Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 1, 1993 TAG: 9305010154
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARGARET EDDS and WARREN FISKE STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: Medium
"It wasn't my belief," said Michael P. Farris, who appeared outraged at charges that he views "Macbeth," "Cinderella" and "The Wizard of Oz" as "the occult" and "witchcraft" and would deny children the right to read "The Diary of Anne Frank."
Farris, a top leader in the national home-schooling movement, acknowledged after the debate that he was the lead attorney in a mid-1980s federal court case challenging a school curriculum containing those books.
But he said, "The case was against an entire reading series. . . . . I argued that parents should have the right to choose."
Appearing suddenly at Farris' side with a sheaf of court papers, opponent Bobbie Kilberg - a former employee in the Bush White House and a longtime Republican activist - challenged Farris' claim.
"Every case Michael Farris has dealt with in his whole career deals with an ideology and a set of facts that are consistent," argued Kilberg. "His cause is not to be tolerant, but to be intolerant, to impose his views on other people."
The Kilberg-Farris show, ending several minutes later with Farris' storming away, highlighted a series of debates among seven Republicans vying for nominations next month for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.
The controversy underscored concerns among many Republicans that should Farris win the nomination, his conservative views and following could scare off independent voters the GOP needs this fall.
An evangelical Christian and newcomer to elective politics, Farris has called for abolition of the state Board of Education, the Clean Air Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. He opposes abortion rights and gun control.
The 41-year-old Loudoun County attorney is the founder of the Home School Legal Defense Fund, a national organization of about 29,000 families. About 7,000 of those are in Virginia.
Kilberg charged that his nomination could have disastrous results. "It's important to build a truly big-tent Republican Party," she said. "What are Mike's real goals and what will he do to the Republican Party?"
Farris insisted "it's an absolute, classic case of double-speak to say that I'm opposed to tolerance." His children are reading "Macbeth" this week as part of their home school training and they have "The Wizard of Oz" on videotape, he said.
His point, Farris added, is that parents - whether Muslims, Jews or evangelical Christians - should have the "right to stand up and be different from the rest of society." He has represented all those groups, he said.
Three candidates for governor said they may disagree with some of Farris' views, but were unwilling to criticize his campaign. Farris is said to have registered at least 4,000 delegates to the GOP convention, many of them associated with the home-school movement.
There has been speculation that those delegates might be able to dictate the gubernatorial nominee as well.
"I could run with either one of them with no problems," said Del. Clinton Miller of Woodstock. Echoing that sentiment were his opponents, former Rep. George Allen and Fairfax businessman Earle Williams.
Those three broke little ground in their debate. All celebrated the fact that former Attorney General Mary Sue Terry, who has clinched the Democratic nomination, received only 45 percent voter support in a statewide poll released this week.
One telling moment came when the three were asked to recount a personal failure and what they learned from it. Miller and Williams regretted lost business opportunities: Miller turned down an opportunity to go to Nashville as a country singer; Williams, a millionaire executive, passed up an opportunity to invest in Xerox in the late 1950s.
Allen declined to answer.
There was sharp debate between the attorney general candidates: Del. Steve Agee of Salem and Commonwealth's Attorney James Gilmore of Henrico County.
Gilmore said his six years as a prosecutor make him more qualified than Agee to run the attorney general's office. Agee dismissed the claim, saying Gilmore's office's $1.5 million annual budget is no more than the budget of "a fast-food restaurant."
Agee also criticized Gilmore for initially refusing to take a position last winter on Gov. Douglas Wilder's one-handgun-a-month law. And he blasted Gilmore for continuing to draw full salary as a prosecutor this spring while campaigning for attorney general. He called on Gilmore to either "resign from office or reimburse the people of Virginia for the time you've spent on the campaign trail."
Gilmore, now on record as opposing the gun law, said he would not resign and is "sick to death" of Agee's "negative campaigning."
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB