DATE: Sunday, November 2, 1997              TAG: 9711020113

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JOHN MURPHY, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   99 lines

BEACH CUSTOMERS ARE DRIVING COMMISSIONER OF REVENUE RACE

No matter who wins the contest for commissioner of revenue, Beach voters can expect an emphasis on customer service.

Philip J. Kellam, a Democrat, and Rickie L. Richards, a Republican, have both embraced platforms guaranteeing shorter lines, easier public access to tax information through satellite offices, Internet services, seminars, and other efforts to reach out to the public and make the office more efficient.

Both candidates plan to pay for these changes with savings achieved through staff attrition.

``I think we really have an opportunity to change the way government works,'' says Kellam. ``. . . People see government in a cynical way. We can deliver service that is meaningful to you.''

Richards also hopes to initiate fundamental changes in the office.

``People don't realize what kind of tax breaks are available to them. I want to get the information out to them,'' he said.

The commissioner of revenue's primary task is to fairly assess the value of personal property, such as cars, boats and business equipment.

As similar as their messages appear, the candidates have tried to put distance between themselves.

Richards, a certified public accountant in the Beach Department of Finance, has positioned himself as the candidate with the academic qualifications and a dirt-under-the-fingernails approach to getting a job done.

A former Air Force weapons mechanic and cabinet maker, Richards describes himself as ``someone who likes to work with his hands.'' During his 22 years with the finance department, he networked the department's computer system and automated a worksheet preparation program, allowing a job that once took a week to be finished in just two hours, he said.

Richards hopes to apply this experience to the commissioner of revenue office by reducing duplications between departments.

``The people would be getting someone who has already done the job,'' he said. ``They need someone who understands the technical side of things. I'm not going to have to hire someone to do it for me.''

Kellam, however, describes himself as a strategic thinker interested in the broader issues of how to improve the office.

``The commissioner of the revenue better be out in the public,'' he said. ``To say that the commissioner of revenue needs the nuts, bolts and wiring is absurd.''

Kellam cites his 14 years working in the commissioner's office as his primary qualification. As a deputy commissioner of revenue, he has supervised the assessment, audit and administration of local taxes and learned the workings of the office from the bottom up.

This experience, he argued, is more important than Richards' work as a CPA.

``Look at the job description; being a CPA is not a prerequisite. I have on-the-job experience, understanding of the tax laws, experience dealing with the General Assembly and experience dealing with the public,'' he said.

Kellam and Richards also disagree on how to eliminate the personal property tax. Richards supports Jim Gilmore's plan, in which the tax would be phased out on vehicles assessed at less than $20,000.

Kellam said he advocates eliminating the tax altogether.

Yet, in an advertisement that he ran Friday in The Beacon, a section for Virginia Beach readers, Kellam states he will ``work to repeal the 1930s-imposed personal property tax on cars and trucks valued at less than $20,000.''

Kellam, who said he was not a supporter of the Gilmore plan, said these platforms were not contradictory.

In a city where residents increasingly favor Republican candidates, Kellam could face an uphill battle as a Democrat. Yet, he has history on his side as a member of one of the city's most influential families. His father, Richard Boykin Kellam, was a U.S. District Court Judge. His uncle, Sidney Kellam, was a powerful Democratic leader and is credited with creating modern-day Virginia Beach from Princess Anne County.

In political ads, Richards has dubbed his opponent a member of the ``Kellam machine.''

Kellam bristles at Richards' characterization of his family.

``If anybody in my family ever did anything improper or without absolute dignity and not absolutely above board, let them step forward,'' Kellam said. ``I'm very proud of the name that I've inherited.''

Even without the family name, Kellam enjoys a tremendous financial advantage in the campaign. He has spent more than $118,000 and raised $111,000, according to his latest financial report.

Richards has spent more than $49,000 and raised $29,000, according his reports.

The next commissioner in Virginia Beach will make a minimum $87,389 and will take over from Robert P. Vaughan, who has worked in the commissioner's office since 1965 and held the top job since 1985.

During the final weeks of the election, both candidates have been hitting the pavement.

Richards took the last two weeks off from work to knock on doors and to speak to with church clubs, choir groups, coffee clubs and other gatherings.

``Anybody, anywhere, who will let me speak, I'll be there,'' he said.

Kellam, who has been on a leave of absence since February, has been logging many miles, too.

``I've been going door to door every day,'' he said. ``I've walked six hours a day, but who's counting?'' ILLUSTRATION: Photos

Kellam

Richards KEYWORDS: ELECTION VIRGINIA VIRGINIA BEACH COMMISSIONER

OF THE REVENUE RACE CANDIDATES

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