Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 24, 1994 TAG: 9403260021
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A13 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Ray L. Garland
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
In searching Dickens, perhaps the closest copy of Robb is Uriah Heep, always unctuous and self-serving: "I am well aware that I am the 'umblest person going. ... My mother is likewise a very 'umble person." But if the epitaph on Robb's political career is ever needed, it could surely be found in "Little Dorritt" where this line appears: "Whatever was required to be done, the Circumlocution Office was beforehand with all the public departments in the art of perceiving - HOW NOT TO DO IT."
For North, of course, no torrent of words serve half so well as the single name Dickens gave one of his most memorable characters, the Artful Dodger.
Robb's recent Confessions of St. Charles must be the most pitiful document of self-exculpation in the annals of politics. One line alone qualifies for the world's record in the domain of the sanctimony: "I live by a personal code - a core set of principles and beliefs - in which truth is an absolute."
Forget the several versions of his private life he has told. Forget the confidential intelligence gathered by his Senate staff at taxpayer expense and now revealed in the public press in all its sordid detail. Forget the sworn affidavits that Norfolk investigator Billy Franklin claims to have backing up charges in his book that Robb not only consorted with those openly using cocaine, but used it himself in their presence. Simply contrast the conservative rhetoric Robb used to win three statewide elections with his liberal voting record in the Senate since Clinton won.
If the Republican Party now does anything to help Robb gain another six years in office, it has lost its collective mind. I have never said North can't win, and won't quite say it now. Given enough money - and he will have the money - modern media wizards can work miracles. But they will certainly have their work cut out for them.
The most recent Mason-Dixon poll, completed March 20, shows North well down in a race with Robb, but not beyond hope of resuscitation. It was good news for James Miller, the former Reagan budget director who is challenging North for the GOP nod. While not yet a household name, Miller ran dead even with Robb.
In the days leading up to the poll, both Robb and North took a beating. While the senator's confessions played to dismal reviews, North was chastised by none other than Ronald Reagan, the patron saint of modern Republicanism.
The state's senior GOP leader, Sen. John Warner, went well beyond the relatively mild rebuke delivered by the former president, declaring North unfit to serve in the Senate. Wow! To be deemed unfit to serve in a body that contains the likes of some we could name seems excessive. But whenever a politician does something so contrary to his own security, it must command respect. Warner is now making it clear that not only will he refuse to support North, he is likely to campaign against him.
There may be other shoes to drop on Robb, but the volume of shoes that could drop on North is frightful. Running a fine-tooth comb through the vast record of Iran-Contra will turn up such tidbits as Betsy North going to Philadelphia May 1, 1986 to meet a Swiss lawyer representing James Secord and Albert Hakim - the arms dealers to whom North was giving business. Three weeks later, Hakim transferred $200,000 into a Swiss bank account to North's credit, where it still sits frozen, according to Martin Anderson, a Reagan appointee and now a fellow at the Hoover Institution.
Secord and Hakim also made a special will leaving $2 million to North in the event of their deaths. When asked about these matters at the congressional hearing, North said it was the first time he knew of them. And it's a fact, the $200,000 wasn't touched.
Granting that the $2 million bequest was very unlikely ever to be paid, it's possible that Secord and Hakim took these steps as potential blackmail should North turn uncooperative. Still, they are among the most troubling of a laundry list of troubling questions.
If you call yourself a Virginia conservative, your highest priority now should be removing Robb from the Senate. By nominating North, you run the clear risk of reducing your chances of accomplishing that. And anyone as dedicated to the conservative cause as North claims to be would have seen that from the start and steered clear.
Political parties should always look askance at candidates who stand to lose little by losing. Win or lose, North's candidacy serves what Warner has aptly described as his "money-milking machine."
The one person who can transform this situation overnight is our old friend Lawrence Douglas Wilder, late of Capitol Square, who is said to be edging toward a re-entry mode as we speak. What a blessing it is in politics to drop from sight for a few months, and how often it is that events conspire to grant our dearest wish.
Only in the present farce could Wilder assume, without smirking, the mantle of savior. And only Wilder has the network to gather quickly the thousands of signatures required by mid-April to get on the Democrats' June ballot. But why rush in? He can wait to file as an independent in the general election and cut both his fuss and his risk. To have Dame Fortune smile so sweetly upon you and not roll the dice again - ah, that would be wrong.
And now comes state Sen. Virgil Goode of Rocky Mount to try his hand in the Democratic primary, providing he can get all those petitions signed. With unions on your side, that should be possible, and we must assume he has squared the labor leaders. Goode is an interesting figure - a cross between a demagogue and a backwoods clergyman - but his full-length portrait must await a future column.
Ray L. Garland is a Roanoke Times & World-News columnist.
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