Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, December 5, 1993 TAG: 9312050085
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ROB EURE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
The increasingly bitter public battle between the two party chiefs came to a head as members of the GOP State Central Committee voted 48-25 to ask McSweeney to bow McSweeney out.
"I'm going to continue as chairman," McSweeney promised after the daylong meeting.
Although the central committee vote was a strong repudiation of McSweeney, Allen's forces lacked the 75 percent support needed to strip the chairman of his office.
Nevertheless, Allen aides said the governor-elect considers McSweeney fired.
Whether or not he vacates his office is "up to him, now," said Allen's chief of staff, Jay Timmons. "The governor will work with district chairmen and unit chairmen" on party matters.
While Allen says the dispute centers on questions of McSweeney's loyalty to the governor-elect, McSweeney supporters cast it as a struggle for control between relative moderates and the conservatives - many of them evangelical Christians - who are the chairman's most vocal backers.
Allen says McSweeney undermined his campaign at several key points this year, including efforts to keep contributors away. He also blames McSweeney for moving their dispute into public view last week by orchestrating efforts to build support. Allen responded by disclosing that he had asked for the chairman's resignation.
McSweeney said the threat to his non-paid position had been "distracting. But do not assume a resignation ends the distraction." He and his supporters have argued that Allen is taking bad advice from a staff bent on gaining control of the state party.
"This disagreement has nothing to do with conservative versus moderate philosophy," Allen wrote McSweeney on Friday. "But it does have a lot to do with confidence and trust. . . . One cannot reconcile a lack of trust. That is fundamental."
The spectacle of Republican infighting - common in the party during the past 12 years of losses in statewide elections - clearly was dispiriting to many members of the central committee Saturday. One of Allen's most potent campaign themes this fall was his criticism of the Democratic wars between Gov. Douglas Wilder and U.S. Sen. Charles Robb.
"The honeymoon has moved into a bitter divorce just one month after the election," said Kevin Gentry of Fairfax, a McSweeney supporter.
"Pat McSweeney is still going to be chairman, and this situation is only going to get worse," said GOP National Committeeman Morton Blackwell, a leader in the party's most conservative wing.
Saturday's debate was closed to reporters. According to several people in the room, it was run by Allen aides who stood at the back of the room signaling instructions to their supporters through a series of sometimes confusing votes and maneuvers leading to the vote against McSweeney.
Allen backers said they intended a strong rebuke to push McSweeney toward resignation, but do not plan to initiate proceedings to try to force his ouster.
Allen did not attend the meeting. The main speaker on his behalf, his former campaign manager and Secretary of Administration-designate Mike Thomas, argued Allen's credibility was at stake in the vote.
"I think George is now seen as the leader of the party," said Donald Williams of Chesapeake, chairman of the 4th Congressional District Committee. "I think the writing is on the wall for Pat McSweeney to go."
"I don't see how a reasonable person could stay on," said James Rich, GOP chairman of the 10th Congressional District.
McSweeney's rift with Allen could compound already severe financial troubles for the party, perhaps starving McSweeney out of office. The chairman has sent out several urgent fund-raising appeals since the Nov. 2 election. Allen and Attorney General-elect Jim Gilmore declined to attend a party fund-raiser Friday night in Richmond.
The party faces a debt of about $100,000, several sources said. And Saturday, Allen's backers postponed adoption of the party budget for next year.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB