ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 16, 1993                   TAG: 9306160330
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

THERE WAS NO DOUBLE STANDARD

I WAS terribly disappointed that Howard Musser implied that there was some double standard in regards to my history with the Democratic Party, and I do not want the impression to remain that I have in the past run for public office in violation of a pledge of party loyalty. I would like to set the record straight.

I have never participated in the party process, been unsuccessful and then sought a back-door approach to electoral office. It is inappropriate to make a comparison between one who was, because of circumstances beyond his control, blocked from running as a Democrat as I was in 1990, and one who openly seeks to defeat the party's nominee after signing a pledge to support that nominee. I did not and would not do that.

I was not able to participate in the nomination meeting in March of 1990 because complexities concerning my railroad retirement benefits were resolved too late to register with the party as a potential nominee. Although I had been successful in past Democratic mass meetings, I stayed at arms' length from the process that year. Although the results on Election Day were personally disappointing, I did not express bitterness or comment with malice. Instead, I attended the Democratic victory celebration and congratulated and joked with the winning Democrats. This approach must have made a positive impression on most Democrats at the celebration, as I achieved success in a party nomination in subsequent years.

There can never be a double standard if you do what is proper. JAMES O. TROUT ROANOKE 


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