputation.'' Such ``personal attacks'' on a member of Gov. George F. Allen's administrative team constitute political betrayal, she said.

This is probably not the reaction the Gilmore team had in mind when a memorandum about the candidate's environmental vision was leaked to a reporter for The Richmond Times-Dispatch. Criticism of Dunlop's tenure is implied, but never directly stated, in the memo.

Nor, in fact, does Gilmore ever say that he would not reappoint Dunlop. Instead, he refers to his plans for a ``new leadership team in the Natural Resources secretariat.''

Most likely, what Gilmore's friends intended was a subtle spreading of the word that Dunlop is kaput, fini, gone - without the unpleasantness of having to say so up front.

Characteristically, Dunlop has declined to play that game.

It is amusing to watch any politician's bluff being called. Gilmore, who now says he understood that Dunlop did not want to be reappointed, was angling to save his endangered species and eat it too.

Dunlop's refusal to swallow her pride and sit demurely by is an indication of why conservative allies find the protege of the combative Sen. Jesse Helms so appealing.

That said, Gilmore is right to promise Virginians a new direction in environmental stewardship. Endless wrangling with the Environmental Protection Agency, policies that tilted too far toward coziness with some businesses and ongoing upheaval in the state regulatory ranks have created chaos and dispirited state workers.

Now that his memo is public, rather than soft pedaling its implications Gilmore should trumpet its message: ``Instead of emphasizing areas of disagreement, I will seek to find common ground on which we can both sustain our remarkable economic development progress and make sensible decisions that will help conserve Virginia's abundant natural gifts for the use and enjoyment of future generations.''

He urges his environmental team, to whom the memo is addressed, to seek the advice of environmental groups as well as business and industry. That would be a welcome change.

Dunlop has been the most colorful member of the Allen Cabinet, but that is the best that can be said for her tenure. If elected, Gilmore should change course in the Natural Resources secretariat. And on the stump, he should have the courage to say why such a change is needed.

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