Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 1, 1993 TAG: 9304010405
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-17 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY GARLAND
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
AMAZINGLY, ROBB REMAINS CONTENDER IN SENATE RACE
THAT SEN. Charles S. Robb is still on his feet, driving hard for re-election and by no means counted out, is a source of wonderment. It is causing pundits to scratch their heads and driving both Republicans and Gov. Douglas Wilder nuts.It is now almost a foregone conclusion that Wilder will challenge Robb next year, either within the Democratic Party or as an independent candidate for U.S. senator.
The extent of Wilder's frustration was on public display following the guilty plea of Bruce Thompson that ended the 19-month federal investigation of charges arising from the famous Wilder telephone conversation that was leaked to the press by Robb's staff.
"Their strategy to deflect attention away from Robb's personal problems . . . has largely succeeded," Wilder said. "Five men have pleaded guilty and received little punishment, and Senator Robb has escaped prosecution altogether. . . . "
Wilder added that he expected no apology from Robb, nor did he expect the senator "to publicly denounce and castigate" those who worked for him "to illegally smear and discredit me. Because I don't believe it's in him." In sum, Wilder said, Robb is "another unindicted co-conspirator."
Brass it out has been the operative phrase of Robb's long ordeal, which dates from stories of low doings in high places first appearing more than five years ago. A massive and meticulously documented expose published by The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star in July 1988 caused only a ripple of concern as the former governor romped to a landslide victory over an exceedingly weak Republican opponent.
Three years later, however, things had become decidedly sticky. First there was NBC News featuring Tai Collins; then there was Billy Franklin's well-documented book; finally came the Wilder tape that touched off a formal investigation by the U.S. attorney.
Collins secretly recorded Robb's chief of staff, David McCloud, threatening to use the IRS against Franklin - and Franklin was audited. In addition to Collins, NBC presented a credible witness in Gary Pope, a respectable Virginia Beach businessman with no apparent motive to lie, who said he was near Robb at a party where cocaine was being openly snorted in the governor's presence.
Franklin, a lawyer, private investigator and former member of the state's advisory board of polygraph examiners, revealed the names of those he says signed sworn affidavits not only placing Robb at events where cocaine was openly used, but describing his personal use.
Those who read Franklin's book are free to form their own conclusions. Discount, if you wish, Franklin's claim of strange happenings while he was working on the case, but it's a fact that his telephone records were obtained illegally.
You can look at Robb's situation in several ways. You can argue that to survive, even prosper, all he and his operatives had to do was to do nothing. But we don't know what they knew, or feared. And there was no way they could know just how charitable the press and public would be in adopting a "so what?" attitude after digesting each new twist in the plot.
But given all that has happened, Robb has done the only thing he could do: Deny everything and yield not an inch. By refusing to whine and beg, he has shown considerable dignity and firmness, but before giving too much credit, ask yourself what else he could do.
The minute he admits to any charge, however minor, he opens the way for all charges to be believed. And if he so much as raises the possibility of not fighting to hold his seat, it would be counted by many a tacit admission of guilt.
In trying to explain why Robb remains a contender despite everything, we enter upon the slippery slope of speculation. First, however, is the obvious. No Virginia politician since Harry F. Byrd Sr. has demonstrated such a mastery of the political environment in which he must operate as Robb did. Without breaking a sweat he ended 12 years of GOP rule in Richmond. His mere presence as a possible candidate for U.S. Senate sufficed to drive the Republican incumbent from the field.
Such circumstances, of course, do not arise by accident. Robb's carefully crafted personna was perfect for the times - and still is. On social issues he was a steadfast liberal, but when it came to national defense, foreign policy and fiscal questions, he always talked like a conservative.
Behind this useful dichotomy was the comforting and politically correct "nice" man who said as little as possible on genuinely controversial subjects and never picked a fight. When Robb had to disappoint the left or the right, as he frequently did, he always did it as quietly as possible.
Perhaps the element of greatest mystery in the Robb saga is the extent to which he may have been saved by the intercession of high-ranking Republicans. In that connection, Wilder speaks of "highly questionable practices," and it's hard to disagree with him.
Why, for example, was the question of how Franklin's phone records ended up in the hands of Robb's operatives dropped off the table? Why was the illegal use of campaign funds passed over so lightly? And if it's not a crime for a federal employee to threaten a citizen, as McCloud was captured on tape doing, it ought to be.
The issue now goes to the voters. In settling it once and for all, one thing is certain: They will be treated to a performance by the greatest cast of characters ever assembled in a Virginia election.
Ray Garland is a columnist for the Roanoke Times & World-News.
Keywords:
POLITICS