DATE: Wednesday, November 5, 1997           TAG: 9711051106

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A3B  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY HOLLY A. HEYSER, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  150 lines

HAGER TOPS PAYNE IN LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR RACE HE COULD GIVE REPUBLICANS THE ADVANTAGE IN TIGHT SENATE VOTES.

Virginians put full faith in the Republican Party Tuesday when they elected retired tobacco company executive John H. Hager for lieutenant governor.

Hager's victory was the tightest of the three contests for the top three jobs.

Hager, who has been in a wheelchair since he contracted polio in 1974, defeated former Congressman L.F. Payne of Nelson County by a margin of 51 percent to 45 percent.

``Now we know at the ballot box what we have always known in our hearts. And that is, Virginians support Republican principles,'' Hager said in his acceptance speech.

This will be Hager's first public office.

``Virginia has had its first black governor. We've had our first woman attorney general, and now we'll have the first lieutenant governor in a wheelchair,'' he said.

Payne was gracious in defeat.

``I congratulate John Hager. He has a courageous story,'' Payne said. ``He has my admiration for all his accomplishments and I wish him well.''

Hager's victory was the biggest surprise of the election.

Polls have consistently shown that he had much lower name-recognition than Payne, an eight-term congressman who left the U.S. House of Representatives last year.

Also, while the other Republican victors - Gov.-elect James S. Gilmore III and Attorney General-elect Mark L. Earley - began pulling ahead of their Democratic opponents in polls weeks ago, Hager and Payne remained neck-and-neck throughout much of the campaign.

Hager opposes government-mandated affirmative action and supports school vouchers. He campaigned hard for the popular ``no car tax'' pledge of candidate Gilmore.

Regardless of the reasons behind Hager's victory, his election win will be important. The lieutenant governor can break tie votes in the Senate, which is evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats.

With Hager - a longtime Republican Party activist - in the office, Republicans are given a 51-50 majority in the Senate, and would make Gov.-elect Gilmore's job that much easier.

In a speech, Hager made reference to this, saying he ``would be the 21st vote in the Senate for the 21st century.''

In some respects, the candidates were difficult to distinguish.

Hager took a bit of a beating during the campaign when someone leaked his deposition in a tobacco lawsuit, revealing that in 1972, he had written a memo to his boss about how to increase nicotine levels in cigarettes.

But he couldn't be labeled the pro-tobacco candidate: Hager and Payne have taken campaign contributions from tobacco interests, and Payne has taken a stand against the FDA regulating nicotine as a drug.

Both candidates support the death penalty. Both oppose gun control. Hager favors requiring teens to get parents' permission before getting abortions; Payne favors requiring them to notify their parents before getting abortions.

On top of all that, the race didn't generate much publicity, and much of the advertising highlighted the candidates' personal achievements, rather than their political viewpoints.

``I've just seen the ads, and all I know is the one - L.F. Payne - is the one that developed Wintergreen," said Virginia Beach voter Vicki Berling.

``The other - what's his name? The only ad I've seen about him is where they go through his life and the fact that he's a polio survivor,'' she said. ``To be honest, I don't see a whole lot of difference between the two.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

BETH BERGMAN NAKAMURA/The Virginian-Pilot

John Hager says he will work full time in the part-time lieutenant

governor job. This will be his first elected office and he could be

a pivotal vote in Senate issues.

Graphics

HAGER 50%

PAYNE 45%

HAGER's PRIORITIES

Education: Encourage competition through charter schools, tuition

vouchers and school choice.

Economic Development: Defend traditional industries such as

tobacco, coal and defense while promoting new alternatives.

Governing: Has promised to serve full time.

LT. GOV.-ELECT

John H. Hager

Republican

What he brings to the office

Born: Born Aug. 28, 1936, in Durham, N.C.

Family: Wife of 27 years, Maggie, active in federal, state and

local disability policy issues; sons Jack, 23, sales engineer in

Richmond; Henry, 19, sophomore at Wake Forest University.

Hager says his thinking is consistent with his upbringing by

Republican parents from longtime Republican families in Ohio and

Kentucky. ``I believe in personal freedom and individual

responsibility, traditional families, hard work, and basic American

values of free enterprise.''

Suburban lifestyle: He resides in Richmond and is a ruling elder

at First Presbyterian, Richmond.

Education and experience:

Purdue University, bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering,

1958; Harvard University, master's in business administration, 1960.

Spent entire career from college to retirement in 1994 at the

American Tobacco Co. in Richmond. Was senior vice president of leaf

and specialty products when he retired.

He has never held public office, though he has held numerous

state, regional and local positions within the Republican Party:

treasurer, Republican Party of Virginia; State Central Committee

member; North for Senate campaign co-chairman, 1994; national

convention delegate.

The job he says he'll do

John Hager says he ran for lieutenant governor on the Republican

ticket because he sincerely believes that government must bend to

the will of the people and not ignore their demands and build bigger

bureaucracies.

Hager has also said that it is most important that the person

casting the 21st vote for the 21st century be a person committed to

cutting taxes, promoting accountability in education and guarding

against any rollback in the significant gains made as a

commonwealth in the areas of welfare reform, public safety and

economic development.

Other promises and priorities

Improve education by encouraging competition in the form of

charter schools, tuition vouchers and school choice.

Defend Virginia's traditional industries like tobacco, coal and

defense, while promoting new alternatives. Promises to serve full

time, though lieutenant governor is a part-time job.

Where he stands

Abortion: Against, except in cases of rape, incest and when the

mother's life is in danger. Favors parental consent.

Gun control: Supports Second Amendment rights.

Affirmative action: Opposes government-mandated affirmative

action programs.

Education: Supports charter schools, trying merit pay, and

providing a $150 tax credit for purchase of educational technology

for the home; supports Gilmore's plan to hire 4,000 more teachers

for public schools.

Taxes: Supports Jim Gilmore's proposal to phase out the personal

property tax and has pledged not to support tax increases if

elected.

Death penalty: Supports.

Crime: Supports parole abolition, truth-in-sentencing and

juvenile justice reforms that have taken place in past four years.

Believes in community-based crime-prevention programs.

Tobacco: Believes farmers need a voice in final settlement of

tobacco lawsuits; supports efforts to enforce laws forbidding sale

of tobacco to minors. KEYWORDS: ELECTION VIRGINIA RESULTS LIEUTENANT

GOVERNOR RACE VIRGINIA

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