Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 23, 1992 TAG: 9201230312
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
BROKEN PROMISE ALLEGED
Sen. Charles Robb's former press secretary plans to say in court today that The Washington Post broke a promise not to publish information about an illegal tape made from then-Lt. Gov. Douglas Wilder's car phone, a lawyer said Wednesday.The lawyer, Thomas M. Buchanan, said Steve Johnson played the tape for a Post reporter and gave him a transcript "on deep background on the condition that he wasn't to make any use of it."
On June 8, The Post disclosed the tape's existence in a front-page story headlined, "Wilder Says He's Bugged." The next day, the paper printed long excerpts from the tape.
"It was just blatant violation of a traditional relationship between a reporter and a source," Buchanan said. "You could sue The Post for the breach of their agreement, but that's up to Steve Johnson."
The 1988 tape captures Wilder chortling about news accounts of Robb attending parties in Virginia Beach when he was governor in the mid-1980s.
The Post's executive editor, Leonard Downie Jr., told the Richmond Times-Dispatch the paper "did not violate our agreement with any . . . sources."
Buchanan said that Johnson will pay a $5,000 fine - the maximum - but will serve no jail time. The offense is called an infraction, which is less serious than a felony.
The lawyer said that Johnson agreed to plead guilty because a federal prosecutor has copies of two memos by Johnson that said the staff might consider playing the tape for the press.
Robb turned over the memos as part of a subpoena, Buchanan said.
Buchanan said that in April, Johnson and a Robb political aide, Robert Watson, were talking to Post reporter Kent Jenkins Jr. about the relationship between Robb and Wilder.
In late April or early May, Johnson gave a transcript of the tape to Jenkins, who later returned it. Several weeks later, Richmond-based Post reporter Donald P. Baker broke the tape story.
The lawyer said he thinks that Jenkins gave the transcript to his editors, who gave it to Baker.
"To provide an incentive for Jenkins to follow up, they played the tape," Buchanan told The Associated Press. "The tape is nothing more than Governor Wilder making negative remarks about Robb. As it turns out, they went and made a story out of the fact they had the tape, to sell newspapers."
"The purpose was just to demonstrate to Kent Jenkins that Wilder was someone who was not really an ally of Senator Robb and was happy to see Robb suffering over the allegations from Virginia Beach," Buchanan said.
If Johnson or other Robb aides "had wanted to hurt Wilder, they could have sent it to any reporter in Richmond or Washington" and done it anonymously, he said.
The Roanoke Times & World-News also published part of the tape on June 9. Buchanan said his client didn't provide that transcript.