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

DATE: FRIDAY, March 27, 1992                   TAG: 9203270397
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

STATE DEMOCRATIC OFFICIAL QUITS

Robert Watson resigned Thursday as the state Democratic Party's vice chairmanof finance after reports surfaced that the party chairman was seeking his ouster.

Watson, a former aide to U.S. Sen. Charles Robb, D-Va., pleaded guilty last month to two federal infractions for his role in leaking a taped conversation between then-Lt. Gov. Douglas Wilder and a political associate in 1988.

"Unfortunately, I have not had the time I would like to devote to the position of vice chair," Watson said in a resignation letter to state Democratic Chairman Paul Goldman.

For much of 1991, Watson wrote, he worked in Washington, D.C., as political director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and traveled extensively as a consultant to Virginia and national campaigns.

Watson said he is moving to Washington because he has become a lobbyist for the National Education Association and will no longer be a Virginia resident.

Watson's resignation, which takes effect immediately, came after a letter that Goldman wrote to state party leaders was leaked to The Richmond News Leader.

In the letter to members of the Democratic steering committee, Goldman did not mention the tape controversy or call Watson by name. He said simply that the vice chairman of finance has not functioned "for many months" in his role of raising money for the party.

In a letter dated Monday, Goldman wrote of the "vacuum" in fund raising and said he has had to do "double duty."

Goldman said he wanted to inform party leaders that "it is apparent the party requires a new vice chair for finance."

Keywords:
POLITICS

by CNB