Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 16, 1993 TAG: 9302160111
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BONNIE V. WINSTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
WILDER, BURYING HATCHET, WILL CAMPAIGN FOR TERRY
Gov. Douglas Wilder, who until Saturday had pointedly refused to give his blessing to former Attorney General Mary Sue Terry's campaign to succeed him, said Monday that he will actively campaign for her.Wilder said recent meetings between the two have satisfied him that Terry is "speaking to the kind of issues," including "outreach" to the minority community, that Wilder believes are important.
He said recent problems between the two over the Virginia Retirement System caused a breakdown of communication between their offices.
"And you can't have the existence of cooperative government in an island atmosphere," he said. "Consequently, that has changed considerably."
He said he talks with Terry "more readily" and in more detail now and confers with her campaign manager, Pam Womack, "on a regular basis."
"This is what people elect us to do - talk and to operate together, rather than to see how we can stake out our various claims to our own personal views," Wilder said.
Womack, who was in Wilder's Cabinet until she resigned last month to head Terry's campaign, said Terry was surprised by Wilder's endorsement, which he announced at Saturday's annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner for the state Democratic Party. The event attracted more than 1,200 Democrats.
"We were delighted," Womack said Monday. "It was a real good weekend for Democrats. The important thing now is that we are a united party and we're looking forward to the fall. We need to keep going forward."
Womack would not speculate on what tipped Wilder to publicly support Terry. In December, the governor said he was evaluating his stance "on a day-to-day basis."
That statement came as Terry was suing the governor to block his attempt to fire her as legal counsel for the state pension fund. Terry had publicly criticized its board, most of whom were appointed by Wilder, for being too secretive and operating under too few state controls.
A Richmond circuit judge upheld Terry's view, saying Wilder had no authority to fire Terry from her constitutionally prescribed duties. Wilder has appealed. But he said Monday that his endorsement of Terry will not alter that course.
"There again, it shows you [the suit] had nothing to do with personalities. It's all to do with the principle of where the governor's office's powers end and where they begin, and where they should be applied," Wilder said.
Womack said she is uncertain what role Wilder will play in the campaign.
"I'm not sure it will be a defined role," she said. "He is a sitting governor and he has a lot to do for the rest of the year."
"This is one more example of how quickly things change in Virginia politics these days," said Robert D. Holsworth, a political scientist at Virginia Commonwealth University.
He said olive branches have been extended on both sides of the Wilder-Terry feud. Terry appointed Womack, Wilder's secretary of the commonwealth, to manage her campaign, and publicly praised the governor for his handling of state finances.
"Mary Sue Terry took an important step in naming a Wilder appointee to head her campaign. I think that sent an important message that she is not going to exclude people that he brought into government."
Wilder, he continued, "is responding in kind" by announcing his support for Terry.
"Moreover, there is no one else out there. . . . [Wilder] doesn't have much choice."
The real question now, Holsworth said, is what role Wilder will play in Terry's campaign.
"I think it depends on how much he wants to be a part of the campaign and how much she's willing to have him. If his approval ratings [with the public] go up after this General Assembly session, maybe up in the 40s or 50s, he may play a visible role," Holsworth said. "But if they stay low, I'm sure she would prefer his role to be limited and circumscribed."
Keywords:
POLITICS