ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 9, 1996 TAG: 9604090105
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
A video produced for the Republican National Committee Christmas party last December featured top GOP officials in skits parodying cocaine use and lewd behavior.
In one parody of a job interview, GOP convention manager Bill Greener asks a woman, played by a GOP staffer, ``What are your qualifications?'' He then gawks as she strips to flimsy lingerie.
``I'm an a-- man, but you still got the job,'' a smiling Greener says on the video. The skit was filmed in 1985 but was dusted off for the 1995 video.
Another decade-old clip shows Mary Matalin, George Bush's campaign political director in 1992, donning dark glasses as she pretends to snort a line of cocaine.
An announcer introduces the skit with a play on words involving Matalin's current job as co-host of CNBC's ``Equal Time'' political talk show.
``Long before Mary Matalin was doing Equal Time, she was more interested in doing equal lines,'' the announcer says.
Another scene portrays a man sitting in a chair and apparently receiving sexual favors from a woman who is under a table.
The tape's disclosure comes at a sensitive time for the GOP, which is fending off a lawsuit that includes allegations from three female former employees that Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington is rife with lewd behavior, racism and gay-bashing.
The RNC is contesting the lawsuit allegations, and said the videotape, which was first aired by CNN, has no relevance to the suit.
``Ridiculing inappropriate behavior is the polar opposite of condoning it,'' the party said in a statement Monday.
``To suggest that old Christmas party lampoon videos reflect reality at the RNC is like suggesting that reruns of skits from `Saturday Night Live' reflect the working atmosphere at NBC,'' it said.
Greener said someone else had scripted his scene back in 1985, and he did not object to doing it because everyone recognized it was satire and did not reflect the way he or other RNC officials really acted.
``The reality is, no offense was intended at the time, and in the 11 years since then, no one has ever expressed any offense,'' he said.
Matalin said her skit was done in 1984. ``I do recall those were in the days of `just say no.' That was obviously a spoof. You never saw a bunch of straighter people in your life,'' she said.
As for the Greener skit being resurrected in 1995, Matalin added: ``That was certainly cut in less PC [politically correct] days. I don't think anybody would do that today.''
RNC spokeswoman Mary Crawford said employees each year produce a lampoon tape for the annual Christmas party for staff at RNC headquarters and that last year's makers apparently wove together new skits with old clips.
LENGTH: Medium: 57 linesby CNB