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

DATE: TUESDAY, January 18, 1994                   TAG: 9401180228
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

GOP LEADER WANTS AIDES DISCIPLINED

A prominent Republican has distributed 2,000 letters to party faithful calling on Gov. George Allen to discipline two of his top aides for trying to unseat the state party chairman, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Monday.

Morton C. Blackwell, one of the state GOP's two representatives to the Republican National Committee, said in the letter that Allen's chief of staff and secretary of administration should be punished for giving their boss bad advice.

Shortly after the election, Allen demanded the resignation of Patrick McSweeney, saying that he lacked confidence in the party chairmen. Allen aides have said McSweeney did not do enough to support Allen's campaign.

Blackwell, a strong McSweeney supporter, told the newspaper that he wrote the letter to try to stop the infighting.

"I want this governor to succeed," he said.

He said Allen's aides "frittered away" one of Allen's biggest assets - his image as a "nice guy" - in the attempt to oust McSweeney.

"This party bloodletting was unnecessary, the result of awful advice," he wrote.

Allen asked for McSweeney's resignation Nov. 30; the chairman refused. Allen's aides were successful in persuading two-thirds of the party's state central committee to ask for McSweeney to resign at a Dec. 4 meeting. Party rules require a three-fourths vote of the central committee to force the chairman to step down.

Allen's chief of staff, Jay Timmons, and secretary of administration, Mike Thomas, helped lead the charge against McSweeney.

When asked about Blackwell's letter, Ken Stroupe, Allen's press secretary, said, "Governor Allen is not [Blackwell's] first priority in terms of loyalty."

by CNB