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

DATE: SUNDAY, May 9, 1993                   TAG: 9305090108
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: WARREN FISKE LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Long

SOME SAY WILDER'S MOUTH LOOSE CANNON ON THE SHIP OF STATE

In interviews Saturday on the convention floor, delegates expressed dismay and some disgust that Wilder stole headlines Friday night by denouncing U.S. Sen. Charles Robb, a fellow Democrat, when they believe the party should be unifying behind Mary Sue Terry's gubernatorial campaign.

Despite optimism, even cockiness, about Terry's candidacy this year, they viewed the prospect of a Wilder challenge to Robb's re-election in 1994 with the dread of a patient facing oral surgery. Many feared it could rip the party apart.

"I wouldn't vote for Doug Wilder again," said Kay Wilkes, a Lynchburg insurance agent and Wilder volunteer in the 1989 gubernatorial campaign. "I'm really disturbed by him and the way he keeps dredging things up. It's all so egotistical. He's hurting himself."

"The governor is an obstructionist," House Speaker Thomas Moss of Norfolk said. "It's sour grapes on his part. I don't think the governor thinks he can be elected to the Senate. I think he's trying make sure that Chuck Robb can't win, either. It makes me very upset. We're supposed to be on the same side."

The Wilder-Robb dispute seemed the only cloud on the Democrats' horizon Saturday as they unanimously nominated Terry, Lt. Gov. Donald Beyer, and William Dolan of Arlington for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general, respectively. Republicans, in the midst of contentious contests for all three of their nominations, will select candidates next month.

Of 18 Democratic delegates interviewed Saturday, 12 said they will support Robb next year and none promised to back Wilder. All six who were uncertain are black, underscoring concerns that a Robb-Wilder showdown could divide the party along racial lines.

The undecided delegates said they are not eager to choose between Robb and Wilder, the nation's first elected black governor. Patsy Johnson, a secretary from Dinwiddie, said Wilder and Robb "should stop digging up dirt and get together to work this thing out. This should be decided on issues, not personalities."

Robb and Wilder have feuded for more than 10 years. The tension boiled over in 1991, when Robb's staff gave a reporter a clandestinely recorded phone conversation between Wilder and a political supporter. Three top Robb staff aides resigned and pleaded guilty to minor federal charges stemming from the leak. A 20-month investigation of Robb's role ended in January when a grand jury decided not to indict the senator.

Robb also has been beleaguered by reports that in the 1980s he had an affair with a beauty queen and socialized with an assortment of Virginia Beach businessmen who later were convicted, indicted or given immunity from prosecution on cocaine-related charges. Robb has admitted to unspecified "peccadillos," but he has denied using cocaine or being aware of its use by his friends.

The convention provided evidence that Democrats are eager to forgive Robb. About 400 party activists attended a breakfast hosted by the senator on Saturday morning; a majority of state Democratic congressmen and local party chairman have indicated support for his re-election.

Although many acknowledge Robb may have made mistakes, they praised his political leadership. He gets credit for redefining the party in the early 1980s, when his election as governor broke a 12-year Republican hold on the state's top office. Democrats have occupied the Executive Mansion ever since.

"I'm a 100 percent Robb man," said Vernon H. Shifflett, a retired plant supervisor from Rockingham. "If it weren't for Robb, the Republicans might still be in power."

Kenneth V. Geroe, chairman of the 2nd Congressional District Committee in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, said Wilder has "failed" as titular leader of the party. "He's turned his back on a lot of Democrats," Geroe said. "We'd all be better served if he saved his rhetoric for the other party."

Such sentiments suggest that Wilder, who has rarely courted party insiders, may find it nearly impossible to win the nomination in a convention fight next year. Perhaps realizing the problem, Wilder has said the party should choose its nominee in a primary election instead.

Wilder's problem is that the primary-vs.-convention decision will be made by party officials who appear more loyal to Robb.

With Wilder refusing to rule out bolting the party and running as an independent next year, many Democrats suggest such a three-way fight would only improve the prospects of former Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North - the likely Republican nominee.

"If he runs as an independent, it would be a betrayal of faith to all the Democrats who have helped him numerous times in his career," Geroe said. "The great danger is that he would put Oliver North in office."

Wilder has said he will decide next month whether to run for the Senate. But he seems not at all bothered by the prospect of helping North, a central figure in the Iranian arms-for-hostages scandal of the mid 1980s.

"I don't know what Oliver North's record of accountability is," Wilder said Friday night. "I do know what the incumbent senator's record is and it bothers me."

Robb, for his part, refused again Saturday to discuss Wilder or his possible candidacy. Although most Democrats said it's impossible to say who started the Robb-Wilder feud, they blamed Wilder for keeping it alive. And they worried it will distract voters in this year's gubernatorial campaign.

"There's nothing constructive about this," said William A. Tucker, an official of the International Longshoreman's Association local in Newport News. "Doug's the one who's been turning it loose and I wish he'd stop."

Keywords:
POLITICS