Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 6, 1994 TAG: 9404060114
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By WARREN FISKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
``This is a family matter. I don't want to get into this,'' Miller said moments before abruptly adjourning a news conference.
Minutes earlier, Miller called on all candidates in this year's Senate race to ``break the cycle of deceit and disgust'' by disclosing health records, at least five years of tax returns and the results of any federal investigation of the candidate.
The action, several political scientists said, was clearly intended to draw attention to North's three-week hospitalization at Bethesda Naval Hospital for a mental breakdown 20 years ago.
North has said his problems were triggered by marital difficulties and combat fatigue from Vietnam.
There have been unverified reports over the years - all denied by the candidate - that North suffered from suicidal depression and that he may not have divulged his hospitalization on security forms he signed while working at the White House in the 1980s.
North called Miller's move the ``desperate strategy'' of a losing campaign. North is the front-runner in the Republican Senate nomination contest with Miller.
Miller handed reporters a 3-inch-thick dossier containing hundreds of pages of undramatic data the FBI compiled during security investigations in the 1980s on his appointment as White House budget director.
He also released tax filings showing his income steadily rose, from $78,000 in 1985 to $470,000 in 1992.
Without mentioning North by name, Miller said: ``If an incumbent or candidate is so embarrassed by their past that they feel they cannot release the type of information I have presented today, they have no business asking Virginians to send them to do the people's work in the United States Senate.''
Asked if North's past psychiatric problems should be an issue in the campaign, Miller said: ``Anyone who has a mental problem should see a psychiatrist. That's not a problem.
"The question is disclosure. The people of Virginia should make an evaluation in that regard.''
When it came to his own medical records, however, Miller released a letter from a physician stating merely that he is in ``excellent health.''
When asked by reporters whether he ever had sought psychological help, Miller acknowledged he had, for a ``mood disorder,'' which he said has run for three generations in his family.
He declined to release records or elaborate. His aides quickly stopped the news conference.
Later, the campaign issued a statement saying Miller consulted with a psychiatrist ``four or five times'' after his father's death.
North reacted angrily to Miller's remarks and said he will not release his medical, FBI or tax records.
``Jim Miller ought to be ashamed that those of us who saw the horrors of Vietnam and then sought counseling to heal the wounds of war are somehow not up to his standards,'' he said.
North said Miller's ``desperate strategy of character assassination backfired.''
In his autobiography, ``Under Fire,'' North said he suffered his breakdown after departing for a second tour of duty in Asia and receiving a letter from his wife saying she felt neglected and was filing for a divorce.
He said psychiatrists persuaded him to undergo marriage counseling with his wife and that his depression ended when the two reconciled.
The Washington Times, quoting unnamed sources, reported in 1986 that North's commanding officer, the late Richard Schultze, discovered North sitting at home naked with a gun at his head.
North has denounced the report as a ``scandalous lie.'' The New York Times reported that year that Schultze removed the hospitalization records from North's military file.
Richard Allen, former director of the National Security Council, said several years ago that he would not have hired North in 1982 if he had known about the hospitalization.
That comment raised questions over whether North properly divulged his depression on security-clearance forms.
In a recent interview, Allen said North was not asked about the hospitalization when he came to the NSC. ``I don't think, for the temporary duty to which he was assigned, that that would have been the case,'' Allen said.
A spokesman for Democratic incumbent Sen. Charles Robb said Robb would not produce his own records in response to potential challengers.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB