Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 13, 1993 TAG: 9301130261
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 NOTE: ABOVE EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PHYLLIS W. JORDAN LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
A SMILING ROBB PRAISES COURT AS `SHIELD'
For the first time in 18 months, Charles Robb smiled when reporters asked him questions.He laughed as his wife whispered in his ear. He even joked with the reporter whose leak from two former Robb staffers started a chain of events that could have cost the U.S. senator his political career.
Robb thanked the citizens who refused to indict him but blasted the system that allowed prosecutors "the incredible and largely unfettered power to destroy."
He pledged a vigorous campaign to keep his Senate seat in 1994, but acknowledged he'd have to fight the lingering impression that "there must be something terribly wrong here."
But mostly Robb reveled in the knowledge that he'd defied the odds, and persuaded an apparently unfriendly grand jury that he had no criminal involvement in the case of an illegally recorded tape.
"I said all along I knew how this would end, I just didn't know when," said Robb, a broad smile replacing the tired, drawn look he's worn for much of the past year. "Well, it finally ended today. Ultimately the system worked. The grand jury performed its historical role to serve not only as a sword, but also as a shield to protect citizens from unjust prosecution."
Many of his fellow Democrats quickly rallied around Robb, some characterizing the long federal probe as politically inspired and others calling for those involved in the prosecution to resign.
Gov. Douglas Wilder, Robb's bitter Democratic enemy and the self-styled "victim" in the case, was uncharacteristically silent. Virginia Republican leaders, who in the past had called on Robb to step down, also were tight-lipped.
Wilder spokesman Glenn Davidson said the governor would not discuss the Robb case.
House Speaker Thomas Moss, D-Norfolk, said, "It restores my faith in the judicial system. I never felt from the beginning that the senator was guilty of any indictable offense. I feel he's been vindicated."
John Edwards of Roanoke, 6th District Democratic chairman, said, "This thing's gone on an awful long time. I'm glad to hear it's come to a resolution.
"I think that it's the first step toward a comeback" for Robb's political career, he added.
Vinton Democrat Richard Cranwell, majority leader of the House of Delegates, said the lesson in the case is that private citizens, chosen to be grand jurors, have a "calming, steeling and wholesome influence" on various layers of government.
"If one can be destroyed by allegations, then that's a sad commentary on our system," Cranwell said.
But Billy Franklin, the Virginia Beach private investigator hired by a Republican to investigate Robb's social life at Virginia Beach, called the jury's decision a "tragedy."
"But who am I to argue with the grand jury?" Franklin said. He said he wasn't surprised by the outcome, given the time the grand jury took.
"I am disappointed they didn't find out who was involved with my phone records. I assume it's a dead issue on who stole my long-distance phone records. I'm very disappointed," Franklin said.
In addition to the Wilder tape, Robb's staff had been accused of obtaining Franklin's phone records and a tape of at least one Franklin phone call as part of an effort to keep tabs on his investigation.
Franklin was hired by Dr. Lewis H. Williams, a Richmond gynecologist and GOP activist, to investigate Robb. Williams said Tuesday he is "irked" that Robb "was given an opportunity . . . that the average person ordinarily is not given" to testify twice before the grand jury.
Robb said he believes his appearance before the grand jury last month, a move that flew in the face of conventional legal wisdom, helped him make his case.
"I can't read their minds . . . but my guess is they could, in effect, see what a lot of other people saw, and I'm very pleased we don't have to go one more step," he said.
Robb said he didn't blame former aides David McCloud, Robert Watson and Steven Johnson, who pleaded guilty to charges related to the tape.
"I have no reason to believe they didn't do the best they could do," he said.
"As I understand the case, the only reason that it got this far is because they took my testimony, then went back and nitpicked each provision and apparently tried to find any place that anyone else had a different recollection. We're just talking about honest differences of opinion or recollection."
Staff writers Bonnie Winston and Steve Foster contributed information to this report.
note: see microfilm for illustration of Biography