Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 15, 1992 TAG: 9201150213
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ROB EURE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
ROBB CONTRADICTED IN WILDER TAPE CASE
A former aide to U.S. Sen. Charles Robb asserted Tuesday that Robb never instructed his staff not to disseminate the contents of an illegally recorded phone call of Gov. Douglas Wilder.Steven Johnson, Robb's former press secretary, plans to plead guilty next week to a minor federal charge of conspiracy to distribute the tape. He said Tuesday that "there were never any clear or direct orders given to me at any time from Senator Robb regarding the tape or other materials."
Johnson's claim contradicts Robb's account - made soon after the tape became the focus of a federal investigation last year. Authorities probed how Wilder's cellular-phone call to a supporter in 1988 was intercepted and how a tape reached Robb's office, where it stayed for more than two years.
In a June news conference in Washington, Robb said he had "specifically forbidden" his staff to use the tape in any way.
Johnson said Tuesday he recalled no such instruction. "I spoke with him on a matter relating to the tape only once, in mid-May, when I gave him a copy of the transcript of the tape, which he asked for."
Peggy Wilhide, Robb's current press secretary, said Tuesday that the order was issued by Robb through his chief of staff, David McCloud.
Robb has said he never heard the tape, but was "aware of the general nature of the conversation that had taken place."
Johnson, 34, is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Norfolk on Jan. 23 and the next day before the federal grand jury investigating the case. He has agreed to plead guilty to an "infraction," a charge less serious than a misdemeanor, for conspiracy to distribute the contents of the tape. The plea carries a maximum fine of $5,000.
A source familiar with the investigation said Johnson will tell the grand jury that he and another former Robb aide, Robert Watson, played the tape of Wilder's conversation with Chesapeake developer Daniel Hoffler for Washington Post reporter Kent Jenkins Jr.
The Post and the Roanoke Times & World-News published excerpts of the tape in June. On it, Wilder pronounced Robb finished politically as a result of embarrassing news stories about his social life as governor. The leak of the tape triggered a new round in a long feud between Robb and Wilder.
McCloud, Johnson and Watson, who was Robb's state director, resigned last summer as the grand jury investigation began.
Robb has not commented during the investigation. He continued his silence Tuesday.