ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, November 14, 1996 TAG: 9611140057
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
If only House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell could have settled his running feud with The Richmond Times-Dispatch in a fist fight.
At least Cranwell might have landed a clean shot or two on the newspaper's editorial writers, who have made the Vinton Democrat a whipping boy of their conservative commentaries.
Cranwell struck another blow in his war of words Wednesday when the Times-Dispatch printed his lengthy response to a recent editorial. The newspaper got the last say, tweaking Cranwell for misspelling two words and publishing a fresh editorial under the banner: "Cranwell's Ludicrous Letter."
The exchange is the latest in a decade-long political feud that pits the state's most skillful Democratic politician against the state's most Republican newspaper.
The bickering has intensified in recent years as Republicans have moved closer to overturning the Democrats' century-long control of the General Assembly.
Last year, Cranwell reveled in his role as the chief tormentor of Republicans who hoped for a clean sweep in legislative elections. The Times-Dispatch demonized Cranwell as a desperate power monger standing in the way of a bright GOP future.
Cranwell said he understood the political differences, but he took offense at what he considered personal digs. He noted the editorials often referred to him by his childhood nickname - Dickie - in a way that he found belittling.
His complaints to the Times-Dispatch brass earlier this year only seemed to egg on the editorial writers, who in the past have accused Cranwell of name-calling. Times-Dispatch editorials began to include references to "Richard (`Only My Friends Call Me Dickie') Cranwell."
Democrats contend that the Times-Dispatch editorial writers go out of their way to insult Cranwell, and say that may be because publisher J. Stewart Bryan III has a personal score to settle.
Gail Nardi, a former communications director for the state Democratic Party, said he attended a meeting earlier this year between Cranwell and Bryan in which the publisher was still seething about his less-than-polite reception before a Cranwell-led committee a few years back.
"He [Bryan] brought that up and said, in retrospect, he wished he had asked Mr. Cranwell to step outside to settle things," Nardi said.
In a telephone interview, Bryan said he could not recall making such a remark. But he said his earlier encounter with Cranwell did not sway his newspaper's editorial voice.
"I feel some editorial pages are willing to take a stand and some editorials are willing to serve up pabulum. We don't serve up pabulum, but there's nothing personal about it."
The rhetoric between Cranwell and the Times-Dispatch may have hit a new low Wednesday.
In his letter, Cranwell took issue with a recent editorial that praised his support for increased public scrutiny of judicial behavior but slammed him for not doing more to open up the process of selecting judges.
Cranwell fired back, suggesting the Times-Dispatch had been less than candid when it touted a new selection process tried in Hanover County earlier this year. Cranwell noted that a citizen panel recommended a judge candidate whose daughter is married to the son of Ross Mackenzie, editor of the Times-Dispatch editorial page.
"That does make one wonder, and it made a lot of folks in Hanover wonder. How about embracing a little sunshine in the editorial room?" Cranwell wrote.
In response, the Times-Dispatch editorial blasted Cranwell's "manipulative little-boy-look-at-me" seeking credit for changes in the judicial selection process.
The editorial concluded: "Cranwell's letter ... seeks to cow us into silence. On the contrary, the letter - fatuous, mischievous, self-serving, petulant - exhausts our patience, and with it Cranwell may have abused forever his privilege to have his letters [and those of his political horse-holders] appear in this newspaper."
Cranwell later said he would continue to respond, even though it might appear futile to pick a fight with conservatives who buy ink by the barrel.
The instinct to strike back is deeply rooted in Cranwell, who endured a childhood of taunts after an accident damaged one of his eyes. Though he was scrawny, he would fight anyone who stared at his wandering eye.
LENGTH: Medium: 81 linesby CNB