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

DATE: SUNDAY, July 17, 1994                   TAG: 9407170064
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: WARREN FISKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HOT SPRINGS                                LENGTH: Medium

CHALLENGERS ATTACK ROBB FOR HIS SUPPORT OF CLINTON

An exasperated Robb replied that his opponents are proposing "sound bite" solutions to the nation's economic problems by endorsing lower taxes and greater defense spending while offering no specific cuts to federal spending.

"You can't always do it by taking the easy decision," Robb told his opponents during a 90-minute debate at The Homestead Resort sponsored by the Virginia Bar Association. "Sooner or later, you have to belly up to the bar."

Robb likened the debate to "three-on-one tag-team wrestling."

The Democrat drew the wrath of his opponents by repeatedly declining to say whether he supports a bill that would allow companies to permanently replace striking workers. He said his neutral position allowed him to be more effective on labor issues with more substance.

Republican nominee Oliver North and independents Douglas Wilder and Marshall Coleman said they support the legislation, which has been mired this year in a Senate filibuster.

"Chuck, I think you really let us down," said Coleman, a former state attorney general.

"How would you vote?" demanded former Gov. Wilder.

"If it ever comes up again, Doug, you'll find out," Robb said. "I'm sure it will come up again in the next six years."

"You won't be there then," snapped Wilder. " . . . The people of Virginia have a right to know how you would vote."

Wilder criticized Robb for calling the issue symbolic. "It would cause job losses rather than add jobs. . . . Form an opinion, and let your constituents know where you stand."

Robb, in return, called Wilder's current support of striker replacement a flip-flop. In 1991, Wilder told the AFL-CIO that "It makes no sense for someone to lose their job because of exercising a constitutionally protected right . . . and for management to say, `As a result of exercising that right, you're fired.' I'm against that."

Wilder, who was running fourth in a recent poll, also turned a sharp tongue toward Robb while debating national health insurance. While all four candidates said they were opposed to mandating that employers provide coverage for their workers, Robb added that "hard-triggered or soft-triggered mandates" eventually may be necessary.

"A soft trigger or a hard trigger means the same," replied Wilder, who said either kind of mandate would force companies to lay off employees. "Someone is going to get shot, and someone is going to get killed."

The candidates disagreed over whether abortions should be included in a national health care plan. North and Coleman said it should not. Wilder favored leaving the decision up to each state. Robb said abortions should be included as part of a national plan.

Robb was the only candidate to say he was willing to consider allowing the federal Food and Drug Administration to classify nicotine as a drug. His opponents said that limiting the availability of cigarettes would cost Virginia thousands of jobs and lead to the loss of billions of dollars in revenues.

"The Clinton administration is saying we're going to pay for a health care plan by taxing tobacco, and the same time we're going to make it illegal," said North. "That's a bit of an anomaly."

Wilder got in several digs on North, bringing up his role in the Iran-Contra scandal and accusing him of diverting money from the fight against drug smuggling to help the Nicaraguan rebels.

"That didn't happen," North snapped.

Coleman labeled Robb as a leading liberal in the Senate, comparing him to Sen. Howard Metzenbaum, D-Ohio. He noted that Robb has supported President Clinton on 94 percent of his votes.

"If you're simply going to vote with the president all the time, why do we need you up there?" Coleman said to Robb.

Wilder again directed his biting rhetoric toward North.

"Ollie, you don't represent what's best for Virginia," Wilder said. "You want to divide. You think certain people should be thrown out, and only people who think like you should be advanced."

The Associated Press supplied additional information for this story.

Keywords:
POLITICS

Memo: ***CORRECTION***