THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, November 4, 1996 TAG: 9611040035
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: 29 lines
The widow of former U.S. Rep. Walter B. Jones has issued a statement criticizing her stepson, Republican U.S. Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr. The younger Jones is being challenged in the 3rd District race by Democrat George Parrott.
Elizabeth Jones, now living in Oregon, said in a letter issued to the media that her stepson has been making ``abominable'' claims that his father, a lifelong Democrat, had encouraged him to switch from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party.
``My husband. . . did not feel that there was any reason for someone to change parties once they had been in political office,'' she said in a telephone interview late Saturday. ``He felt that Democrats would not be able to trust his son, that the Republicans would not be able to trust his son and, more importantly, that the people would not be able to trust his son.''
Elizabeth Jones married the elder Jones in 1984. He died in Sept. 1992.
``I hated to write that letter, but it just made me livid to know that he was saying something about my husband that was just not true,'' she said. ``I used to be an ardent supporter of Walter Junior, but I loved my husband a lot and I guess I was very defensive about him.''
Attempts to reach the younger Jones were not successful.
KEYWORDS: CONGRESSIONAL RACE NORTH CAROLINA 1996 by CNB