ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, October 12, 1996 TAG: 9610140055
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
U.S. Sen. John Warner on Friday hedged on the assurances he gave Thursday that his campaign had no prior knowledge that a TV ad featured a doctored photograph of his opponent.
Warner said he had not queried key members of his campaign staff as to whether they knew the photo was altered before the ad aired Tuesday.
"I haven't gotten into these details," he told reporters at a Richmond news conference.
The three-term Republican was surprised when told his campaign manager, John Hishta, had refused in an interview with the Washington Times to say when he learned about the photo.
As Warner hurried from the news conference, he forbid his press secretary from talking further to reporters.
"When I get back to Washington, I'll have the opportunity to sit down and work this out," Warner said.
Later, Hishta issued a brief statement: "I can say emphatically that I had no prior knowledge of it before it ran."
Nonetheless, Warner's comments delighted the campaign headquarters of his Democratic opponent, Mark Warner.
Mark Warner spent Friday trying to fan the cooling embers of John Warner's first re-election flare-up, claiming the 69-year-old incumbent was either covering up the truth or lacking a firm hand on his campaign's rudder.
"With each passing day, John Warner exposes more and more of the truth of this story," said Eric Hoffman, spokesman for Mark Warner. "Are these tactics of delay and denial actions of a man of principle?''
The Mark Warner campaign rushed into production a commercial on the doctored photo. The new TV spot - with a script including the words "fake," "deception" and "unprincipled ads" - debuted Friday night.
The John Warner ad featured a photograph from a 1994 Democratic dinner altered to make it appear Mark Warner was shaking hands with former Gov. Douglas Wilder, as a beaming President Clinton looked on.
The original photo showed Mark Warner in the background, but a media consultant hired by John Warner moved Mark Warner to center stage to fit the ad's claim that he is friends with "the country's most liberal politicians."
Thursday, John Warner appeared to put the issue to rest by severing ties with the company that prepared the ad, ordering the 30-second spot pulled from the airwaves and apologizing to voters.
While he took responsibility, John Warner said neither he nor his staff knew before Thursday afternoon that the photograph was bogus.
Before events at his Friday news conference took an unexpected turn, John Warner crowed that the doctored photograph was nothing more than a one-day story.
"He [Mark Warner] may dance on what he thinks may be my political coffin for a day," John Warner said.
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines KEYWORDS: POLITICS CONGRESSby CNB