DATE: Friday, September 12, 1997            TAG: 9709120892

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B8   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Opinion 

SOURCE: BY JOHN GOOLRICK 

                                            LENGTH:   67 lines

GILMORE, ALLEN AND THE DUNLOP INCIDENT

Though some consider it much ado about nothing, the media in the slow new days of August have managed to agitate to the last drop the curious case of James S. Gilmore III vs. Becky Norton Dunlop.

Gilmore, the Republican nominee for governor, mentioned in passing - and some think gratuitously - that if elected he would not reappoint Ms. Dunlop as secretary of Natural Resources.

Ms. Dunlop, who had already said she would not seek reappointment, was angered, and charged that Gilmore, the former state attorney general, was attempting to advance his candidacy by ``trying to damage my reputation.''

But in truth nothing Gilmore said could add much to the self-inflicted damage to her reputation during her turn in office. She has been regularly castigated by editorial writers across the length and breadth of Virginia for what they consider her insensitivity to legitimate environmental concerns.

Let me say that I think history will treat the administration of Gov. George F. Allen with great kindness when it comes to the excellent record of job creation and leadership and innovation in anti-crime policies and welfare reform.

But historians may also tend to agree with present-day critics who believe that Dunlop, always staunchly defended by the governor and aides, took the lead in ripping the guts out of a Department of Environmental Quality that had been regarded as efficient in its operations.

Some veteran environmental specialists were given the ax and replaced with people with philosophical axes to grind. Privately, some key people doing economic-development work for the administration, all folks who are devoted to Allen, complain that the watering down of DEQ has hurt their efforts in attracting new businesses. The reason, they say, is that the experienced staffers were helpful in getting needed permits because they knew all the applicable state and federal regulations.

Gilmore's passing remark about Dunlop was, it appears, a well-calculated move to put some distance between himself and the administration's environmental record. Though a Richmond Times-Dispatch columnist said the move might hurt Gilmore with some right-wing party elements, that is unlikely since they have nowhere else to go in November.

Reporter Jeff Schapiro of the Times-Dispatch said in one story that ``an apparent rift'' has been opened between Allen and Gilmore over the Dunlop incident.

Doubtlessly, Allen and others around him were annoyed by Gilmore's slap at Dunlop, but they are politically astute and know that Allen, who will probably run for the U.S. Senate in 2000, has to do all he can for the GOP ticket this year for the sake of future support.

Dunlop, it should be said, has many defenders among those who think the government has gone too far in regulating the environment, and they try to make a case for her policies. But the problem so far as Gilmore and the Republicans are concerned is that in politics perception often mirrors reality, and the public perception of Ms. Dunlop at this time is not flattering.

Indeed, Democrats are using the environment second only to education in the gubernatorial campaign and making Gilmore feel the heat. As Del. George Grayson, a James City Democrat, noted, ``She's an albatross and Gilmore is no fool.''

Gilmore will be asked in future debates with Democratic gubernatorial nominee Donald S. Beyer Jr. what he thinks of the Allen-Dunlop environmental record. His spin artists are probably hard at work on that one right now. MEMO: John Goolrick, a former political reporter, is now an aide to 1st

District Rep. Herb Bateman. Opinions expressed are his own. KEYWORDS: ANOTHER VIEW

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