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Posted on 10/04/2001 7:54:10 AM PDT by cogitator

Foes spar on sales tax
Gubernatorial candidates hold first live televised debate
BY JEFF E. SCHAPIRO AND TYLER WHITLEY
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITERS

Citing the ailing economy, Republican gubernatorial nominee Mark L. Earley last night pledged to veto legislation letting Northern Virginia voters decide whether to boost the sales tax for road improvements. Democratic opponent Mark R. Warner accused Earley of "hypocrisy" on the volatile tax issue.

In their first live televised debate of the electoral season, the candidates also clashed over the increasingly bitter tone of the campaign; the budget impasse and car-tax reform; additional restrictions on abortion; and the role of the politically muscular National Rifle Association.

About the only topic on which they agreed: that Virginia - in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center - has to do more to thwart terrorism. Both promised to strengthen law enforcement as well as fire and rescue services.

Earley, moving to jump-start a campaign that is trailing in published and private polls, forcefully pressed his argument that Warner is committed to raising taxes because his $2.2 billion highway program includes $900 million that would be derived if voters in Northern Virginia were to agree in a referendum to pay a higher sales tax. [First mention of the fact that Earley is behind in the polls.]

"You're not looking for a referendum to raise taxes unless you want to raise taxes," Earley said.

Earley attempted to further sharpen the distinctions between himself and Warner, promising to veto the legislation necessary to put the tax question on a regional ballot if the economy continues lagging. It was Earley's most forceful denunciation yet of the proposed referendum.

"In these economic times, I'd veto that bill in a heartbeat," he said.

Throughout the hourlong encounter, Earley was the more aggressive of the two politicians, pushing time and again to depict his opponent as wedded to higher taxes. Warner, at one point, appeared shaken by the persistent interrogation by the moderator, former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, for whom Warner served as campaign manager in 1989.

Wilder demanded that Warner say whether he would work for passage of a sales-tax increase if the matter were put to Northern Virginia voters. Warner replied that he first needed to gauge the economy and see how the measure was crafted.

Told afterward that he appeared to be harder on his old political ally, Warner, than on Earley, Wilder replied:

"I don't think so; the real issue is whether one was more responsive to the question than the other."

Warner repeated that he, like Earley, opposes a general tax increase, but that he believes voters in traffic-clogged Northern Virginia should be free to decide whether they want to pay higher taxes for better highways and mass transit.

However, Warner last night refused to join Earley in pledging to veto a general tax increase. Warner described such a promise as "political grandstanding."

With his veto pledge, Earley again appeared to have modified his position on the tax referendum. He initially opposed it; then said he would consider it. In the debate, he established the sour economy as a new obstacle to the referendum, which has broad bipartisan support in the Washington suburbs.

Even before Earley outlined his new stance, Warner scolded the Republican for trying to have it both ways - appearing hostile to taxes, but open to empowering voters to choose whether to raise them.

"We've got a word for that; it's called hypocrisy," Warner said.

The third of four scheduled gubernatorial debates, last night's encounter at Virginia Commonwealth University was the toughest yet between Warner and Earley.

Since emerging from the political blackout that followed the terrorist attacks, the candidates have been sparring almost entirely over taxes.

Earley has pressed the tax theme largely because previous attacks on Warner, pegged to such issues as parole abolition, have failed to blunt the Democrat's edge in the polls. [Second mention of the fact that Earley is behind in the polls.]

The latest published and private polls show Earley trailing by from 3 percentage points to 9 percentage points. [Third mention of the fact the Earley is behind in the polls. Sense a trend?]

Warner scolded Earley for his tactics, saying the Republican since summer has unfairly warped the Democrat's positions on a variety of issues. In August, the GOP distributed a mass-mail piece portraying Warner and his running mates as tax-and-spend liberals who favor homosexual marriage - a charge denied by Democrats.

Warner said even Earley's mother denounced the flier.

