DATE: Saturday, October 18, 1997            TAG: 9710180010

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B9   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Opinion 

SOURCE: Kerry Dougherty 

                                            LENGTH:   71 lines

GIVE US TWO CANDIDATES OR GIVE US DEATH CROSHAW, WARDRUP, WAGNER, PURKEY, TATA, MCDONNELL: NONE OF THESE CANDIDATES HAVE HAD TO SPEND A DIME ON ADVERTISING, NOR WERE THEY FORCED INTO PUBLIC FORUMS TO DEBATE THE ISSUES.

Lou Pace, Virginia Beach gadfly and long-shot independent candidate for city treasurer, stormed into his endorsement meeting with the newspaper's editorial board a few weeks back waving a sheaf of sample ballots in disgust.

``Look at these, it's a disgrace,'' he said, tossing the papers on the table.

What in the world was Lou talking about?

``All these candidates, every one of them, running unopposed,'' he said, flipping over sheet after sheet of House of Delegates ballots.

He's right. If you live in Virginia Beach, Election Day holds few surprises. Sure, there are the cliffhanger races for the three top jobs in the state, and a chance to vote for a new commissioner of the revenue and city treasurer, but voters in the Resort City need not worry their little heads about whom to vote for for the House of Delegates. That matter was decided by the two political parties when they decided not to oppose any incumbents.

If you didn't know better, you'd think the parties had struck some sort of back-room deal: ``You don't run anybody against our lone Beach Democrat (Glenn Croshaw) and we'll let all five of your guys stand without opposition.'' I'm not saying that's what happened, but if it did, it was one sweet deal for the GOP.

And so Croshaw, Leo Wardrup, Frank Wagner and the three Bobs - Purkey, Tata and McDonnell - will represent the people of Virginia Beach in Richmond for two more years.

Best of all, none of these candidates has had to spend a dime on advertising, nor were they forced into public forums to debate the issues or meet an actual voter. They can even sleep late on Election Day, since there's no need to make those humiliating last-minute pleas for votes as people dash into the polls. If the candidates do show up it will out of a sense of noblesse oblige - simply to thank voters for their resounding vote of confidence.

Ah, to be an incumbent in Virginia Beach.

This is not to say the local delegates aren't doing a good job in Richmond. For the most part, they are. But it might be nice, in the interest of democracy, to have more than one candidate. I'm pro-choice: Give me two candidates and let me pick one.

For many years, members of the Republican Party moaned about how important it was for Virginia to have a two-party system. They were right. Ironically, once the GOP got their boys elected, the Democrats - apparently so used to a single-party system they never got the knack of contested races - rolled over and played dead.

Perhaps there is no grand plot by the two major parties to deprive us of a choice. It may just be that the Democrats are good at arithmetic. The Dems have probably figured out that their slim majority in the House of Delegates is not in jeopardy this year, nor is the tie in the Senate. Much smarter for fat-cat Democrats to pour money into the coffers of statewide candidates like L.F. Payne (who, as lieutenant governor, could be the tie-breaker in the Senate) than to waste time and money trying to pick off popular Republican legislators in a Republican town.

That may be true and it probably makes perfect political sense.

But this isn't the way my high school civics teacher said it was supposed to work.

At the conclusion of our meeting with Lou Pace we asked the perpetual candidate why he continues his quixotic quests for public office, only to lose time after time.

``Whenever I see someone running unopposed it really gets to me,'' Pace says. ``I think people ought to have a choice.''

So do I. MEMO: Ms. Dougherty is an editorial writer for The Virginian-Pilot.

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