Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 1, 1993 TAG: 9312010228
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ROB EURE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Allen, apparently seeking to install loyalists at GOP headquarters after his election victory, phoned McSweeney before noon to make his request, a spokesman for the governor-elect said. The chairman did not immediately reply, but he let supporters go ahead later in the day with a press conference praising his tenure and urging unity.
Tuesday night, McSweeney had a letter hand-delivered to Allen's office declining to resign. He also told reporters he intends to stay on, unless confronted with "compelling" reasons why he should quit.
The public rift between Allen and McSweeney is a first test of the new governor's muscle and ability to bring discipline to a party that often was divided through losing campaigns in the 1980s.
"It is imperative that we have someone who supports the governor and is willing to work for and with the governor-elect," said Ken Stroupe, Allen's transition spokesman.
Allen is now expected to push for McSweeney's ouster on Saturday at a meeting of the GOP state central committee, a body of 80-plus party activists who can fire the chairman with 75 percent support.
Don Moseley, a former 5th District Republican chairman and Allen supporter, said he was told after McSweeney sent his rejection letter "to lock and load" for an effort to remove McSweeney this weekend.
Stroupe said Allen asked Tuesday morning for McSweeney's resignation, but that McSweeney asked that the request be kept confidential while he considered it.
Instead, he organized a news conference Tuesday at state GOP headquarters to launch a counteroffensive by his supporters.
GOP National Committeeman Morton Blackwell, a prominent Northern Virginia conservative, issued a statement by 44 party activists calling efforts against McSweeney "destructive of our future chances of success."
Blackwell said he would oppose an effort by Allen to name his own chairman. "The leadership of the party is chosen by the grass roots," he said.
Kevin Gentry, vice chairman of the Fairfax County GOP and a McSweeney supporter, said the move against the chairman is being engineered by Allen aides eager to seize power. "We are not fighting against George Allen," Gentry said. "We're just against party hacks."
McSweeney would not comment on any conversation with Allen.
But he said his forced resignation would trigger "a fight that would be distracting" for GOP efforts in 1994 to capture the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Charles Robb.
Several GOP sources suggested Tuesday that McSweeney may try to define the effort to remove him as a rejection by Allen of the Christian conservative wing of the party.
McSweeney's list of supporters did not indicate any clear philosophical split, however, and several leaders said philosophical differences do not figure in the battle.
Allen's suspicions of McSweeney date to last winter, when McSweeney organized a private meeting of major donors to hear Allen and his two adversaries for the nomination. The group voted Allen its third choice for the nomination.
McSweeney also blocked a request from Allen's campaign for $50,000 just after he won the nomination but had no cash. In the fall, the party contributed more than $57,000 to Allen's campaign, said GOP Executive Director David Johnson.
Despite its success at the polls last month, the Republican Party is barely solvent. Some activists question how the GOP spent its estimated $1 million budget for the year.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB