Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 14, 1992 TAG: 9201140222
SECTION: NATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From The Washington Post and the Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
EX-ROBB AIDE WILL PLEAD GUILTY
Steve Johnson, former press secretary to Sen. Charles Robb, D-Va., has agreed to plead guilty to illegally disclosing the contents of a secretly made tape recording of a 1988 phone conversation between Virginia Gov. Douglas Wilder and a political supporter, according to sources familiar with the case.The plea agreement, in which Johnson will promise to help federal prosecutors in the investigation, Johnson was described by those close to the case as a sign that felony charges are unlikely against other staff members whose names have surfaced during the eight-month probe.
Johnson, who lives in Charlottesville, did not return a phone call, and his wife said, "I'm not sure he wants to comment about that."
A federal grand jury in Norfolk has been investigating since last summer how Robb's office obtained and handled the Wilder tape. The two Democrats have been shaky political allies who often have disagreed publicly.
Johnson and two other Robb aides, chief of staff David McCloud and adviser Robert Watson, resigned last summer after a transcript of the tape was provided to the press against Robb's orders.
Robert Dunnington, a Virginia Beach bar owner who arranged to get the tape to Robb's office, pleaded guilty in October to a misdemeanor charge of recording the conversation.
In a plea agreement, Dunnington, 44, admitted to a single charge of interrupting and disclosing electronic communications - a cellular phone conversation in 1988 between then-Lt. Gov. Wilder and a political supporter.
In the October 1988 conversation, Wilder was critical of Robb, then running for the U.S. Senate. Published reports had linked Robb to Virginia Beach drug parties, and Wilder said in the conversation that he believed the reports finished Robb politically. Robb denied attending any such parties.
Dunnington was fined $500 and ordered to spend at least 30 days in a community rehabilitation center.