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

DATE: SUNDAY, September 18, 1994                   TAG: 9409200068
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: D-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BUSH OFFERS TO SUPPORT NORTH

Former President George Bush has offered to endorse Oliver North in his bid for the U.S. Senate, The Washington Times reported Saturday.

``I would be pleased to endorse you if that would help in any way,'' Bush wrote North, the Republican nominee for the Virginia seat, in an Aug. 19 letter.

North said his campaign would release a formal letter of endorsement later.

``I have talked to him, and we have exchanged faxes. We have a letter in the works,'' North said.

Bush spokesman Jim McGrath said the former president has not scheduled any campaign appearance with North.

North is challenging Democratic incumbent Sen. Charles Robb and independent Marshall Coleman, a former Republican state attorney general.

Bush was vice president under former President Reagan during the Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages affair.

North, then a Marine lieutenant colonel attached to the National Security Council, arranged covert arms sales and funneled money to the Contras, Nicaraguan rebels, at a time when such funding was illegal, then lied to Congress before the scandal surfaced. He said his actions were justified because Congress was wrong to bar funds for the Contras.

North was convicted of felonies for destroying documents about the Iran-Contra deal, accepting an illegal gratuity and aiding in the obstruction of Congress. The convictions were overturned on appeal because his trial was tainted by congressional testimony North gave under immunity.

Both Bush and Reagan have said they knew nothing about the operation, despite North's claims they were aware of what he was doing.

Earlier this year, Reagan refused to endorse North, saying he was angry at North for the allegation. North later said, ``If the president says he didn't know, he didn't know.''

North has not retracted his statements about Bush's knowledge of the affair.

McGrath said that while Bush does not understand why North would make the allegation, ``The bottom line is that George Bush thinks that it's in the best interest for the Republican Party to reclaim a majority in the Senate.''

Keywords:
POLITICS

by CNB