ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 1, 1997 TAG: 9702030054
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: STUART
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
Ramona Hines blasted the credibility of nationally known attorney Gil Davis.
She went public with a video of Davis - the attorney for Paula Jones, the woman suing President Clinton for sexual harassment - drinking and making comments in a Roanoke hotel room about her taking her clothes off for Playboy magazine.
She said Davis, who was representing her in a civil suit against her former employer, wasn't upholding his responsibility to her as an attorney.
But on Friday - at a hearing Davis requested to remove himself from her case - she told Circuit Judge Martin Clark that she wanted Davis to remain her attorney.
"I cannot find another attorney who has Mr. Davis' knowledge of my case," she said. "I know he has the ability to represent me."
The puzzled judge denied her request and allowed Davis, a candidate for the Republican nomination for state attorney general, to sever his ties with Hines.
Clark asked her why she would want to continue to work with a man she so sharply criticized.
"Clearly, this relationship is fractured," he said before rendering his verdict at the hearing, which Davis did not attend.
Hines said she doesn't know if she can hire a new attorney before her case goes to court on April 4. She said she will appeal Friday's decision.
Davis, who held a news conference Friday in Richmond, said Hines' charges against him are false and accused her of trying to gain publicity. He also noted Hines' request that he continue to represent her.
"That confirms her confidence in me," he said.
An attorney in Davis' Arlington law firm, William Stanley, presented Davis' case Friday in Stuart.
At the start of the hearing, Stanley said Hines has made "ridiculous and absolutely false" allegations against Davis.
Hines and her husband, Glen, were in a Roanoke hotel room with Davis when the video, which shows Davis offering to help Hines get in Playboy, was made. They said that after the camera was turned off, Davis told Ramona Hines that he wanted to "see the merchandise" before agreeing to help her try to sell her story to Playboy.
Davis denies he made the statement. He said he met with the Hineses at the Roanoke Marriott about two years ago to have dinner and discuss her case. Later, they went to Davis' hotel room to relax and have drinks.
He knew the video camera was running and said his comments were made in jest.
Davis said Hines took the taped conversation out of context to make it appear that he wanted her to pose for Playboy.
``I had told Mrs. Hines on several occasions that we would not continue to represent her if she did in fact pose for Playboy or any other magazine,'' he said.
Davis is considering a suit against Hines.
"I harbor no ill will toward Mrs. Hines, but if she and her handlers persist in lying about me, I will take legal action to protect myself against them," he said.
Hines doesn't shy away from speaking her mind.
In 1994, when Henry County's Cable 6 exposed her affair with a co-worker at a competing television station, Hines didn't run for cover. She made frequent appearances on Cable 6 to discuss the matter, which later turned into a long-running real-life soap opera that landed her appearances on the Maury Povich and Oprah Winfrey television shows.
When she was fired by the TV station where she worked - Channel 57 in Martinsville - she filed a $250,000 suit claiming discrimination and several other violations.
Hines' past isn't lost on Davis.
"Having already exhausted the TV talk show circuit in reference to her 1994 sexual discrimination suit, and with no further national publicity to be had from that matter, she decided to exploit me in an effort to maximize media attention for herself," he said Friday.
A June 1996 letter from Davis to Hines offers an interesting perspective.
In the letter, Davis recommended that Hines accept a $3,000 settlement from Southern Broadcasting Corporation, the company that owns Channel 57.
Hines said the letter shows that Davis had no interest in fighting for her interests.
But Davis, as the letter goes on, tells a different story.
He said Hines, because of her earlier publicity, had nothing to gain from more exposure.
"A trial will utterly destroy your reputation, rather than being a vehicle to redeem it," Davis wrote. "Absent a settlement, very frankly, it will be my intention to seek withdrawal from your case."
Now that he no longer represents Hines, Davis is diving into his candidacy for attorney general.
He used his news conference Friday to deflect the Hines issue and unveil a "Fair and Clean Campaign Pledge" that he signed and urged his three opponents for the Republican nomination - state Sens. Mark Earley and Kenneth Stolle and former state Public Safety Secretary Jerry Kilgore - to sign.
Davis' three opponents said the pledge is not needed.
"He may have issues he needs to address with the pledge, but I don't have issues I need to address with the pledge," Stolle said.
Meanwhile, Hines and her husband are talking to national tabloid television shows about their story. A producer in Los Angeles is interested in making a movie about the local soap opera that has played out over the past few years.
King World Entertainment, the company that produces Inside Edition, recently flew the Hineses to New York.
They've talked about selling the videotape of Davis, but Hines said she'll appear on the show for free if a deal isn't worked out. And even if the Hineses get paid for their most recent walk in the spotlight, Glen Hines said they'll keep things in perspective.
"If we get five figures, we're going to give some back to the community and the church," he said.
Staff writer Warren Fiske contributed to this story.
LENGTH: Long : 111 linesby CNB