Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 28, 1994 TAG: 9405310176
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MARGARET EDDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Goode's staff also released two 1990 memos from Robb's office, including one in which a former aide names more than a half-dozen women with whom the senator was sexually linked by fact or rumor.
The memo has been the subject of newspaper articles but has never been so widely disseminated. While some of the names listed in the memo have appeared in print, others have not.
"This will be extremely mild in comparison to what you will see on television in the fall" if Robb wins the June 14 Democratic primary, said Craig Bieber, Goode's campaign manager. "People need to realize this."
Several political scientists said that Goode, who until earlier this week had shied away from direct criticism of Robb, had little choice but to try to boost his campaign with an aggressive assault.
"His one big asset as a candidate is unmobilized anger toward Chuck Robb," said Mark Rozell, a political scientist at Mary Washington College. "Somehow, Virgil Goode has to mobilize that anger. He has to become the protest candidate."
A spokesman for Robb said the ads demonstrate that Goode "lacks the very character and integrity that he's so fond of claiming he possesses. ... The entire package is an attempt at character assassination based on fantasy and falsehood. Chuck Robb wouldn't engage in that kind of campaigning under any circumstances," said Bert Rohrer.
As for the release of the women's names, "any libel problems he has are his own," Rohrer said.
Robb has acknowledged socializing in a manner "inappropriate for a married man" as governor about a decade ago. But he says that period is behind him and that he has been forgiven by his wife.
Goode's media consultant said the campaign has paid about $18,000 for a one-week "full saturation buy" in Richmond. Money allowing, the spot will begin airing in Norfolk, Roanoke and Charlottesville by the middle of next week and in Northern Virginia a few days later, said consultant Joe Trippi.
The campaign hopes to invest "a six-figure" amount in television advertising before the primary, Trippi said.
The ad opens with a picture of Oliver North, the front-runner for the GOP nomination. "Oliver North is smiling because he knows Virginia will never condone Chuck Robb's conduct," says an announcer.
"Ollie North will ask Chuck Robb about his parties with prostitutes and drug criminals, involvement in what Robb's own staff described as sexual activity with young girls," he says. "Why give Ollie North this chance?"
As the announcer speaks, headlines from newspaper articles and editorials flit across the screen: "Chuck Robb and His Snorting Pals," "The Robb Tapes: Sex, Drugs, Intimidation and Gross Stupidity," and "The Sorry Saga of Chuck Robb," among others.
Bieber attributed the comments about prostitutes and young girls largely to a confidential 13-page memo dated Dec. 5, 1990, and written by a former Robb press secretary, Steve Johnson.
Johnson, now a free-lance writer in Charlottesville, is one of three former Robb aides who in 1992 pleaded guilty to minor infractions involving the release of an illegally taped phone conversation between former Gov. Douglas Wilder and a friend. The three were not involved in taping the conversation.
The memo detailed the results of an internal inquiry by Johnson and another former aide, Robert Watson, into a swirl of rumors and and press stories involving Robb in 1990.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB