ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, May 26, 1996 TAG: 9605280048
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
Two years ago, Roanoke Valley Republican leaders Don Huffman and Trixie Averill didn't have much good to say about Jim Miller.
The former federal budget director was going up against Oliver North for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate, and North organizers Huffman and Averill sent mass mailings to their fellow GOP activists depicting Miller as a flip-flopper who had run up the deficit, called for new taxes and avoided the military draft.
And that was just the beginning.
Huffman, in a letter sent to Republicans across the state, ticked off a list of issues on which Miller was suspect: "While Jim Miller was budget director, his budgets twice called for new taxes. ... Jim Miller likes to talk about all the jobs that he cut while he was budget director. But what he has not said is that one of his first acts as director was to remodel his own office ..."
Averill's letter to Republicans in the 6th and 9th congressional districts said much the same thing. If the party nominated him for the Senate, she warned, "Dr. Miller would be portrayed as a classic Washington insider. He has spent his life behind the ivy-clad walls of academia and inside the smoke-filled rooms of Washington. I just can't see Jim Miller reaching out and relating to the average voter in Big Stone Gap or Buena Vista."
That was then; this is now. Come 1996, Miller is again seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, this time challenging three-term incumbent John Warner in a June 11 primary, and where are Huffman and Averill? Helping lead Miller's campaign: Huffman as co-chairman of his statewide committee; Averill as a key organizer in Western Virginia.
Their switch is typical of a role reversal throughout Republican ranks. Many of the Republican activists who were working against Miller two years ago now are for him, and many of those who were for him are backing Warner. Even Miller's driver in 1994, Henry Doggett of Smithfield, has switched sides, but not roles: He's often accompanying Warner on his campaign forays across the state.
Roanoke College political scientist Harry Wilson finds this one of the most fascinating aspects of Miller's challenge to Warner. "It's almost a completely different set of people supporting him," marvels Roanoke College political scientist Harry Wilson. "It's not that they like Jim Miller, but that they hate John Warner so much."
Huffman and Averill say this shouldn't be surprising.
"When North ran, the people for Miller were generally the moderates," says Huffman, a former state Republican Party chairman from Roanoke. Now that Miller is running against Warner, it's Miller who's framed as the more conservative candidate. "And I generally support the more conservative candidate," Huffman says.
There's also the matter of party loyalty: Warner loudly protested North's campaign in 1994 and recruited an independent candidate rather than support North when he became the party nominee. Many Republicans now want to punish Warner for "abandoning" the party.
But what about all the bad things they had to say about Miller just two years ago?
Huffman brushes that aside. "I was for North," he explains. "I was pointing out the reasons why I thought North was better than Miller. I don't have any problem now pointing out the reasons Miller would be better than Warner."
Averill, for her part, contends she didn't write her 1994 letter; she merely gave her permission to the North campaign to send out a letter over her name.
"I don't think I even read the thing" before it went out in 1994, says the Roanoke County GOP activist who mounted an unsuccessful campaign for the House of Delegates last year. "I was as shocked as anyone when it came up in this campaign. It's a typical political trick. Obviously, someone kept it, thinking `I could use it against Trixie.'"
She says it's the Miller supporters from two years ago who now are backing Warner who ought to be questioned. "They weren't conservatives to begin with," she contends.
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: headshots of Averill and Huffman KEYWORDS: POLITICS CONGRESSby CNB