GILMORE PUSHES TAKEOVER

Governor Also Blasts Clinton On Drug Work, Tobacco Lawsuit

Gov. Jim Gilmore yesterday hammered the Clinton administration for its
alleged softness in fighting illegal drugs and for filing a huge
lawsuit against tobacco companies, and then the governor paused to
make a pitch for a Republican takeover of the legislature in this
fall's elections.

"I'm very unhappy about this," the governor said of the lawsuit
against the tobacco industry, seeking to get back billions in health
care costs. "It looks to me like they don't like this industry or the
people in it."

He argued that the lawsuit could "wreck" Virginia's plan to spend its
share of an earlier settlement between the states and tobacco
companies. An expected $4.1 billion over the next 25 years would help
Virginia's tobacco-farming communities finance anti-smoking campaigns
targeting teens and jump-start a Gilmore road building plan.

The GOP governor, sounding increasingly partisan as the Nov. 2
elections approach, also argued that it's time to break the hammerlock
Democrats have enjoyed in the General Assembly since
Reconstruction.

"It's an opportunity for genuine and honest change," the governor
proclaimed. "It's time to have a state with two-party democracy."

With Republicans hoping at least to hold on to their 21-19 majority in
the Senate, the GOP believes that it can win control of both chambers
by capturing the House of Delegates. Republicans are slightly
outnumbered there 50 to 49, but its one independent organizes with the
Republicans.

If the party wins, Gilmore said, it will mean the election of its
first GOP speaker of the House, a plum position to oversee the flow of
legislative business and to hand out prime committee seats to fellow
partisans.

Republican Dels. S. Vance Wilkins Jr. of Amherst, John H. Rust Jr. of
Fairfax and Phillip A. Hamilton of

Newport News are campaigning for the post. But so is the lone
independent, Del. Lacey E. Putney of Bedford.

With the party's numbers swelling, the House has operated under an
uneasy truce for the past two years in which Democrats and Republicans
generally share chairmanships of committees.

The outcome of the elections to fill all 140 House and Senate seats
could help determine Gilmore's tax-cutting agenda during the last two
years of his term. And GOP victories would allow its partisans and
Gilmore to draw party-friendly electoral districts for the next decade.

He's trying to pump money into key election campaigns, especially in
Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia. His political action committee is
sponsoring 50th birthday celebrations for the governor next month
around the state to raise even more cash for candidates.

As magnets for deep-pocket contributors, former President Bush will
appear at the Richmond party Oct. 8 and Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the
party's leading presidential candidate who has been endorsed by
Gilmore, will be at similar celebrations

Oct. 12 in Norfolk and Northern Virginia.

Gilmore's birth date is Oct. 6.

He made his remarks about the elections during his monthly radio
call-in show, broadcast statewide from the Richmond studios of WRVA.

On other topics, Gilmore said he anticipates Democratic support in
next winter's session of the General Assembly to pay for his proposed
$30 million a year battle against drug kingpins while providing
treatment programs for offenders.

He also cautiously predicted that Virginia is well prepared to avoid
any Y2K problems during the recalibration of computers before Jan.1.

"I think we'll be OK," he said, noting that the state had spent a
bundle -- about $200 million -- to forestall major snafus.