Pubdate: Fri, 24 Sept 1999 Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA) Copyright: 1999 Richmond Newspapers Inc. Address: P.O. Box 85333, Richmond, VA 23293-0001 (LTEs by FAX or mail only!) Fax: (804) 775-8072 Website: http://www.gateway-va.com/ Author: Michael Hardy, Times-Dispatch Staff Writer 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. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea