Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 13, 1993 TAG: 9306140030
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: WARREN FISKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long
\ With a wave of his hand, would-be U.S. senator Oliver North dismisses his deception of Congress, the documents he shredded and the laws he subverted in his effort to cover up the Reagan administration's top-secret program to fight communism in Nicaragua.
"It's ancient history," he said during a recent interview. In the clear tenor voice that captured the nation as the Iran-Contra scandal unfolded in 1987, North stressed that a court has cleared him of all charges - albeit on a technicality. He rejected suggestions that Virginia voters might judge him on the past when he runs for the U.S. Senate next year.
"It's nuts. It's over. It's done. I won - not to be arrogant about it," he said.
"I know well that I'm a human being who has made mistakes and admitted them," he added. "I think I offer a better future to Virginia."
The future for Ollie North, 50, almost certainly includes next year's GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate. Delegates at the party's gubernatorial convention gave North a hero's welcome at caucuses and hospitality suites. They spoke in excited tones about North's conservatism, his proven ability to raise money and his prowess as a public speaker.
For two years, the former Marine lieutenant colonel has crisscrossed the state, raising money for GOP candidates, courting business leaders and wowing audiences with emotional speeches about patriotism, traditional values and the excesses of the Democratic Congress.
"He's the kind of candidate that comes along once in a generation," said Franklin Hall, first vice chairman of the state Republican Party and co-chairman of the burgeoning Draft Oliver North for Senate committee. "He has a true star quality. Nothing can stop us."
North is planning to announce his candidacy at the end of the year. "Unless the good Lord intervenes, by this time next year you'll be seeing the most exciting campaign you've ever seen," he promised.
All signs point to a sensational and divisive general election that will stir passions nationwide. Incumbent Democrat Charles Robb, beset by character questions, has vowed to seek re-election. Gov. Douglas Wilder, a bitter rival of Robb's, is considering a challenge for the Democratic nomination or running as an independent.
In the Old Dominion, where political lore holds that there is "no higher honor" than the governorship, anticipation of the 1994 Senate war already overshadows this year's races for control of state government. A North-Robb-Wilder contest, says University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato, would be "the classic battle between the lesser of three evils, or evil of three lessers."
While North is the darling of conservatives, many moderate Republicans are uncomfortable with him. They question whether North, a born-again Christian who opposes abortion rights, espouses family values and school prayer, and rails against "radical homosexuals and media elites," will scare the independents and conservative Democrats a Republican needs to win a general election.
"It's been my experience that elections are won from the center," said Richard Cullen, a former U.S. attorney who declined overtures to run as a moderate GOP alternative to North.
Others wonder about North's basic honesty and judgment. At issue are questions heard since North burst into public view in 1987: Who is Oliver North? Is he the starry-eyed patriot who got caught in a battle of wills between Congress and the White House, or a zealot who accepted payoffs and lied to cover his tracks?
Is he the "American hero," seen through the eyes of Ralph Reed, executive director of Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition, or the "admitted liar" seen by Donald Moseley, a former GOP district chairman from Southside?
North describes himself as a family man, businessman, devout patriot and Episcopalian. He is intense and engaging in conversation, with an uncanny ability to focus on his listeners and make each feel he matters.
He is highly wary of reporters. The media "can't stand the fact that I am innocent in the eyes of the court," he says.
In granting a rare interview, North left no doubt that it would be a one-shot deal if he did not like the resulting article. "I have Irish Alzheimer's disease," he said. "I never forget someone who says something bad about me."
His life has changed dramatically since 1987. The moist-eyed Marine, who once worried that he would lose his military pension because of Iran-Contra, has gotten rich.
He is the author of a best-selling book that recounts his travails, and he recently inked a rumored seven-figure contract to write another book about his experience in Vietnam. He is a busy orator on the national trail, collecting a reported $25,000 a speech.
North is chairman of Guardian Technologies International Inc., a manufacturer of body armor headquartered in Sterling, Va., which claims accounts in 26 states and several foreign nations. In 1990, he and his family moved from Great Falls to a $1.17 million, 194-acre estate in Clarke County, about 35 miles northwest of Washington. North said the estate is part of a family trust owned by his in-laws.
North also is an extraordinary national fund-raiser. Since 1988, he has raised more than $20 million for conservative causes he heads - a total that must give pause to anyone thinking of challenging him next year.
North's mammoth legal bills from Iran-Contra have been paid, thanks to at least $13.7 million raised nationwide by the North Legal Defense and Family Safety Trust Fund. About one-fourth of the money was used to provide home security and bodyguards to North, who said he has received death threats. According to state records, North terminated the fund last November.
Was it right of North to publicly solicit money for his legal expenses while he was privately becoming wealthy? "Not one single cent of the North defense trust ever went into my pocket," he replied.
North is president of the Freedom Alliance, a group that has raised more than $7 million in recent years for conservative causes. In newsletters, North has lashed out against President Clinton's efforts to lift the ban on homosexuals in the military. He also has criticized federal funding of the National Endowment for the Arts and called for boycotts of companies that cut financial support to the Boy Scouts of America to protest the group's ban on gay and atheistic members.
North also is the founder of V-PAC, a political action committee that raised $544,000 last year for Republican candidates across the nation. Through his various activities, North has amassed a national mailing list with an estimated 500,000 potential contributors.
Aides describe North as a "corporation." North, who calls himself "the most lawyered man in the country," is reluctant to estimate his wealth. He acknowledged that his activities "have helped me financially to get my wife and my children secure."
North and his wife, Betsy, have four children. Two are students at Washington and Lee University in Lexington. Another attends a private high school, and the fourth is in a public high school.
\ `A very personal decision'
Why is North willing to leave his comfortable setup for the U.S. Senate? Why would a man chafed by seven years of scrutiny invite more public inspection? And why would a person who has emerged as perhaps the nation's most visible critic of Congress suddenly want to join the club?
"It's a very personal decision," he said. "If Bill Clinton weren't president of the United States and I hadn't read some of the things he's been saying, I wouldn't be thinking of it."
North said he sees America "heading with a socialist agenda at the top of our government and being supported by a majority in both Houses of Congress. I think these guys want to turn the clock back to the Lyndon Johnson era of big government, higher taxes and greater intrusion into the daily lives of American people."
Asked if he sees Clinton as a patriot, North said "I find Mr. Clinton lacking." Later in the interview, after an aide handed him a note, North added that he does not question Clinton's love of country.
North sees himself as an agent of change - part of a new generation of Republican leaders who would recommit the party to the Reagan mantra of no new taxes and a strong national defense. North also avidly supports term limits and has promised not to serve more than 12 years if he's elected.
He has laid the groundwork for a Senate race methodically, traveling the state to kick off campaigns and raise money for dozens of Republicans running for the House of Delegates this fall. GOP candidates have been impressed by his availability and have found that his appearance ensures a big turnout. Journalists from around the country also are flocking to the events. Del. William Howell, R-Fredericksburg, was surprised to see reporters from The New York Times and The Philadelphia Inquirer present at his campaign kickoff last month.
The payoff for North is the loyalty and gratitude of Republican legislators and activists across Virginia. "It's given him great exposure," said Scott Leake, director of the General Assembly's Joint Republican Caucus. "When he runs next year, you're going to see a lot of Assembly members behind him."
The early work of the draft-North committee, plus North's 100 percent name recognition among voters, has put North far ahead of two little-known potential challengers, former U.S. Attorney Jay Stephens and former Reagan administration budget director James C. Miller.
\ Questions of character
North's GOP critics worry that controversy over North's character would prevent him from questioning the character of incumbent Democrat Robb, who has battled allegations he had an affair with a beauty queen and was friendly with Virginia Beach drug dealers in the mid-1980s. The senator also has been embarrassed by his staff's leak of a secretly taped telephone conversation between Wilder and one of his friends.
North says he has no plans to attack Robb's character. "My heart goes out to his family and what they've been through," North said. "I think I know a little bit about what families endure when they're subjected to these things."
Joseph Elton, former executive director of the state GOP who recently signed on as an adviser to North, said polling and focus groups reveal that North's Iran-Contra role is not important to most voters. Far more urgent, he contends, is overcoming perceptions that North is an ultra right-winger.
In speeches and conversations, North stresses moderate themes - presenting himself as a small businessman overcome with burdensome regulation. Although he acknowledges a friendship with religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, North adds: "I am not anyone's single-issue candidate." He notes that he has imposed no litmus tests on the legislative candidates he has helped. "If they have an `R' after their name, I support them," he said.
But North's conservative underpinnings emerge when he's asked to outline his position on abortion, an issue he rarely brings up.
"The only thing a U.S. Senator is ever going to be called on to do is to vote whether public funds ought to be used for abortion," he said. "Do you have any doubt as to how I'm going to vote on that? I will vote against it, and there's nothing that will change my mind."
The other looming concern for North and his supporters is the media. The North camp is convinced that news organizations will portray North as a right-wing fanatic and focus on embarrassing episodes from Iran-Contra.
North's campaign no doubt will include a crusade against the media - a hot button among conservatives. In a recent fund-raising letter, North said he would need a record $15 million for his campaign, because "the media is out to destroy me, and I would need to . . . buy TV time outright - in order to go over their heads, directly to voters."
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