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

DATE: MONDAY, October 30, 1995                   TAG: 9510300108
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

PROSECUTOR DEFENDS STAFF IN `THEFT'

Phil Keith, Montgomery County commonwealth's attorney, says he doesn't believe a letter to him from the Virginia Tech police chief was delivered to his political opponent by anyone on his staff.

Keith, the Democratic incumbent, also said he planned to file a complaint against Joey Showalter, his Republican challenger, with the Virginia State Bar.

Keith was upset last week when Showalter read the letter from Chief Mike Jones at a candidates forum sponsored by The Roanoke Times. The letter took Keith to task for not fighting harder to have a car that was seized during an arrest forfeited for use by police.

Neither Keith nor Jones gave permission for the letter to be released publicly, and both said they considered it stolen property. Jones said Keith's written response to his complaint explained satisfactorily what had happened in the case. Keith told Jones that after a forfeiture hearing, a judge ruled that the car should be returned to its owner.

Showalter and his campaign adviser, James Oliver, said the letter was important information for voters, because it illustrated the problems within the office that Showalter has mentioned during the campaign.

Oliver said Friday that the letter came from someone within the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office.

"Each member of my staff has assured me that he or she was not involved, and I believe them," Keith said in a Saturday news release.

"I call upon Mr. Showalter for a public apology to the members of my staff for the slander his campaign has put upon their names. I further call upon him for a public apology to myself for using a piece of personal correspondence that he knew to be stolen."

Keith labelled Showalter's use of the letter "very unethical" and said he planned to file a complaint with the Virginia State Bar.

Showalter, in a news release Sunday, said Keith's concentration on the letter was an attempt to divert attention from his record and the real issues of the campaign.

"His charges are absurd, and I am appalled that he would attack my character in this manner. The letter was not stolen; it was given to me," Showalter said.

"Mr. Keith thinks that, by using words like `unethical,' `stolen' and `slander,' he can divert attention away from his lack of leadership and the disorganization that plagues [his] office. He is the one who should be offering an apology to the people of Montgomery County."

Showalter said he thought Keith should have included the letter in the public court file and that Keith "deliberately withheld the letter from the record to avoid public scrutiny and criticism ..."

Showalter said it was time for Keith to "accept the responsibility for his lack of leadership and ineffectiveness, instead of continually shifting the blame on other people and side-stepping the issues."

Oliver said he understood copies of the letter were made and given to several people, especially at the Tech police department. If that's the case, there's nothing unethical, he said: "That's not private."

Keywords:
POLITICS

by CNB