Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 10, 1993 TAG: 9303100219
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BONNIE V. WINSTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
GOLDMAN TO QUIT AS PARTY CHIEF
Paul Goldman, the feisty and irascible Wilder loyalist who has been chairman of the state Democratic Party since 1990, announced Tuesday that he is resigning his position effective March 20.Members of the party's Steering Committee, who under party rules are now charged with picking his replacement, were caught by surprise.
Goldman had said he would not seek re-election in May when state delegates convene in Richmond to choose the party's candidates for the fall's statewide elections. Convention delegates also elect the state party's top official, an unpaid position.
"This is a little earlier than anticipated," said Frankie W. Farmer, a state party officer and Steering Committee member. "We understood that he would serve until May. Paul is nothing if not unpredictable."
Goldman did not return phone calls Tuesday.
In a six-sentence statement faxed Tuesday to Steering Committee members, Goldman said he had submitted his resignation Monday to Gov. Douglas Wilder. In it, he offered no reason for the resignation, although some party leaders speculated that he cut short his term because of his mother's poor health. He has spent considerable time visiting her in New York.
Goldman urged members to attend a pre-planned meeting of the Steering Committee on March 20, where his successor and a new first vice chairman will be chosen.
Several offered privately, however, that Goldman's early departure frees him to aid the governor's next political strike. Wilder has Goldman said he will decide by June whether to challenge Democratic Sen. Charles Robb for his seat in Washington, which is open to election next year.
Goldman engineered Wilder's victories in 1985 for lieutenant governor and 1989 for governor. On his Inaugural Day in 1990, Wilder promptly put Goldman in the party's top post.
Party insiders also said Tuesday that Mark Warner, another Wilder loyalist, is the front-runner to replace Goldman. Warner is a millionaire Alexandria businessman who helped run Wilder's gubernatorial campaign.
Several Democrats characterized Warner as a good fund-raiser and organizer, who has strong political ties around the state and nation and who would serve as a bridge between Wilder and the Democrats' likely gubernatorial nominee, former Attorney General Mary Sue Terry.
Terry is being challenged for the nomination by Nancy Spannaus, a supporter of Lyndon Larouche.
Wilder's education secretary, James Dyke, also has been discussed as a possible replacement, as has Kenneth Geroe of Virginia Beach, the 2nd District chairman.
Keywords:
POLITICS