
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 22, 1990                   TAG: 9006220894
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: BILL BYRD LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

WILDER SAYS HIS TRIPS GOOD FOR BUSINESSES

On the eve of perhaps his most important out-of-state political expedition to date, Gov. Douglas Wilder on Thursday vigorously defended his travels and said he planned overseas missions to Eastern Europe and the Middle East in 1991.

Suggestions that he is not paying enough attention to state problems are "rather callous," Wilder said at an impromptu news conference. "I give Virginia 18 hours a day, seven days a week. . . . My agenda is still to do all the things I've been elected to do."

Wilder's official duties, however, have not prevented him from making numerous out-of-state trips, including a visit earlier this month to New Hampshire, site of the first 1992 presidential primary.

Wilder leaves today for a three-day political tour of Iowa, which holds a crucial Democratic presidential caucus in February 1992.

Wilder's office also said he may meet with South African anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela in Washington, D.C., next week.

The governor said some of the out-of-state trips, such as a March jaunt to California, were designed to promote Virginia industry and business. Virginians should be flattered by the invitations he is receiving from around the country, Wilder insisted.

by CNB