DATE: Wednesday, November 5, 1997           TAG: 9711050431

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL  

COLUMN: NEIGHBORHOOD EXCHANGE  

TYPE: PUBLIC LIFE  

SOURCE: Mike Knepler

        STAFF WRITER

                                            LENGTH:   70 lines

IT'S THE DAY AFTER ELECTION, NOW WHAT DOES ONE DO? CITIZENS LOOK TO CHANGE POLITICS

It's the day after elections.

Now what do you do?

Tracey F. Settle might not run for office or be a campaigner, but he's going to stay involved.

Settle, a 41-year-old Navy man, hopes to coax more 18-year-olds to register and vote.

He doesn't want them to become like him, someone who gave up on politics before even trying.

He didn't vote until age 28.

``To me, it didn't matter. These (politicians) were going to do what they wanted to do anyway,'' Settle said of his old attitude. But when you have low turnouts in elections, he said, ``that's appalling. And I know I'm stomping on my own feet saying this.''

Politics, he's learned, doesn't just mean following politicians.

``There's too many years I've let this go by,'' said Settle, who helps a Junior ROTC program at a Peninsula high school.

Settle, of Newport News, was part of the weekly Your Voice/Your Vote citizens panel. The diverse group of about 15 regulars contributed to election coverage of The Virginian-Pilot, WHRO-TV, WVEC-TV and Local News on Cable.

Other members also took a new view of politics, one that includes citizens changing the community.

Billie Montgomery-Cook, 46, of Portsmouth and Belinda Anthony, 46, of Norfolk believe that their public grappling with issues - as reflected in news stories about their questions to candidates - has motivated other citizens.

``People came up and said, `I actually listened to this guy just to see how he was going to answer questions from regular everyday people who weren't in the media, who weren't spin doctors,' '' Montgomery-Cook said.

Some citizens remained strongly partisan.

Joe Emerson, 31, of York County, and Brian Kirwin, 28, of Virginia Beach, feel encouraged about traditional politics. Some day, they might run for office.

``Debate is good,'' said Eileen Huey, 54, of Chesapeake. ``But I am against labeling and . . . painting someone else into a corner . . . Then you're not discussing issues.''

Montgomery-Cook worries that bitter campaigns drive out the middle voters, leaving the extreme to determine elections.

Kirwin doesn't mind loud campaigns. ``The good thing about partisanship is that it focuses people's attention on election.''

But he asks: ``If partisanship is driving the middle away from elections, what do you do? . . . What is the solution?''

Maybe the answer will rise from experiments elsewhere.

In some places, citizens work with a League of Women Voters or form other nonpartisan grass-roots groups to monitor mudslinging and demand candidate accountability.

Citizens coax candidates to sign pledges not to go negative in more than a small percentage of advertisements. And if they do, to put their names and faces on the ads so voters know the source.

For other ideas:

Call the national League of Women Voters, 1-800-249-VOTE. The league will refer you to projects across the country or send you a pamphlet, ``Tired of Negative Political Campaigns.''

For information about innovative campaign-finance reforms at city and county levels and some other experiments, call Rick Bainter of the ``New Politics Program'' of the National Civic League, 1-800-223-6004. ILLUSTRATION: Tracey F. Settle KEYWORDS: VOTERS CITIZENS

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