THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 5, 1994 TAG: 9410050546
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MOUNT VERNON LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III gave Virginia Republicans a demonstration of the diplomatic arts Tuesday night, mildly endorsing Senate candidate Oliver L. North but putting in a kind word for the opposition as well.
Assigned to prime the crowd at a $500-per-couple reception for North, Baker scarcely mentioned the candidate. He couched the election as potentially critical to Republican hopes for taking control of the Senate but said nothing about North's positions on issues and offered no criticism of incumbent Democrat Charles S. Robb.
``I was around here from 1981 to '86 when (Republicans) had the Senate. . . important,'' he said.
Later, speaking with reporters, Baker said he disagreed ``with some of the things (North) did and said'' when both of them worked in the Reagan administration. He referred to the arms-for-hostages swap North arranged with Iran and the scandal that followed its disclosure in 1986 as ``a mess that happened after I left the White House.''
Baker, Reagan's chief of staff during his first term, had become Treasury secretary by the time North and other staffers engineered the plan to sell arms to Iran and use the proceeds of those sales to aid anti-Communist rebels in Nicaragua.
North's involvement in the plan and attempts to conceal it from Congress led to his conviction on three felony counts. An appeals court overturned the verdict.
``The party has nominated its candidate,'' Baker told reporters. ``I have worked for 20 years to build the Republican Party nationally. I support its candidates. I support them sometimes when I don't agree with them.''
While some other veterans of the Reagan years have branded North a chronic liar, Baker said, ``I don't remember an instance where I was personally involved where I had a reason to question what was said.''
As for Robb, Baker said he makes a habit of avoiding attacks on Democrats whose challengers he supports. Indeed, ``there were instances when I was secretary of state when Ollie's opponent supported a bipartisan approach'' to foreign policy, he recalled.
Baker's appearance at the event hosted by Northern Virginia builder Bob Fitton was one of dozens he's making across the country this fall as he weighs a possible 1996 presidential campaign. He spent most of his 15-minute speech critiquing the Clinton administration's foreign policy, suggesting that ``their rhetoric outstrips their resolve'' in places like Haiti and Somalia. But he praised the administration's Middle East diplomacy and support for freer trade.
KEYWORDS: U.S. SENATE RACE VIRGINIA CANDIDATES
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