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

DATE: THURSDAY, August 17, 1995                   TAG: 9508170085
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                  LENGTH: Medium

GILMORE REQUESTS NOMINEE LAW IDEAS

Attorney General Jim Gilmore said Wednesday that he needs help in determining the constitutionality of a state law that allows Republican U.S. Sen. John Warner to choose how the GOP will select its nominee for his seat next year.

Del. Robert Marshall, R-Manassas, asked Gilmore for a formal opinion on the constitutionality of the law that allows Warner to demand a primary, which polls show the three-term senator probably would win. Some Republican opponents of Warner say that if a convention were held instead, the party could nominate someone other than Warner.

Some conservative Republicans were angered over the senator's refusal to support Oliver North in his unsuccessful challenge to Democratic U.S. Sen. Charles Robb last year and Warner's rejection of Mike Farris, the failed GOP candidate for lieutenant governor in 1993.

Gilmore said he wants both parties, voter advocacy groups, both U.S. senators and the public to submit legal briefs or memoranda on the issue by Oct. 16.

Gilmore spokesman Mark Miner said the attorney general's announcement wasn't motivated by politics.

``We're looking for legal comments,'' he said. ``We're acting as lawyers here, not as politicians.''

The law generally allows an incumbent - state, federal or local - to decide whether his or her party's nominee will be decided by primary or convention.

If Warner, Marshall or anyone else disagrees with Gilmore's forthcoming interpretation of the law, that person could take the matter to court, Miner said.

Warner, in a written response, noted that the statute has been in effect for more than 25 years.

``I intend to follow the law and seek my nomination through a primary election in the spring of 1996,'' he said. ``As I have said many times, I welcome all challengers and expect a very broad participation.''

Jim Miller, a budget director in the Reagan administration, already has announced that he will oppose Warner for the nomination. State Republican Chairman Patrick McSweeney has said he might run.

Democratic spokeswoman Gail Nardi attacked Gilmore's statement as ``an effort to take political cover from the extremes of his own party.''

``He has been asked what he thinks the law is, and if the attorney general cannot determine that through his own office, we need to take a good look at whether the attorney general's office under Mr. Gilmore is competent to do the job,'' Nardi said.

by CNB