commerce, and the Republican party, including county executive candidate Richmond (Max) Keeney, who, after initially opposing the measures, did an about-face and endorsed the proposal in the last moments of his underdog campaign against Democrat Charles Gilchrist.

"You can tell the TRIM measure is based partly along class lines when you look at the list of contributors," said Gildea."The support for it came from Chevy Chase, Potomac and Bethesda and from a number of small corporations."

Karl Schlotterbeck, a leader of the Taxpayers League, countered that most of TRIM's opponents are motivated by their concern that they would not get hefty raises in their government jobs, rather than by any humanistic concerns that services would be denied to those who need them.

In Prince George's, where both county executive candidates endorsedthe tax-freeze proposal, the main point of contention was what the county would do in the future to maintain a sufficient of services.

Democrat Winfield M. Kelly Jr. the incumbent, said he would go to the Maryland General Assembly and request that the county be allowed to impose what he called a "tier tax structure" - where rental units and commercial properties would be taxed at a higher rate than single-family homes. Then, he said, the tax freeze would apply only to the single-family homes.

His Republican opponent, Lawrence J. Hogan, said he was against the "tier tax" and promised that he could live with the tax levy freeze eliminating waste and duplication of services in the county bureaucracy.