ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 23, 1996 TAG: 9603250042
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C--1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
THE REPUBLICANS' LATEST grass-roots uprising against U.S. Sen. John Warner has come in Franklin County, where an intraparty tussle now leaves two men claiming to be the party's local chairman.
Randy Huckaba was elected chairman of the Franklin County Republican Party on Tuesday night. Problem is, the man he ousted, former Chairman Carthan Currin, says he's still in charge.
The dispute - based on the legality of proxy votes at a mass meeting - is raising eyebrows across the state, because it cuts to the heart of the ideological fight now raging among local Republican parties.
Currin's overthrow as chairman had a lot to do with his support of incumbent U.S. Sen. John Warner, said Huckaba.
Warner, a three-term incumbent, is facing a formidable challenge from former Reagan administration budget director Jim Miller for the party's nomination in the June primary.
Warner has polarized many Republicans because of his refusal to endorse GOP nominee Oliver North, who lost to U.S. Sen. Charles Robb, a Democrat, in 1994.
"I want to pull this party together, not split it apart," Huckaba said Friday. "But there's a lot of people who didn't agree with the thinking of those who were leading the party, and the John Warner issue is a prime example."
Currin said he was stabbed by a group of people who came to the mass meeting "with a Bible in one hand and a knife in the other."
Said Huckaba: "I didn't see anybody carrying a Bible or a knife."
What a number of people did carry into the meeting was a plan to oust Currin.
Harris Warner, a vice chairman of the Franklin County party who voted for Huckaba because of the John Warner issue, said he was aware of a movement to elect a new chairman prior to Tuesday's meeting.
Harris Warner, who served as parliamentarian at the meeting and made a ruling on the proxy situation, said he didn't tell Currin because he'd been sworn to secrecy.
More than 20 proxy votes were added to ballots of about 80 people at the meeting, and Huckaba was declared the winner. The vote count has not been released, although Currin said he's been told the proxy votes made the difference for Huckaba.
Thursday, Currin supporters contacted state Republican Party leaders, who said the party plan does include a section that prohibits the use of proxy votes at a mass meeting.
However, Franklin County's GOP bylaws, which Currin helped revise several years ago, do allow for them.
The state party plan also says that local district committees should solve disputes.
Friday, 5th District Republican Chairman Donovan Edwards of Martinsville said he's recognizing Huckaba as the Franklin County chairman, and Currin will have to go through appeal channels to overturn the election.
First, Currin must file a formal complaint with the Franklin County Republican executive committee. If the matter isn't settled to his liking, he can appeal to the 5th District executive committee, Edwards said.
Currin said Friday that he's always supported Republican nominees - including North and former lieutenant governor candidate Mike Farris.
"I'm now backing John Warner because it's the right thing to do for Virginia," he said.
But Currin said if Warner were to lose the June primary, he would support Miller.
"If these single-minded, single-issue people think they can come in and take over this party, then they better think again," he said. "Just like in medieval times, if you're going to overthrow the king, you better make sure you get him the first time."
Countering, Huckaba said he was elected because many in the party were tired of being ignored by an "elitist" few.
"There are a lot of people who felt it was OK for them to caddy, but they couldn't play golf," said Harris Warner.
Currin, who said "I'm not a member of a country club," contends that he was blindsided by an unethical tactic that "prostituted the process of democracy."
Currin said he's called a meeting of the party's executive committee Tuesday to discuss the situation.
But Huckaba and Harris Warner say Currin can't call an official meeting.
The dispute has prompted interest from state political figures. Virginia Republican Party Chairman Patrick McSweeney, a Jim Miller supporter, said Friday that he's recognizing Huckaba as the chairman, according to Harris Warner.
But Del. Allen Dudley, R-Rocky Mount, believes Currin should be reinstated as the party's leader.
The flare-up in Franklin County is just the latest in a series of anti-Warner uprisings at Republican meetings across the state.
Last year, Botetourt County Republicans passed a resolution denouncing Warner as a "traitor" who had "betrayed" the party. In February, Augusta County Republicans followed suit.
Over the past several weeks, Republicans in Spotsylvania, Louisa and Powhatan counties have taken the unusual step of passing resolutions "endorsing" Miller for the nomination. And Fairfax County Republicans removed their loyalty oath so that party members won't be bound to vote for Warner if he wins the primary.
LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines KEYWORDS: POLITICS CONGRESSby CNB