TERRY SHOULD QUIT FOR CAMPAIGN, GOP LEADERS SAY

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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 20, 1993                   TAG: 9301200292
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: ROB EURE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short
TERRY SHOULD QUIT FOR CAMPAIGN, GOP LEADERS SAY
Republican leaders repeated calls Tuesday for Attorney General Mary Sue Terry to resign now that she's a formal candidate for governor.
"She needs to either stop raising money or resign," said Patrick McSweeney, the state GOP chairman at a news conference with the Republican legislative leadership.
McSweeney charged that Terry's campaign fund-raising benefits from her office, calling Terry's dual role as candidate and the state's top lawyer "the kind of thing that undermines public confidence in the political process."
Senate Minority Leader Joseph B. Benedetti of Richmond said Terry "is in a position to use the influence of her office to seek support."
Although the Republicans stopped short of citing Terry with a conflict of interest, "perception is everything in a situation like this," Benedetti said.
Terry says she is undecided about whether or when to resign.
There is precedent for both moves. Former Democratic Attorneys General Albertis Harrison, Andrew Miller and Gerald Baliles all resigned while running for governor. Republican Marshall Coleman did not, but cut himself back to a part-time salary.
Outside Virginia, there is little precedent for the resignation of an attorney general running for governor.
The Republicans, who issued a similar call last month, renewed the issue Tuesday because last week, Terry took the formal step of filing papers for her gubernatorial campaign, McSweeney said.
Keywords:
POLITICS

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB