Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 11, 1993 TAG: 9301110053
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ROB EURE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RESTON LENGTH: Long
ABORTION DEBATE HAUNTS GOP AGAIN
Republicans gathered for a midwinter retreat that ended Sunday to gear up for this year's gubernatorial race, hear from their candidates and bash their likely opponent, Attorney General Mary Sue Terry.What they hoped to avoid was debate over abortion, the issue that sharply divides the Grand Old Party, and one that virtually doomed their candidate in 1989.
They couldn't quite manage it.
On the eve of the weekend meeting, Virginia Beach religious broadcaster Pat Robertson reminded party leaders of the continuing involvement of his conservative Christian followers in GOP affairs with a tacit endorsement of former U.S. Rep George Allen.
Though Allen's position on abortion is not as strict as the one Robertson and his followers espouse, the former congressman from Charlottesville is the most conservative prospect in the GOP field on the subject. By backing him, Robertson served notice that while there is general agreement in both parties that abortion will play a secondary role in the general election campaign this fall, the issue still matters in Republican politics.
Allen's abortion position has evolved somewhat. Running for Congress in 1991, he said he would not support any changes to Virginia law and believed most abortions should remain legal; in December, a day before announcing for governor, he said he would abide by Virginia law but would consider imposing any restrictions that the U.S. Supreme Court may allow.
Allen also says now that he is philosophically opposed to most abortions, except when pregnancy results from rape or incest, poses a threat to the woman's health, or will produce a child with serious deformities.
Allen's strongest opponent for the nomination, retired defense contractor Earle Williams of McLean, calls all this a flip-flop. Williams, who contends abortion should remain elective in the first three months of pregnancy, distributed a flier at the meeting pointing to Allen's shift and claiming that "Earle Williams doesn't tailor his position depending on his audience."
Both Williams and the third candidate, Shenandoah County Del. Clinton Miller, admonished the Republicans not to choose their nominee on a narrow set of issues. Miller's abortion position is essentially the same as Williams'.
Allen does not acknowledge any shift in his position. "The statement I put out on abortion is firm. It is my position now, will be my position after the nomination and throughout my term in the governor's mansion," he insisted over the weekend. He does not mention abortion in his stump speeches and criticizes the media for "constantly bringing it up."
Republicans seemed split on whether the issue and Robertson's backing helps or hurts Allen.
"I think it helps," said Robert Barlon of King George County, who is opposed to abortion but backs Williams because of other issues and fears Terry and GOP conservatives can push Allen "too far to the right to get elected. George Allen has waffled on the issue sufficiently" to attract the pro-life camp, he said.
Loretta Tate of Virginia Beach, vice chairwoman of the Virginia Federation of Republican Women, argues that Robertson's support for Allen "could help Williams by motivating some of the more moderate Republicans to take part."
Like many Republican activists at the meeting, Tate views Terry as a "very strong candidate," pointing out that she won more votes than any other candidate in the past two statewide elections and has the backing of the Democratic establishment built by U.S. Sen. Charles Robb and former Gov. Gerald Baliles.
"You don't need to run to the right of Terry to win this campaign," Tate said.
But Frank Driscoll, a Chesapeake Republican activist who opposes abortion, argued that the "family values" core of Republicanism "remains alive and well."
"Just look at the private Christian schools in my area. Every one of them is at full enrollment, with a waiting list almost as long as the number of spaces they have," said Driscoll, who has not committed to a gubernatorial candidate.
While most of the Republicans at the weekend meeting wanted to talk about anything but abortion, the contest for one of their other statewide nominations seems destined to be defined along the issue.
Bobbie Kilberg, a Northern Virginia pro-choice GOP activist who declared her candidacy for lieutenant governor Saturday, admonished Republicans to remember that "elections are not won by people who have narrow outlooks, people who prefer to exclude rather than include."
Kilberg, who works in the Bush White House, is drawing heavy support from Republican women's groups. She quoted Ronald Reagan's admonition that, "on other issues that draw on the deep springs of morality and emotion, let us decide that we can disagree among ourselves as Republicans and tolerate the disagreement."
Her call was answered, however, by her opponent, Michael Farris of Loudoun County, a conservative strongly opposed to abortion and head of a national foundation to promote home schooling.
Farris argued that the party's nominees must "stand for something" that separates them from Democrats.
Neither Kilberg nor Farris mentioned abortion specifically, but the code words of their debate were clear.
Keywords:
POLITICS