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

DATE: FRIDAY, June 2, 1995                   TAG: 9506030003
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOHN GOOLRICK
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CONSISTENCY

The 104th Congress, of course, is not five months old and has been one of the most eventful ever. Yet based on the evidence of that quarter-year, Senator Robb has been voting pretty much in the same moderate-conservative manner of the past.

Even as governor of Virginia, Robb remained staunchly conservative on fiscal matters, but gravitated toward the center - and some would say the center-left - on social issues. For instance, he has been pro-choice for years and has made no bones about it. He has also been among those Democratic senators who favor a balanced-budget amendment.

I did not expect Robb to go down the line with the Republican Contract With America because a number of its parts simply do not square with his philosophy. He sought re-election as a moderate-conservative Democrat running against Republican Ollie North whose political philosophy is rock-bottom conservative on both fiscal and social issues of the day.

I simply thought that the senator in fighting for his political life might be far more beholden to a number of interest groups identified with liberal causes than he has been. I should have known better, since during all of Robb's political career he has never quite been accepted by either conservatives or liberals as one of them - yet during most of his elections had managed to get sizable numbers of votes from both groups.

He has always been a low-profile senator who has worked diligently behind the scenes to protect the state's military interests and the national defense in general.

These days he has immersed himself more and more in the intricate business of foreign affairs. That is not very exciting to state voters, but it is critical work that has to be done in a world where geopolitical realities must be faced. He does not agree with isolationist elements who think America can ignore the rest of the world.

Interestingly, Robb now has five and a half years remaining on his second Senate term, and has survived some of the worst political bumps any politician could ever experience. He deserves to be judged now on the basis of the votes he casts as a member of the U.S. Senate from Virginia and not on the basis of any other extraneous factors.

Though he is the junior senator from the state, if the groups that sought to defeat him last fall have their way and manage to beat Republican Sen. John Warner, Robb would become the senior senator. Once again, the law of unintended consequences would come into play.

I should hasten to add that there are thousands of Virginia conservatives who don't like Robb's votes on certain issues of a social nature or dealing with labor or education. But they are the kind of votes he was casting long before the re-election contest of 1994, and should come as no surprise.

John Goolrick, a former political reporter, is an aide to Republican Congressman Herbert Bateman of Newport News. Opinions expressed are Goolrick's own.