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

DATE: TUESDAY, August 24, 1993                   TAG: 9308240558
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

WILDER ASIDE, CLINTON STANDS BY ROBB ENDORSEMENT

"The president's letter stands," said Mark Gearan, Clinton's director of communications, referring to a letter Clinton signed this summer to help Robb's fund raising.

Gearan's comments came hours after Wilder suggested to reporters that Clinton had expressed regret to him last week over making the endorsement.

The two of them discussed the situation during a meeting last week in Tulsa, Okla., Wilder said, and Clinton said that "had he known that I was running, he would never have done that."

Gearan declined comment on Wilder's account of the meeting. "It would be inappropriate to discuss a private conversation," he said.

Clinton's letter was made public just a few days after Wilder declared his intentions in June but apparently was written well before then. At the time, Wilder said Robb had "traded his vote" on Clinton's federal budget and tax plan in exchange for the president's backing.

Wilder, who like Robb supported and campaigned for Clinton, has been one of the president's most outspoken Democratic critics in recent months. He contends that the Clinton budget did not sufficiently cut federal spending and raised taxes too much.

"As far as I'm concerned personally, it doesn't matter," Wilder said Monday of Clinton's involvement in his ongoing fight with Robb. The matter has not disturbed his relationship with Clinton, the governor added.

In a letter to Clinton earlier this month, 41 prominent blacks from across the country demanded that Clinton withdraw the Robb endorsement. The group, including poet Maya Angelou and former Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry, expressed "utter outrage" at the endorsement and called it a "disrespectful action toward a member of our community who has overwhelmingly supported you."

The signers, members of the Leadership Retreat Family, an informal national network of black professionals, artists and religious and political figures - among them Wilder - described themselves as "friendly supporters" of the president. But they referred to Wilder as a "family member" and said they could not accept Clinton's intervention against him.

Last week, after the black leaders' letter was released, the White House appeared to back away from Robb slightly. "The president has never threatened the political career of Doug Wilder and he is also not going to take sides in a Democratic primary - if there is a Democratic primary," spokesman Jeff Eller said then.

Keywords:
POLITICS