DATE: Thursday, November 6, 1997            TAG: 9711060030

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B10  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Editorial 

                                            LENGTH:   73 lines

MANAGING THE MANDATE THE TRICK NOW IS KEEPING PROMISES WITHOUT CHEAPENING THE COMMONWEALTH

Virginia Republicans won a historic sweep on Tuesday of three statewide elected offices. Only a razor-thin Democratic majority in the House of Delegates stands between them and victory in their decades-long march to total dominance in state politics.

Gov.-elect James S. Gilmore III campaigned with discipline and a clear-eyed focus, winning big through a ``No Car Tax'' pledge that was easier to make than it will be to fulfill. But he also artfully countered traditional Democratic advantages by proclaiming the hiring of 4,000 new teachers as his first priority and by courting African-American voters who are the bulwark of Democratic coalitions.

While promising to continue the current administration's policies on education, crime and welfare, he hinted at a more pragmatic, less ideological approach to the environment and public employees. The package was a mainstream, conservative agenda that deflected Democrat Donald S. Beyer Jr.'s charges of extremism and is already being touted as gameplan for Republicans nationally.

His top deputy will be Lt. Gov.-elect John Hager, a Richmond businessman whose compelling story of personal triumph over polio will make him a model for many Virginians with physical disabilities or other difficult life circumstances.

Chesapeake Sen. Mark Earley, who will become attorney general, deserves special recognition as the first area resident to win statewide office in more than a decade and as the first bona fide member of the Christian conservative movement to achieve major state office.

Earley has set the standard which others of his philosophical persuasion should follow. With a principled, but nonthreatening, style, he has worked long and hard for a variety of causes - including, but not limited to those of concern to the Christian Coalition.

In the public's mind, however, the issue by which the trio will be judged first and foremost is the elimination of the property tax on cars and trucks. The three-word slogan began as the wagging tail on the dog. By Tuesday, it looked more like the dog's master.

As first introduced by Gilmore, the plan came with a host of asterisks. Tax relief would occur only if there is a robust economy between now and 2002. It would apply only to the first $20,000 of the value of a car. It would be phased in over five years, with the biggest chunk of savings (and cost to the state) not coming until year five, when Gilmore is out of office. Hiring new teachers and creating a college scholarship program would be paid for first.

It's doubtful that many who voted for Gilmore Tuesday could name one of those stipulations, much less all four. In the public mind, ``No Car Tax'' has an elegant simplicity. You get rid of the thing. Or you don't.

The property tax on cars and trucks is a mainstay of local government financing. You can't just ax the tax overnight without jeopardizing services and ignoring major unmet needs. Yet to many that surely seemed to be what Gilmore was promising. He'll be expected to stand and deliver. Members of the General Assembly who stand in the way will do so at their peril.

For that reason, thoughtful consideration may be out the window. The people have been promised tax relief on thousands of yard signs and bumper stickers. It will be easy to conclude that they'd better get it.

Nevertheless, the General Assembly has a duty to thoughtfully balance tax cuts against needs in education and transportation, and to make more than piecemeal revisions in the tax code. The property tax on cars and trucks is only one bad feature of a system that needs reshaping. Localities must have adequate taxing authority if they are to shoulder increasingly heavy demands for schools and roads. The tax burden also needs to be based on a more realistic apprisal of who is able to pay.

Popular mandates are hard to resist. But lawmakers - Democrat and Republican - must recognize that campaigning well is not necessarily the same as governing well. The first priorities are adequate services and overall tax reform. Hopefully, elimination of the car tax can be a part of the package.

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