Gilmore has shown a willingness at least to silently repudiate the environmental policies of his predecessor and go back to the Virginia tradition in that area. Perhaps the most significant long term accomplishment might come from Gilmore's promised commitment to reform the state's mental hospitals. They've been plagued by abuses, including patient deaths and violence, as well as excessive use of medication and restraints. With the U.S. Department of justice citing several hospitals for alleged violations of patients' constitutional rights, Gilmore's proposed cleanup combines necessity with the virtue of claiming credit for overhauling the neglected system. He dismissed the immediate calls of some legislators for more cash for mental health.
Planning has to come ahead of money.
With legislative elections looming next fall, Gilmore has sought to take major proposals from Democrats, who have been steadily losing control of the General Assembly for several years. Intent on installing working Republican majorities in both the House and Senate for the first time, Gilmore nonetheless is lowering expectations for the important November election. Broadening GOP's case Still, Gilmore gets high marks for trying to broaden the base of the GOP beyond the white suburbs and rural expanses. His methods are evocative of those successfully used by President Clinton, who's often accused of attempting to blur the distinctions between the parties. That is beneficial for black people but for white people, too.