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

DATE: MONDAY, February 14, 1994                   TAG: 9402140007
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Rob Eure
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

WILDER GETS A TASTE OF HIS MEDICINE

Now those students are applying the lessons. Senate Democrats, perhaps Wilder's most frequent adversaries, have ditched state appointments Wilder sought for some of his closest advisers.

As Joe Kennedy used to say, "Don't get mad; get even."

The Senate Privileges and Elections Committee declined last week even to take up three resolutions for Wilder appointees, thus stripping plum appointments from chief Wilder strategist Paul Goldman, Chief of Staff Glenn Davidson, Deputy Chief of Staff William Porter, Secretary of Education James Dyke and Secretary of Administration Ruby Martin.

The assignments they were to receive included posts on the State Council of Higher Education, the board of the Center for Innovative Technology and the board of the Virginia Retirement System.

Applying another Wilder rule, the committee chairman, Sen. Joseph Gartlan Jr., D-Fairfax County, didn't acknowledge any payback in killing the appointments. "I found some of these people unacceptable," Gartlan noted dryly.

This bit of intrigue is even more interesting considering that some Democrats in the House and Senate had serious reservations about the initial appointees of Republican Gov. George Allen, but approved them anyway.

On the morning of Allen's inauguration, Wilder spent his last hours as governor in his third-floor office making appointments, trying to protect his legacy. The rejection of some of those appointments underscores just how rotten Wilder's relations had become with members of his party.

Several members of the Wilder gang responded by dusting off one of their favorite complaints against any adversary: racism.

Goldman alleged that Virginia's good ol' boys have "never forgiven me for coming down from New York and helping elect an African American over their wishes."

Davidson argued that the appointments are deserved perks for those who served in Wilder's government.

As Wilder's press secretary and staff chief, Davidson drew a salary close to six figures and accompanied Wilder on junkets overseas and around the nation during the short-lived presidential campaign. He remained on the public payroll in a job created for him at Virginia State University after Wilder left office.

Gee. It's hard to imagine what Gartlan - who, incidentally, was a Wilder supporter when Goldman still lived in New York - found objectionable about these guys.

True, legislative approval of gubernatorial appointments traditionally has been routine. But the Senate's snub is not entirely without precedent - one set by Wilder himself.

In 1990, the House committee in charge of approving gubernatorial appointees inadvertently let the final selections of former Gov. Gerald Baliles expire without acting on them. Wilder, who ran on Baliles' record and shared his party label, declined to resubmit the names and replaced them with his own choices.

Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994