Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 13, 1993 TAG: 9302130206
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BY ROB EURE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
ALLEN BOMBS WITH BACKERS IN GOP DEBATE
George Allen of Charlottesville may be the front-runner in the budding race for the Republican nomination for governor, but he bombed this week with a group that is the financial backbone of the party.Knowledgeable sources said Friday that Allen fared so badly in the private debate Wednesday with his two rivals that a majority of the 20 GOP financiers in attendance agreed he should lower his sights and run for attorney general.
According to those familiar with the members-only affair, Allen finished far behind retired Northern Virginia businessman Earle Williams and Del. Clint Miller of Shenandoah in a straw poll of the Republican donors after the debate.
The group caucused and voted 10 for Williams, seven for Miller and only three for Allen, the sources said. They then asked state GOP chairman Patrick McSweeney to suggest a unity ticket of Williams for governor, Miller for lieutenant governor and Allen for attorney general to each of the three candidates. It was unclear Friday whether McSweeney has followed through on the request.
The sources said the audience included such GOP heavyweights as Robert Patterson, managing partner at the Richmond law firm of McGuire, Woods, Battle and Boothe; John Snow, chairman of railroad giant CSX Corp.; and Bruce Gottwald, chairman of Ethyl Corp.
The Richmond gathering came before the selection of a single GOP convention delegate. Party caucuses to select the delegates, who in turn will select the nominee at a convention later this spring, begin Feb. 27 in Portsmouth.
Allen, who has been endorsed by Virginia Beach evangelist and businessman Pat Robertson and whose early edge in the campaign has been built in part on strong support from conservative Christians, declined comment on the session Friday.
"That was a confidential meeting and I don't intend to breach that confidentiality," he said.
The Miller and Williams campaigns also would not comment on the meeting, which was organized by the business leaders and party Chairman McSweeney. The event was important enough to McSweeney for him to ask for cancellation of a scheduled debate that evening in Virginia Beach. That public debate was rescheduled and held Friday night at Virginia Wesleyan College.
"I think these people wanted to sit face to face with the candidates and find out, if they are elected, if they really understand business and its needs in the state," said one source familiar with the meeting.
Another GOP source said many of the party's big donors, stung by three successive losing gubernatorial campaigns, are reluctant to spend their money against Democrat Mary Sue Terry without a strong candidate.
Williams, several sources said, was convincing at the gathering that as the former chief executive of BDM, a large defense contractor in McLean, he would protect the state's pro-business climate.
The real surprise, the sources said, was Miller, who went into the meeting "with virtually no support," said one of the participants, and won a following that could transform his cash-strapped campaign.
An aide to Miller said Friday night that on Thursday, the day after the meeting, he raised $35,000.
At Friday night's debate, Allen charged that Williams would have a difficult time as the Republican nominee defending personal contributions he made to Democrats, including campaign gifts to U.S. Sen. Charles Robb, Lt. Gov. Don Beyer and several Democrats in the legislature.
Williams responded that Allen was suggesting a "litmus" test that would have disqualified former Gov. Mills Godwin and former President Reagan, both of whom left the Democratic Party to become Republicans.
Miller said Allen "tells you about some bills he introduced, but he couldn't get them through the legislature."
Keywords:
POLITICS