Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 2, 1994 TAG: 9410030087
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium
``I'm not sure that the country needs more lawyers,'' Quayle, himself an attorney, said at the ceremony outside Regent University's law and government building. ``But what the country needs are more good lawyers.''
Quayle is considering a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 1996, a role Robertson unsuccessfully sought in 1988. Robertson turned his failure into a grass-roots political organization, the Christian Coalition, that has become a powerful force within GOP circles.
But Quayle denied any political purpose in his visit. The Christian Coalition is officially nonpartisan and does not endorse candidates, although most of its members support Republican positions on issues, and Quayle said he and Robertson are ``very compatible'' in their views.
Robertson said he was ``a little nostalgic for the good ol' days of 1992'' when Quayle and former President Bush were still in office. ``Who knows what the future may hold for the former vice president?''
Quayle was guest speaker for the dedication of A. Willis Robertson Hall, named for Pat Robertson's father. The senior Robertson, who died in 1971, was a U.S. senator from Virginia.
About 1,500 people turned out to hear Quayle praise Regent for providing a biblical framework for the study of law. He urged the school's students to enter public life to defend religious rights when they graduate.
Quayle said an increasingly secular government is becoming more and more hostile to people of faith, and that government policies on taxes and welfare discourage traditional families.
``We must turn the moral tide of America toward hard work, toward integrity, toward responsibility and, yes, toward traditional family values,'' he said.
Robertson Hall, which was completed about a year ago, holds the 325-student law school and 100-student government school at Regent. The university was founded by Robertson in 1977 on the same complex as his Christian Broadcasting Network and originally was called CBN University.
The new building also is headquarters for the American Center for Law and Justice, a legal rights organization created by Robertson as a conservative rival to the American Civil Liberties Union.
by CNB