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

DATE: MONDAY, February 13, 1995                   TAG: 9502130060
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

NORTH WARNS GOP AGAINST COMPLACENCY, PITCHES TALK SHOW

Oliver North warned conservatives that a Republican majority in Congress is no guarantee that the country is headed in a different direction.

The former Marine lieutenant colonel and Iran-Contra figure said the new Republican majorities in Congress must ``de-fang and de-fund a bloated government that has grown to resemble Jabba the Hutt.''

``Some people believe that all we have to do at this point is now wait for the '96 election, sweep out Bill Clinton, see the demise of the liberal left, and all will be well on the Potomac,'' he said. ``My friends, don't believe that for one single second.''

North, who failed to unseat Sen. Charles Robb, D-Va., in November, issued his warning Saturday to a group of conservatives meeting in Washington.

North appeared at the 22nd annual Conservative Political Action Conference to pitch his new talk show and newsletter. The talk show is to start March 6. The newsletter, ``Ollie North Front Lines: Dispatches for Americans Under Fire,'' is due out this spring.

North reiterated that he was not running for political office any time soon.

But, ``For those of you who want me to run again, keep your powder dry. There is a future,'' he said.

In a survey asking the presidential preferences of 421 conference attendees, only 0.2 percent picked North. Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, won with 40 percent.

But in the exhibit hall, lines formed when North offered snapshots and autographs. Promoters of the Conservative Television Network, which is scheduled to go on the air this spring, paid North an honorarium to spend three hours in their booth autographing copies of his first book, ``Under Fire.''

Gavin Goschinski, 21, from New Jersey said North's speech was ``a little light,'' and he should have taken on ``hard-core conservative issues like the U.N. and global tyranny and the new world order.''

``I'd like to see Ollie run for president in the next century. If not win, advance the conservative ideology, really galvanize conservatives - be kind of a Goldwater-type candidate,'' Goschinski said.

by CNB