Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 29, 1994 TAG: 9410310038
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Former Democratic Gov. Douglas Wilder joined Republicans Friday in criticizing a Democratic phone bank that reportedly tied GOP candidates to one-time Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.
``Any tactic that injects race into the campaign in my judgment is counterproductive,'' Wilder said in an interview. ``It should cease.''
A former state Republican official who lives in a predominately black Richmond neighborhood said he received a call Monday from the Democratic phone bank.
``She said, `Will you support the Democrats or the Republican team of Jesse Helms, David Duke and the Confederate flag?''' Ron Butler said.
``I said I was very offended that she would lump Republican candidates together with David Duke and that I would be voting for Oliver North this year,'' Butler said.
He said the caller did not mention North, the Republican Senate nominee, or his opponent, Democratic Sen. Charles Robb.
Two Republican Party officials echoed the criticism of the phone bank.
``Let's get away from the racist scare tactics,'' state GOP Chairman Pat McSweeney said.
``It's racist and they ought to be ashamed of themselves,'' said Dave Johnson, the party's executive director.
Duke ran as a Republican in an unsuccessful bid for Louisiana governor in 1991. He was repudiated by national GOP leaders.
State Democratic Party spokeswoman Gail Nardi confirmed that the recently completed phone bank mentioned Duke, Helms and South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond.
``They are Republicans all, as is Oliver North,'' Nardi said. ``We are delivering a very strong message. We believe that it is warranted.''
She said that the phone bank callers did not mention North or Robb and that Robb's campaign was not involved in the effort.
She said calls were made to heavily Democratic precincts around the state.
``Some of them are black, some of them are white, some of them are mixed,'' she said.
Nardi said the Democratic headquarters has received complaints about Republican phone banks that badmouth President Clinton.
Robb said he had heard only an outline of the phone bank campaign, but he said it appeared to be appropriate because neither he nor North is mentioned by name and his campaign is not involved.
He added that there is a valid comparison between North and Duke.
``To suggest there are serious stakes in this election is appropriate,'' Robb told reporters at an airport terminal in Roanoke. Robb pointed out that a number of prominent Republicans have distanced themselves from North, much as they did with Duke.
``Not for the same race-based reasons,'' Robb said,``but for the same reasons that he was so far outside of the mainstream that they thought he would be a burden to their party in a national level if he became permanently associated with it.''
Wilder, who endorsed his longtime rival Robb last week, taped radio commercials Friday to air on black-oriented radio stations.
``This might come as a surprise to some of you, but I'm asking you to support Chuck Robb for re-election to the U.S. Senate,'' Wilder says in the ad. ``Oliver North will set back the progress we have made in Virginia, progress that Chuck Robb, with others, helped to build.''
Wilder and Robb met privately Friday with a statewide ministers network that endorsed Wilder before he dropped his independent Senate bid last month.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB