Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, December 26, 1993 TAG: 9402180013
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Margie Fisher
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Asked for his opinion, former Gov. Colgate Darden, a Democrat now deceased, shrugged, "Oh, well, let 'em have it. It'll be their last dance."
Not quite. Republicans would dance again in 1978, at the inaugural ball of Gov. John Dalton. But they've been wallflowers for a long time now, waiting for Gov.-elect George Allen to come along and get them on their feet. I'm sure they're ready to party. But can they get loose enough to kick up their heels at a rollicking, country hoedown?
A hoedown is being planned as one of several social events leading up to tobacco-chewing Allen's Jan. 15 swearing-in as Virginia's 67th chief executive. I, for one, think this soiree - he's calling it "Red, White and Boots," in keeping with the cowboy boots he usually wears - will be a terrific contribution to Virginia's ever-evolving inaugural folklore. And if it's an indication of the social "style" that Allen and his family will bring to the Governor's Mansion, it ought to be another fun-filled four years.
I'm not old enough (despite what you may think from the picture in this column) to remember the swearing-in of Patrick Henry, Virginia's first governor, or anything about his social style. From reading historical accounts, though, I'd say it's no wonder he opined, "Give me liberty or give me death."
Henry's inauguration, in Williamsburg in 1776, was such a deadly affair that nobody bothered to go to it. There were no parades, no receptions, no balls, no wide-eyed crowds, not even a picture in the newspapers.
As for mansion parties? Well, the legislature - doubtless on the recommendation of Senate Finance Chairman Hunter Andrews of Hampton, who good-naturedly admits he's older than God - had decided to pay the first governor just 1,000 pounds. That was hardly enough for Henry to have bought a few beers and pretzels for himself, much less do any entertaining, even if a pound did go further in those days than now.
I am old enough to remember when an invitation to an evening party at the mansion - and I've been privileged to have gotten a few - usually meant, for men, renting a tuxedo, and, for women, getting giddied up in long gowns, white gloves, bouffant hair-dos. Thus properly attired, one waited in line outside the mansion to go in just long enough to shake hands with the governor and first lady, take a few sips of fruit punch, then leave. The lights were turned off by 9:30.
Former Gov. Charles Robb and his wife, Lynda, tried to change this stiff social atmosphere in the early '80s. The Robbs, though, had a reputation as notorious social cheapskates. Many a legislator and reporter were surprised, having been invited, say, to come to a "Morning Coffee" between 8:30 and 10, to arrive at 9:15 to find the coffee pots nearly empty and a single platter of what had held cookies being carried back to the kitchen not to be reloaded and returned.
It was Robb's successor, Jerry Baliles, who really livened up the gubernatorial social scene. Many Virginians thought the bespectacled Baliles had the personality of a clam - but the guy was a party animal!
What would Patrick Henry have made of it? Rolling up the mansion's exquisite carpets, having rock 'n' roll bands come in to shake the old house's rafters, booze flowing freely, and distinguished Virginians staying there 'til 2 or 3 a.m. in the morning, acting the fools. The ancient Andrews dirty-dancing with first lady Jeannie Baliles. The late House Speaker A. L. Philpott, wearing a beanie with tiny twinkle lights, leading legislators in raucous singing. The guv doing the watusi with the attorney general. Henry would have been shocked, shocked!
As for inaugural folklore, take note: Virginia's first inaugural parade was in 1878; the first inaugural ball in 1886; the first use of a public-address system for an inaugural speech, 1926; the first inaugural pooper-scooper in 1986.
Inaugural pooper-scooper?
Oh, yeah. Baliles again. Seems he stayed out late partying on the night before his swearing-in, so late that when he returned to his southside Richmond home, he forgot to let out the family beagle, named Bandit. So, next morning, the first executive order came from Jeannie: to get his gubernatorial duff into the living room and clean up that dog's mess.
Can Allen top that story? Maybe not. For sheer razzle-dazzle, he may also not be able to top the Wilder inaugural of four years ago - when some 30,000 people, including scores of national celebrities, filled Richmond for rounds of galas to honor the first black elected governor in the nation's history. For Wilder, there was even a satellite inaugural celebration, planned for Virginia Democrats living abroad, in London.
But never mind. The young (41), congenial Allen may be partial to square dancing, but he's no square. I'm sure he and his wife, Susan, and their two children, will - like every other first family - make capital memories with their own style. I worry that the rafters in the nation's oldest governor's mansion may not withstand too many hoedowns. But what the hey - I hope they have a ball!
by CNB