Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 10, 1994 TAG: 9403100092
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Legislators praised North for hustling around the state campaigning on behalf of Republican candidates in recent years.
"He's been seen everywhere, stumping for our candidates, raising money for them, giving them the encouragement they need," said Sen. Steve Martin, R-Chesterfield County. "He's been there for all of us."
Martin and other lawmakers charged that Miller, a former Reagan budget director, has not done enough for the Republican Party. They criticized him as a Washington insider who will fail to bring about change.
North has said he is an outsider committed to change in Washington. North was tried and convicted of three felonies in the Iran-Contra scandal. The convictions later were set aside and eventually dismissed because prosecutors were unable to show that North's trial was free of taint from his immunized congressional testimony in 1987.
Del. Robert McDonnell, R-Virginia Beach, said North would be the better candidate to defeat Democratic Sen. Charles Robb.
Martin and McDonnell were among 20 lawmakers - including the House and Senate minority leaders, Del. Vance Wilkins, R-Amherst, and Sen. Joseph Benedetti, R-Richmond - who attended a State Capitol news conference.
Western Virginia legislators endorsing North were Dels. Morgan Griffith of Salem, Allen Dudley of Rocky Mount and Terry Kilgore of Gate City, and state Sens. Brandon Bell of Roanoke County and William Wampler of Bristol.
A Miller spokesman downplayed the endorsement, saying it was in response to a Miller endorsement from U.S. Rep. Herbert Bateman, R-Newport News. "It shows that Mr. North is merely trotting out the same group of legislators he's had for months now," said the spokesman, Jonathan Baron.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB