Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 23, 1995 TAG: 9511240041
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: ROBERT LITTLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
In an opinion released Wednesday, Gilmore said he will support the state law that allows Warner to call a primary election for his renomination in 1996.
The move was a blow to Warner's political opponents in the conservative wing of the state Republican Party, who had sought to have the laws declared unconstitutional so they could convene a nominating convention and defeat the senator without a public vote. Some suggested, however, that they still might challenge the law in court.
Conservative activists have dominated Virginia's Republican conventions in recent years; Warner and his supporters favor a primary, because Virginia law allows anyone - not just Republicans - to vote, allowing him to draw on his support among independents to win renomination.
Warner called a news conference in Northern Virginia on Wednesday to praise Gilmore's opinion, saying it ``confirms a Virginia law that has served our state well for 25 years.''
``To the extent this important decision can be called a victory, then it is the voters of Virginia who won,'' he said.
While Gilmore, a fellow Republican, stopped short of calling the law unconstitutional, he was critical that it flouts the free-speech and due-process rights of political parties.
``Unlike a court, the attorney general has no power to invalidate a statute,'' Gilmore wrote in his opinion, prepared at the request of Del. Robert Marshall, R-Manassas.
Opponents of the law saw that as an opening to keep their opposition alive.
A poll in August showed Warner a 2-1 bet to defeat any likely Democratic challenger, but some GOP leaders have sought to defeat him because he actively campaigned against Oliver North, the party's nominee for U.S. Senate in 1994. A year earlier, he refused to endorse Mike Farris, the GOP nominee for lieutenant governor.
Jim Miller, Warner's chief competition for the Republican nomination, said he welcomes either nomination format. Polls show him running close to Warner in a Republican primary. However, Miller said, ``a convention would be a slam-dunk'' in his favor.
The Republican State Central Committee is expected to vote Dec. 9 on whether to seek a primary or a convention in 1996 - regardless of whether Warner invokes his legal right to call for a primary.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB