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

DATE: THURSDAY, September 1, 1994                   TAG: 9409010062
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-18   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By PATRICK M. McSWEENEY
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WARNER IS OUT OF STEP WITH THE GOP

YOUR AUG. 19 editorial, ``Virginia's two-party party,'' is wide of the mark. The editorial belabors the point that has been accepted by political scientists for decades: There is inevitable conflict between elected officials and rank-and-file members of political parties.

Last year, syndicated columnist David Broder predicted that David Wilhelm, then chairman of the Democratic National Committee, would have a conflict with President Clinton. Sure enough, Wilhelm was recently forced out. In August, a handful of Republicans in Congress caved in on the Clinton crime bill. You bet there's tension between those elected Republicans and the grass roots!

At a time when voters are fed up with their elected officials and determined to impose term limits, you persist in the view that elected officials know best. You are clearly out of step with voters on this issue.

What you really object to, but refuse to declare openly, is the conservative direction that the grass roots of the Virginia Republican Party wants to take. Virginia Democrats have also had problems with their elected leaders, but you decline to editorialize on their predicament.

Go ahead and admit your liberal bias. Confession is good for the soul, and it would be an honest and fair thing to do for your readers.

Putting out all the facts, not just a select few, would also be fair to your readers. I have not drummed Sen. John Warner out of the Republican Party. He did that himself when he declined to participate in the party's nominating process this year, recruited someone to run against the party's nominee, and even attempted to form a new political party.

Every political party has a rule that defines its members as those who adhere to its principles and agree to support the party's nominees. Without such a rule, parties would lack cohesion, coherence and a reason for being. Warner and Marshall Coleman have violated that rule.

How ironic that Warner would now claim ``a right, indeed an obligation, to exercise leadership in my party.'' Where has he been since 1978? His only party involvement in 15 years has been to discourage Republicans from nominating candidates to run against incumbent Democrats.

Warner's popularity is high. Small wonder! He hasn't had real opposition in 15 years. What is far more telling is that his hand-picked candidate, Coleman, is running dead last in a field of four.

Let's see what voters ultimately do on Nov. 8. My hunch is that Oliver North, the Republican candidate, will swamp Warner's rump candidate.

Patrick M. McSweeney is chairman of the Virginia Republican Party.

by CNB