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

DATE: TUESDAY, November 23, 1993                   TAG: 9311230410
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SYLVIA CLUTE

First of all, she's not Patricia Kluge, the wealthy friend of Gov. Wilder. The similar-sounding names apparently have puzzled some people, especially since Wilder himself plans to run for the U.S. Senate next year.

Clute, 50, is a respected Richmond attorney who has quietly, but effectively, lobbied on women's and children's issues at the General Assembly for several years.

She also founded the Women's Bank in Richmond and headed its board of directors until it was sold in 1984. More recently, she's been vice chairman of the Virginia Public School Authority and has served on a special commission, set up by Lt. Gov. Don Beyer, to combat sexual assault.

A former Peace Corps volunteer, she's well-educated, smart, soft-spoken; she's a wife and mother of three. And she's politically inexperienced. She's never before run for public office, has not even been active in state politics or within the Democratic Party, and is virtually unknown outside of Richmond.

So in a race already dominated by three, count 'em three, high-voltage, high-profile pols - Wilder, Chuck Robb and Ollie North - what in the world does Sylvia Clute think she has to offer?

Simple: no apologies.

She's is not an indicted co-conspirator, like North, or an unindicted co-conspirator, like Robb. She has never been charged with malicious (political) woundings, as has Wilder. According to Clute's math, not being a negative comes out positive.

Clute says she's in the race to offer an alternative for those who don't want to see this troika of horses pull Virginia into "the dirtiest Senate race in the country." Each of these men, in his own way, has already embarrassed Virginia, she says. The state deserves better.

That message may resonate in the state Democratic Party, whose nomination she seeks, and in the Republican Party as well. Even so, most political insiders rate her chances at considerably less than even.

Thus far, Clute has been quoted more often than not about who she's not, rather than on issues. But she does have opinions. She seems most interested in policies relating to women and children, which is fine.

She decries the raiding of the state literacy fund to balance the budget, and is obviously supportive of education. She wants to protect abortion rights. And she does have an interesting economic-development idea: to focus efforts on the growing and profitable business of environmental protection.

Clute is a refreshing addition to the political lineup. If she is not successful in her out-of-nowhere bid for statewide office, it may nevertheless prove a positive experience for her and for Virginia. And her name-recognition should go up.

Keywords:
POLITICS