Richmond Times-Dispatch

Dunlop Book Hails Allen On Environment She Says That As
Governor, He Struck A Balance With Business

Jeff E. Schapiro
Richmond Times-Dispatch
October 31, 2000

There's another book out on governor-turned-U.S. Senate candidate George Allen - this one published by a member of his political family.

Former Secretary of Natural Resources Becky Norton Dunlop examines her former boss's environmental legacy in "Clearing the Air," a reminiscence published, in part, by the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, a conservative think tank.

Dunlop, now vice president for external affairs of the Heritage Foundation, another conservative research institution, writes that Allen, a Republican, struck a balance between the environment and the economy.

"The ideas that George Allen implemented were considered revolutionary when Virginia undertook them in 1994," she said. "Today, they are becoming more commonplace. I think we had something to do with that, and I take satisfaction."

Democrats counter that Allen and Dunlop weakened the state's environmental program in deference to the politically muscular industrial and corporate community that complained that regulations were driving up the cost of business.

In the Senate campaign, Allen's natural resources record has become fodder for Democrats, inspiring an attack television commercial by two-term incumbent Charles S. Robb.

Asked yesterday whether the book, published 12 days before the election, could become an issue for Allen in the closing days of the race, Dunlop replied that her publisher "would've liked to get it out sooner."

Dunlop's book follows one by Allen's sister, Jennifer. In "Fifth Quarter," Jennifer Allen, the youngest child of famed Redskins coach George Allen, describes her brother as occasionally brutish; she says he pulled her up the stairs by her hair and broke a brother's collarbone.

Dunlop offers her spin on such controversies as Allen's battle with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over automobile emission standards for Northern Virginia, the General Assembly investigation of the Department of Environmental Quality, and what some called the lax state response to alleged pollution violations by Smithfield Foods, whose chairman contributed $125,000 to Allen's political-action committee.

In the book released last Thursday, Dunlop barely conceals her distaste for EPA administrator Carol Browner, as well as the assembly's watchdog, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, and several Democratic state lawmakers. She mentioned Del. George W. Grayson of Williamsburg, who once said of Dunlop, "No one since General Ulysses S. Grant has posed a greater threat to our natural resources and our people."

Because Dunlop became a lightning rod for criticism of Allen's environmental policies, 1997 Republican gubernatorial nominee Jim Gilmore said he would not keep her on if elected. Dunlop chides Gilmore for trying to "placate extremists."

Dunlop, recalling Allen's inaugural address in which he promised to "fight the beast of tyranny and oppression that our federal government has become," said, "Many in the rest of the crowd heard only a rousing address appealing to Virginia values and aspirations. I was hearing marching orders and an energizing start to the administration."