Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 7, 1993 TAG: 9310070281
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BY BONNIE V. WINSTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
The group, led by Virginia R. "Jinks" Holton, wife of former Gov. Linwood Holton, and by Charlottesville businessman Bill Crutchfield, said Beyer has more in common politically with mainstream Republicans than does Michael Farris, the GOP nominee.
In news conferences in each of the state's major television markets, Crutchfield and Holton painted Farris as an extremist and danger to their party.
"One reason we founded Republicans for Beyer is to help defeat Pat Robertson's master plan of taking over the Republican Party," Crutchfield said.
Farris, an evangelical Christian and home-schooling advocate, has the backing of Virginia Beach religious broadcaster Robertson.
Thousands of home-schoolers turned out for the Republican convention in June to help give Farris the party's nomination for lieutenant governor.
Holton, who supported Farris' opponent, Bobbie Kilberg, said most of the Farris supporters she saw at the June convention "had no knowledge of or interest in the Republican Party. I resent some group using my party as a vehicle to impose their views."
Crutchfield quoted from a fund-raising letter Robertson wrote in August on Farris' behalf. In it, Robertson said the lieutenant governor's race was not only for a political office, but for the future of the Republican Party.
"If Mike Farris succeeds," Crutchfield said, "it will prove that Pat Robertson and his Christian Coalition are capable of electing candidates to statewide office who represent their extreme ideology . . . "
`I am a Republican and a strong supporter of [GOP gubernatorial candidate] George Allen. But I'm not going to vote a straight ticket on Nov. 2," he added.
Republican Party officials were not fazed.
"The best they could do was find the mother of a former Clinton administration official and pointy-headed first-year law student. OK, big deal," said Rich Jefferson, state GOP spokesman.
Holton's son, Dwight, recently resigned from President Clinton's staff to attend law school at the University of Virginia.
Crutchfield said the group will run newspaper advertisements Friday across the state to remind GOP voters that they can "split their ticket and vote for a candidate who more accurately represents their values, even if that candidate is of a different political party."
He said the group also will seek the support of party "names," such as U.S. Sen. John Warner. Two weeks ago, Warner, the only Republican elected statewide, hemmed and hawed when asked if he'll vote for Farris.
"Come see me the day before the election," Warner finally told a television interviewer.
Farris spokesman Tim Cox questioned whether many people on the Beyer list are active Republicans. And he said Farris expects to get votes from Democrats disillusioned with their party's ticket and leadership.
Several Republican activists contacted later Wednesday said the GOP effort for Beyer doesn't represent a crumbling of party unity.
"This has no effect on Allen. This is strictly Farris," said Mary Vaughan Gibson, former president of the Virginia Federation of Republican Women.
She said she knows of scores of GOP faithful, including those who hold party positions, who either will vote for Beyer or simply not vote in the lieutenant governor's race because Farris is "so far from mainstream."
"To suggest that the party is being divided by Pat Robertson or Mike Farris is misrepresentative," said state Sen. Kenneth Stolle of Virginia Beach.
He conceded that some Republicans are "dissatisfied" with Farris' candidacy but said "this is just a small fraction of the party."
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB