THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 4, 1994 TAG: 9411030059
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E14 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: TEENSPEAK
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
IF YOU'VE EVER cheated on your wife, experimented with illegal drugs or been caught lying to Congress, take heart: There still may be a place for you in politics.
Politicians are human like the rest of us, so they shouldn't be expected to have spotless characters to represent the public, said six Granby High School students who weighed in on the ``C'' word recently. But, they said, character should be considered.
``As far as being the sole factor in deciding whether you should elect a person, senator or whatever, I would say no, it plays a part only to a certain extent,'' senior Casey Jackson, 17, said to general agreement.
Remember all the jokes Clinton endured about not inhaling? Media attention on that diverted people from the real issues, said Leia Vandersnick, 17, a senior.
``Who cares if he smoked marijuana when he was in college, because everybody did it,'' Leia said. ``I'm not saying that it was right, but we can't expect him to be perfect. He's a good leader; that doesn't mean he's a perfect person.''
The more important question, the group said, is whether a candidate has faced up to his or her mistakes and learned from them. That, the students agreed, is the true test of character.
``You want someone who can lead you through the good times and the bad,'' Casey said. ``I'd want someone who's been through the hard times and knows how it feels and can bring himself out of it.''
A lot depends on how much time has passed between a person's mistakes and his or her political candidacy, and on whether there was proof that the candidate had mended his ways. What a person did 20 years ago, for instance, shouldn't be relevant, the teens said.
And a candidate's actions are always more important than words in judging character, they said.
``They could say one thing but do another,'' freshman Shannon Bailey, 14, said.
Virginia has been a crucible for the character issue in this fall's U.S. Senate race, with incumbent Democratic Sen. Chuck Robb's marital indiscretions, Republican challenger Ollie North's veracity problem and independent Marshall Coleman's flip-flopping all central elements.
Several students chided the media for focusing too much attention on the candidates' personal lives and not enough on substantive issues.
``I think what's private should stay private,'' said freshmen Fransis Laury, 14. ``Their personal lives should not be brought out and dragged through the dirt.''
``Having an affair seems kind of illogical to include in your decision on whether he can run the country well or not, because having an affair and running the country are two separate things,'' junior John Bailey, 17, said.
If they could vote, four of the students said they probably would support Robb because of the way he has handled criticism.
``He's admitted he's done wrong and not tried to cover up,'' senior Sean Morris, 17, said. ``I think that shows strength of character.''
None said they would vote for North. ``North has more or less shied away from the questions addressing what he did or didn't do,'' Casey said. ILLUSTRATION: Cartoon
PORTER MASON
by CNB