Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 24, 1994 TAG: 9409260036
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE AND MARGARET EDDS STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Speaking to reporters in the predominately black Church Hill section of Richmond, Robb said the flag issue may be a way that North will seek to energize his base of conservative voters.
"It clearly resonates with some of his target audience," the Democratic incumbent said. "But it resonates because it's an appeal to intolerance and not to the kind of mainstream values that I hope to continue to support."
It was one of the few personal attacks Robb has ventured to make, and it brought swift and furious response. A few minutes later, North held a news conference in a downtown Richmond club to launch a counterattack.
North accused Robb of using the Confederate flag to appeal to the racial sensitivities of supporters of former Gov. Douglas Wilder, who exited the Senate race last week.
"Let me figure out what is going on here," North said in mock confusion. "Chuck Robb, who has permanently alienated the African-American vote in Virginia by being involved in the wiretapping of Governor Wilder, is now desperate to raise funds for himself and has launched a very cynical effort to win back that vote by trying to divide the commonwealth along racial lines. I believe that's a shameful act."
The Republican was referring to a 1991-93 federal grand jury investigation of Robb's role in providing the media with an illegally recorded cellular telephone conversation between Wilder and a supporter. Robb was not charged, but three of his former Senate staff members were convicted of conspiring to leak the tape.
On Friday, North also accused the media of misrepresenting his statement at a rally in Danville on Tuesday that "there's absolutely no reason for political correctness" when it comes to the public display of the Confederate flag.
Friday, North acknowledged that the flag could be painful to some people, given the South's legacy of slavery.
"Yes, I can undersand how some people can be offended, but are we going to take every monument and cemetery south of the Mason-Dixon Line down?" North asked.
Robb said he could understand displaying the Confederate flag "in an appropriate historical context. ... It's only when it's a contemporary context that it serves to divide. I can't either challenge or regulate what individuals do. I can hope they're sensitive enough to their fellow human beings that they would not want to gratuitously divide."
Robb explained he did not request that the Confederate flag be removed from Virginia National Guard fighter planes when he was governor because the issue didn't come up until Wilder took office in 1990.
Former state Attorney General Marshall Coleman, a former Republican who is running against Robb and North as an independent, and Republican Gov. George Allen both have argued against displaying the flag because it offends some Virginians.
Coleman said Thursday that ``as long as it creates such division between blacks and whites, I don't think we should compound that division by displaying the flag on public buildings.''
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB