Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 1, 1993 TAG: 9305010158
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Allen's opponents for the GOP nomination, Earle Williams of McLean and Del. Clinton Miller of Woodstock, opposed the rule change. Previous conventions have voted on candidates for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general separately.
A rules committee appointed by state party Chairman Patrick McSweeney voted 8-6 Wednesday night to endorse the change. The rule still must be voted on by the more than 14,500 delegates to the state GOP convention June 4-5 in Richmond.
Allen, the former congressman who is considered the front-runner, proposed the single-ballot rule as a way of speeding up the voting.
"We're delighted," Allen spokesman Jay Timmons said. "This means we will come out of the convention with a united party."
Kyle McSlarrow, the rules committee chairman, said he did not believe the change would hurt Williams or Miller.
"I don't think it favors one over the other," McSlarrow said. "I think there was a premium on fairness and efficiency."
He said opponents of the simultaneous voting favored a "more participatory" type of convention, one in which candidates could make deals and change strategies as the nominations for other offices are decided.
But McSlarrow noted that this year's convention is unusually large, and all three nominations are contested.
"These are unusual circumstances which call for an unusual convention," he said. "With 14,000 people we were faced with real constraints on bodies and convenience and moving through the convention as efficiently as possible."
Allen proposed the same-time voting, in part, to ward off allegations made in other camps that he was seeking to make deals with the two candidates for lieutenant governor to assure his nomination. Allen says he has enough votes to win the nomination on the first ballot and does not have to make deals.
Williams and Miller say the voting will go beyond the first ballot.
Representatives of Bobbie Kilberg, a former White House aide, and Mike Farris, a Loudoun County lawyer and home-schooling advocate, feared deals would be made to thwart their campaigns for lieutenant governor.
The simultaneous voting would prevent the losing candidates in the governor's race from then running for one of the other statewide offices.
Seeking the nomination for attorney general are Henrico County Commonwealth's Attorney James Gilmore and Del. Steve Agee of Salem.
Keywords:
POLITICS
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.