Earley responded, "Mark, I have not brought your mother into the campaign. No, my mother did not like that mailing, but she likes your plan to raise taxes a lot less."

Warner also criticized Earley's back-to-back television commercials attacking Warner's proposed tax referendum.

"Is there nothing you won't say to get this job?" Warner asked Earley.

Earley was unrepentant, saying, "That's what campaigns are all about." Referring to the tax controversy and its projected cost, Earley said of his rival, "We point out - and he doesn't like it - that $900 million sales tax increase."

On abortion, Earley, whose political origins are in the anti-abortion movement, said he would push for additional restrictions on the procedure. He said he wants a law requiring teen-age girls to get a parent's consent to obtain an abortion.

Earley said he would not seek to reverse the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

Warner sided with Earley in being against partial-birth abortions but said he would seek no other limits.

Wilder also prodded Warner for a direct answer on whether the NRA is a positive or negative force. Warner, eager to win votes in the Republican-leaning countryside, had little to say about the NRA other than that it was an advocate for sportsmen. Earley, angling for an endorsement for the traditionally Republican gun group, praised it for standing up for firearms rights.

Both candidates promised to defend the one-handgun-a-month law, which Wilder won over the objections of the NRA in 1993.

Warner again said he would complete the phaseout of the car tax during his four years as governor, but he would not commit to doing so next year - as Earley repeatedly has - until he has a handle on the state's finances, which have been battered by the economic downturn.

The Libertarian candidate for governor, William B. Redpath of Fairfax, was excluded from last night's debate at Earley's insistence.

He sat on a park bench outside VCU's Performing Arts Center, the venue for the debate, and watched about 200 Earley and Warner supporters exchange taunts and cheers before it started.

Earley's allies included one of his sons, Justin, a drummer leading a high school band contingent.

Warner and Earley meet Sunday night in Roanoke for their final debate.

That debate will be carried on statewide television and radio. The debate last night was carried live on television only by Richmond and Roanoke stations. Broadcast outlets in Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia were to show a tape of the debate later.

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Earley Would Bar Vote On Tax
In Va. Debate, Warner Defends Referendum
By R.H. Melton
Washington Post Staff Writer

Excerpts:

Earley, hoping to arouse a GOP base with just over a month to go in the governor's race, sharply criticized frontrunner Warner for including $900 million from a proposed Northern Virginia referendum in his transportation program, saying: "We're in a severe economic downturn. . . . In these economic times, I'd veto that bill in a heartbeat."

Warner defended the referendum against Earley's insistent criticism -- and some pointed prodding by the debate moderator, former governor L. Douglas Wilder (D) -- saying traffic-clogged regions deserve the right to vote on funding for local transportation projects.

"Why don't you trust the people?" Warner asked Earley. "What do you say to all the legislators in Northern Virginia who support this referendum?"

and ...

Del. John A. "Jack" Rollison III (R-Prince William), the referendum's architect, said after the debate that he still believes Earley would give a referendum bill due consideration. "I'm expecting Mark Earley to keep his commitment and have an open door. It's fair to evaluate all legislative proposals in light of the economic conditions at the time." [OK, I have to call 'spin' when I see it.]

GOP strategists said tonight that Earley's emphatic pronouncement was crucial to dramatizing his policy differences with Warner, especially on tax issues, which have proven so potent for Republicans in past statewide elections. Four years ago, James S. Gilmore III and his ticket mates, including Earley, swept into office on a promise to repeal the state's car tax.

and ...

Warner strategists said Earley's emphasis on taxes will not work this year because of fundamental changes in Virginia's electorate since the heyday of the car-tax repeal -- changes they said accelerated in the spring when Gilmore and the GOP-controlled General Assembly failed to agree on a state budget.

"People are not looking for campaigns and politicians as usual. They are looking for something deeper," said Judy Peachee Ford, of Richmond, a former Republican National Committee member who now leads a group of GOP-leaning business people for Warner.

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