Warner, Gilmore agree on one thing in debate: 'Trust me, not him'

HOT SPRINGS

U.S. Senate candidates Jim Gilmore and Mark Warner challenged each other's trustworthiness and fought over who was the better governor Saturday during their first debate.

"Mark Warner said he would not raise taxes, and he raised taxes," Gilmore, a Republican, said. "Mark Warner said he would finish the car tax, and he did not. The issue for the people of Virginia today is, 'Who can you trust: A person who does what he says, or the person who says he's not going to raise taxes and raises them anyway?' "

Warner, a Democrat, dismissed Gilmore as a " '90s-style, slash-and-burn partisan" who left Virginia's finances in shambles when his gubernatorial term ended in January 2002.

"At the end of the day, which governor left Virginia a better place?" asked Warner, who succeeded Gilmore. "Which governor made the hard choices and brought disciplined management to the state?"

The hourlong exchange at The Homestead resort was sponsored by the Virginia Bar Association and attended by several hundred lawyers.

For Gilmore and Warner, the event appeared to offer a long-overdue, almost cathartic, opportunity to air face-to-face grievances against each other's administration. The candidates argued that their records as governor provide a glimpse of how they would perform as a senator.

To that regard, the candidates voiced differences on energy policy. To combat rising gas prices, Gilmore called for lifting federal restrictions that limit drilling for oil and natural gas off the U.S. coasts and in Alaska. He said the drilling must be accompanied by policies encouraging development of alternative energy sources.

Warner said Congress should empower states to determine whether drilling should be allowed off their coasts. He has said more exploration is needed to determine if there are ample reserves off Virginia's coast to merit drilling.

The Democrat opposes drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, saying the area should be left pristine.

He called for broad policies encouraging development of alternative sources and conservation.

Gilmore strongly defended President Bush.

"I believe that the president has worked very hard to make sure that the economy is running well with a tax cut that was put in place that has been extremely helpful and useful to the people of this country," he said.

Warner disagreed.

"I take that as an endorsement of the last eight years of policies," he told Gilmore. "I take that as an endorsement of the last few years of America's decline in standing around the world. I take that as an endorsement of the fact that President Bush has had no energy policy and now we have record gas prices and record oil prices."

National issues, however, were not the focus of the debate. The candidates kept returning to their times as governors.

Gilmore was elected in 1997 on a promise to end the car tax. He eliminated 70 percent of the levy before leaving office in early 2002. He could not seek re-election because Virginia is the only state that bars its governors from serving successive terms.

Warner said the state's finances were a "mess" when he succeeded Gilmore and that he had to eliminate $6 billion in budget shortfalls during the early years of his administration. He said the car tax cut cost three times what Gilmore originally promised and said Gilmore relied on gimmicks to balance the state budget, such as requiring businesses to pay levies early and delaying tax returns.

Warner repeatedly pledged during his 2001 campaign that he would not raise taxes. But in 2004, he pushed a record $1.4 billion tax increase through the legislature to help education, health and public safety. Warner has said he was not aware of the scope of the budget problems when he made his campaign pledge.

During the debate, Gil-more constantly contrasted his kept promise to phase out the car tax with Warner's broken vow not to raise taxes. "Who do you trust?" he asked, adding that Warner "has a natural instinct to raise taxes."

Warner boasted of his ability to work with both political parties as governor and win crucial support for the tax increase from a group of Republicans.

He accused Gilmore of being "the most partisan governor in Virginia history."

Gilmore, who was chairman of the Republican National Committee in 2001, said he worked effectively with Democrats. He noted that the car tax measure passed the General Assembly in 1998 with bipartisan support.

The two men are seeking the Senate seat that Republican John Warner - no relation to Mark Warner - has held since 1979. John Warner chose not to seek re-election this year.

Warren Fiske, (804) 697-1565, warren.fiske@pilotonline.com