THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 18, 1996 TAG: 9610180026
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A15 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Interview
SERIES: COMMONWEALTH CONVERSATION
One of a series of interviews with Virginia's political leaders
conducted by Pilot editorial writer Margaret Edds. Del. Jerrauld Jones
represents Norfolk.
LENGTH: 117 lines
What have been the major trends in Virginia politics in the 1990s?
One of the biggest changes I have seen has been an increasing willingness of African-American voters to self-identity as something other than Democrat or to not necessarily vote Democratic as a given. There's a significant amount of resources being devoted on the Republican side to outreach in African-American communities.
Is this healthy?
I don't think it's unhealthy. I've always taken the position that black folk need to be wherever we can, at every level, in every party, in every party hierarchy.
But traditionally, it's no accident that those black elected officials who've been elected in Virginia have been elected through the Democratic Party because that was the party that was more responsive to the needs of our community.
Is this a trend yet or is it just bubbling around the edges?
I think it's more than bubbling around the edges. In my own election in 1995, what I found out in no uncertain terms was that there was a Republican Party strategy to infiltrate the Democratic Party. They're taking arguably moral questions - gambling, handgun control, abortion - and they are trying to separate the black elected officials from the traditional black community through the black church.
If you look around, you'll see that happening across the South. (Attorney General Jim) Gilmore went straight to this black Baptist convention in Roanoke a few weeks ago. You're getting some of the black clergy who are openly, notoriously Republican.
Has Allen helped or hurt with the transition?
At the first of his administration, he was really doing a good job of creating a kind of wedge in the black community in favor of the Republican Party. Their goal is if they can take 20 percent of the black vote in any election, they can probably win.
Since then, Allen has given some people a reason to go back the other way. He probably has not fully maximized the potential, because he started out certainly with a chance to get that 20-25 percent of the black vote in the Republican column, not only for himself.
Why did Allen do so well with black voters in the election?
A combination of things. He's an engaging person, that projects. You have to factor in that Mary Sue Terry ran a campaign that was alienating of black voters and not including of black voters.
How? Because of her arguments with Wilder?
There's an element of that. But not every black Virginian sat around saying, ``Doug Wilder doesn't like Mary Sue Terry so I don't like her.'' There was obviously a personality conflict between these two people. Mary Sue Terry did not run a campaign that included a lot of black people at the grass-roots level.
What produced Doug Wilder's historic victory?
Chief among them would be the political savvy and skill of Doug Wilder himself. There's probably no peer to him when you think about his accomplishment. A lot of people sit around and talk, but he did it in a time and place where he defied all conventional wisdom.
It was a very special moment in time, a very skillful politician at work, a lot of just fate maybe, abortion and the Supreme Court decision that made Wilder acceptable to a broad electorate.
And then he had this tumultuous term?
Tumultuous in the sense of style more than substance. Because Doug Wilder, if you really weigh all of the things, if you look at the policy and substance of his term, he was as much a part of the Virginia way of doing things as any governor who ever occupied the 3rd-floor office. But the personal style caused many people to get out of shape.
He really, really, really, really upset the legislature. He just ticked off the legislature beyond belief. There were some people who were just seeing blood. And what were they talking about? Was it issues? No, it was about a helicopter, his use of a helicopter, the trappings of office, the personal style. I wondered if there had been a white governor and had they being doing that, would they have been quite so much upset about it.
Would they have been? Was the reaction racial?
I don't think it was entirely racial on the part of everyone, no. But I certainly think you can't divorce what I think is arguably a double standard that was applied to Wilder when it came to those kinds of personal-style issues.
As governor, he wasn't solicitous of the black caucus either?
He didn't draw us into an inner circle or kitchen-cabinet status which I know that some had expected and hoped for. There were people who just couldn't fathom that he didn't communicate with us that way.
Why didn't he?
I can't answer that. I just think you have to understand, maybe, that the Doug Wilder who arrived (in the General Assembly) in 1969 was denied a shoeshine right across the street. The same Doug Wilder who as early as 1976 was looking to run for statewide office, the lieutenant governorship, all of a sudden here comes a Chuck Robb out of the blue, says, ``No, no, I'm going to be your next lieutenant governor.''
If you want to know why did Robb and Wilder not get along, well, it goes way back there, way back there. And then meetings held behind his back to prevent him from getting in the race and getting on the ticket. You know, defeat after defeat after defeat of issues near and dear to his constituency's heart. I mean, I can relate. This legislature has not always been a hospitable place for those of us who represent nonmajority interests.
You have to put a real historical, longitudinal analysis on Doug Wilder to help understand why it is that he did not have the legislative honeymoon relationship. . . . We very rarely talk about race out and out around here. It's just not talked about, but it's there.
What are other trends? Is the Republican Party on a steady ascent?
A lot of people say that. Obviously we are a very conservative state. I think the Republican Party in Virginia and the country is doing a little bit of self-destruct because of the willingness to pander to the extreme.
But I'd also point out, if there ever was a chance for the public to strike a blow for two-partyism in Virginia, it was last year and that did not occur. If Virgina was really drifting to the right, it would have gone that way last November. MEMO: These interviews by Margaret Edds were conducted for a book about
Southern politics in the 1990s. The Virginia chapter is being written by
Dr. Thomas Morris, president of Emory & Henry College, and Ms. Edds. ILLUSTRATION: [Del. Jerrauld Jones] by CNB