Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 27, 1995 TAG: 9510270066
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Except for one, that is.
House GOP challenger Jeff Artis was left off the list of honorees at a big-ticket fund-raiser North will attend in Roanoke on Saturday on behalf of three other local Republicans.
V-PAC, North's campaign finance organization, is the host of the cocktail party and dinner to raise money for state Sen. Brandon Bell, R-Roanoke County, and GOP House challengers Newell Falkinburg and Trixie Averill.
Artis says he doesn't mind being left off that list, even though his campaign is lagging far behind other Republicans in fund raising.
Rushing to get the invitations out, organizers of the party forgot to include him, Artis says. They called him later, apologized and invited him. But Artis says he can't make it because of a previous commitment.
Asked if he felt slighted in any way, Artis replied, "No, not at all."
"If I didn't have a previous commitment, I'm not sure if I'd be there," he says. " ... I would be sitting there listening to people talk and that's houses - 100 to 150 doors I could be knocking on."
The former teacher, who now publishes a newsletter for black conservatives, strongly opposed North in the 1994 Senate campaign against Democratic Sen. Charles Robb and independent Marshall Coleman.
"The North people and I have reached an understanding," Artis says. "We've agreed to disagree. I think he's a little too conservative for my taste."
Mindful of North's' relatively weak showing in the city last year, some other Roanoke Valley Republicans privately have expressed concerns that more than the ex-Marine's money will rub off on Bell, Averill and Falkinburg.
The fear is the trio may lose votes if the public strongly associates them with North, the central figure in the Iran-Contra affair that became a scandal during the Reagan administration.
Democrats, meanwhile, say they're glad North is coming to town.
"I think it shows their allegiance is not to the Roanoke Valley," says Senate challenger John Edwards. "Their allegiance is to a narrow ideological agenda, a part of the Republican Party that was resoundingly rejected last year."
"Brandon welcomes [North's] support as he would welcome anyone's support," says James Faulkner, Bell's campaign manager. Bell also received a $250 contribution from Sen. John Warner this year, Faulkner noted.
"Anybody who believes in what Brandon stands for and his platform is welcome. No more Oliver North than any other Virginian."
Staff writer Kimberly N. Martin contributed to this report.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB