HE'S CLEARED THE GRAND JURY - NOW ROBB MUST WIN VOTERS

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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 13, 1993                   TAG: 9301130275
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: WARREN FISKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium
HE'S CLEARED THE GRAND JURY - NOW ROBB MUST WIN VOTERS
Sen. Charles Robb dodged a legal bullet Tuesday when a grand jury refused to indict him, but he still must negotiate a minefield of potentially explosive public opinion to salvage his political career.
With the threat of criminal convictions behind him, Robb must plead his case to voters, who for five years have been barraged with reports about the senator's liaison with a model, his attendance at Virginia Beach parties where cocaine was used, and the illegal efforts of his staff to discredit Gov. Douglas Wilder.
"Chuck Robb has a temporary new lease on political life," said Thomas R. Morris, a political scientist and president of Emory & Henry College. "He has the chance to rehabilitate his image with voters, but its going to be difficult."
Morris and other political scientists say Robb still may face an uphill climb in winning re-election next year - the ultimate vindication.
Although the grand jury's action strongly increases the odds that Democrats will renominate Robb, political scientists said Robb remains highly vulnerable to an expected strong Republican challenge in the general election. Polls measuring the senator's standing among voters, once showing close to 80 percent approval, plummeted into the 20s during the grand jury probe.
For 18 months, the grand jury investigated Robb's role in his staff's dissemination of a clandestinely taped telephone call between Wilder and a political supporter. Three members of Robb's staff plead guilty last year to illegally leaking the transcript.
Robb has claimed he had no knowledge of his staff's illegal activity. But an expected trial this year of Virginia Beach businessman Bruce Thompson - a Robb crony who originally provided the senator's staff with the tape of the Wilder telephone conversation - could prove embarrassing.
The grand jury, in a three-count indictment handed down against Thompson on Tuesday, alleged that Robb was deeply involved with his staff in plotting to use the tape to embarrass Wilder. The indictment also alleged that Robb authorized his staff to lie to reporters about how his office came into possession of the tape. That effort was designed to protect Thompson, the indictment said.
Robb's three convicted former staff members have been cooperating with prosecutors. The senator may be called as a witness in Thompson's trial.
Most of Robb's problems, however, have nothing to do with the taping incident or any charges the grand jury was investigating.
Robb's legal problems began in June 1991, at the end of of a string of sensational television and newspaper disclosures that Robb attended parties in the mid-1980s where cocaine was used. Robb has said he never used the drug or even saw it.
Tai Collins of Roanoke, a model and former beauty queen, has claimed that she had an affair with Robb when he was governor in 1984. Although Robb acknowledged that he once received a nude massage from Collins, he has denied having had sexual relations with her.
Robb also must explain the conduct of some his staff members, who in 1990 threatened people who were talking to a private investigator about the senator's personal life.
Finally, Robb has taken some political positions which may raise the ire of some voters. He voted for the confirmation of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and favors increasing taxes and allowing homosexuals into the military.
"We'll have a lot to talk about," said M. Boyd Marcus, a Republican consultant in Richmond. "All that's happened is that a grand jury has said it doesn't have enough to indict him on a technical wiretapping charge. That doesn't say anything about his conduct in his personal life, it doesn't say anything about where he stands on issues.
"The next time he comes before voters, Chuck Robb will be in for the toughest political fight of his life," Marcus added.
Even so, Robb has to be happy.
"Chuck Robb is a lot happier talking about his political future than worrying about an indictment," said Robert Holsworth, a Virginia Commonwealth University political scientist. "He's escaped from the grave."

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB