THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 29, 1994 TAG: 9409290482
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALEC KLEIN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
Democratic U.S. Sen. Charles S. Robb and Republican challenger Oliver L. North plunged Wednesday into rough playground politics, taunting each other with accusations of lying in the most personal attacks to date.
Robb, a former Marine Corps major, defended his service record against a perceived slight by North, a retired Marine lieutenant colonel.
``Now, Oliver North has admitted he lied to Congress,'' Robb said outside Marine headquarters in Washington. ``He has had real problems with the truth in a number of other areas. But he could not have been so ignorant of my own service record and the importance of a service record to a fellow Marine that he wouldn't know the facts, and hence, I can only conclude, and I say this advisedly, that he lied about my record or deliberately attempted to deceive.''
North, campaigning in Newport News, shot back a not-too-veiled reference to reports of Robb's womanizing and fast social life while serving as governor from 1982-86: ``Chuck Robb has no grounds for that. Every single day Chuck Robb lived in the Governor's Mansion was a lie. So where does he get off? He lived a lie every single day he was governor.''
Both Robb and North are decorated Vietnam war veterans. So much for semper fi.
Robb offered up his voluminous military records for public scrutiny and dared North to do the same.
North said he would release his Marine fitness records and evaluations but refused to publicly open his mental health records.
``Shame on Chuck Robb,'' North said. ``There are some things that should remain between a Marine and his wife.''
North was referring to an episode about 20 years ago when his wife Betsy threatened to divorce him. He underwent hospitalization.
``There's a whole host of folks who experience marital difficulties in their lives,'' North said. ``Betsy and I went through a very difficult time when I came back from southeast Asia in 1975. If Chuck Robb wants to make that an issue, shame on him.''
Retorted Robb spokesman Bert Rohrer: ``What's he got to hide?''
Countered North spokesman Mark Merritt: ``Robb's trying to bring (North) down to his level.''
The mudslinging began earlier this week when North waved off Robb by saying, ``I have a different opinion of his military service.'' In an article in the Wall Street Journal, North called Robb an ``8th and I'' Marine, referring to the address of the Washington headquarters where ceremonial honor guards are located.
North's valor in Vietnam has become the stuff of legends. Robb first won celebrity status when he was an honor guard at the White House and married President Lyndon Johnson's daughter, Lynda. Though less celebrated, Robb also served with distinction in Vietnam.
``More than 20 of my men were killed, more than 100 of my men were wounded,'' Robb said. ``We engaged in regular contact with the enemy. I do not claim now and I never have to have been a hero of any sort. I did my job.''
Since then, both candidates have gained notoriety for other reasons: Robb has acknowledged accepting a nude massage from a Virginia beauty queen. North has admitted he lied to a group of congressmen investigating the Iran-Contra scandal, which involved trading arms for hostages and diverting the profits to anti-Communist rebels in Nicaragua. MEMO: Staff writer Warren Fiske contributed to this story.
KEYWORDS: U.S. SENATE RACE VIRGINIA CANDIDATES
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