ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, June 1, 1996 TAG: 9606030065
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE
SOURCE: ROBERT LITTLE STAFF WRITER
note: above
It was just after his first year of law school, Randy Forbes remembers. Summer was near, grades were good, and life in general was proceeding according to plan. It was time to relax, he figured. Time to meet a girl.
So Forbes did what any budding jurist and introspective suitor would do: He broke out a legal pad and made a list of 10 acceptable prospects. Then he lined up some dates and waited for fate to strike.
"Lawyers do things like that," said Forbes, 44 and now a husband, father and four-term state delegate. "You always want to know your options."
Twenty years later, Forbes is no less focused. The Chesapeake Republican is being tapped for a type of matchmaking that could determine Virginia's representation in the U.S. Senate and who becomes the state's next governor and attorney general.
Forbes is expected to be installed today as chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, during the state GOP's annual convention in Salem. Barring some unforeseen opposition, he will replace Richmond lawyer Patrick McSweeney, who is stepping down after four tempestuous years as leader of the party.
It is hardly a silk purse Forbes will inherit. The Republican Party is several hundred thousand dollars in debt and split by a bitter debate over the loyalty of its incumbent U.S. senator, John Warner. As chairman, Forbes will be called on not only to straighten out the party's finances, but also to bridge the rift between its conservative and moderate factions.
Forbes' political reputation is one of conciliator. But even the cheeriest of Republicans admit the job is an onerous one, and that matters such as abortion and school prayer might never yield a unified position. Forbes knows it, too.
"If you took a legal pad and put down on paper ideas about the Republican Party, you'd have to say that, no, this isn't the greatest time to be chairman," Forbes said in an interview this week. "Certainly, we'd rather be there when we have a lot of money in the bank and everyone is pulling together and singing the same song.
"But I'm confident enough to believe we can work out these issues. I wouldn't want the job if I wasn't."
Besides, you can't plan for everything. Like when he met his wife, Shirley, at a school reunion early that summer when he came home a-courtin'. She wasn't on his list.
With a tight part in his hair, the requisite dark suit and eyes just blue enough to give a boyish hue, he carries the squeaky-clean image of a storybook Republican. The stereotypical conservative, Christian, limited-government politician.
"My goal," he said when asked why he wants the job, "is that our children will look at us and say they're not only proud to be Americans and proud to be Virginians, they're also proud to be Republicans."
To him, politics is less about winning elections and more about a strong church and family and building a good life.
"I don't like politics. I really don't," he said. "I love putting on a baseball uniform and going out with my son to coach his baseball team. I love watching my 17-year-old lead his band onto the football field in the fall. I love hugging my little girl when she comes home with a good report card and I see that little twinkle in her eye.
"To me, that's what politics is about. That's why people become Republicans or Democrats and get involved. Because if we don't do the things we do, then there's no way we can pass this torch of liberty on to our children the way it was passed on to us."
In the House of Delegates, Forbes serves as Republican floor leader and a flag-carrier for Gov. George Allen's agenda. Most figure Forbes has designs on a statewide office, though he won't say.
But party members around the state said they aren't electing his resume, they're electing his pragmatism, his promise that everyone will get equal billing.
Not many prospective chairmen could pull that off. In the philosophical struggle for control of the Republican Party, Forbes has become almost a political anomaly: The right-leaning, anti-abortion, Christian conservative who still thinks compromising and taking what you can get is better than making no progress at all.
"I think a lot of people have come to realize that you can't influence if you antagonize," said Anne Kincaid, a former Allen administration aide who also served as a political organizer for Pat Robertson.
At least in one sense, Forbes is almost assured of some success. He should unify much of the party simply by virtue of who he isn't: He's not Pat McSweeney. When McSweeney was chairman in 1993, he is said to have urged some GOP benefactors not to give money to Allen's then-flailing gubernatorial campaign. When Allen became governor, McSweeney became persona non grata within the administration.
Forbes hopes to undo some of the Republican Party's perceived missteps.
He wants to target minority voters for membership, a constituency McSweeney once said wasn't cost-effective to pursue. And the motor voter law Republicans fought so hard, knowing it would only boost Democratic voting strength? He'll embrace it and try to use it to expand the GOP.
"I don't plan for anyone to control this party except for Republicans in Virginia. I don't even plan for me to control this party. This is a party that belongs to Virginians."
LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: CINDY PINKSTON/Staff Randy Forbes and his wife, Shirleyby CNB(left), talk with Brenda Campbell of Henry County. color KEYWORDS: POLITICS