THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 28, 1995 TAG: 9510280353
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
A consultant last winter urged Democrats to ``sniff out'' details of the state's confidential negotiations for a semiconductor plant and to criticize Republican Gov. George Allen for his secrecy.
The advice was offered in a memorandum that was mistakenly delivered to Del. John Watkins, R-Chesterfield, who made most of its contents public during the 1995 General Assembly session.
Watkins withheld the portion about negotiations with Motorola Inc. at the time, citing the material's sensitive nature. He said Friday he was finally able to release that part of the memo because Motorola has now begun building its plant in Goochland County.
In the memo to ``Democratic planners,'' Cooper & Secrest Associates Inc. speculated Allen was keeping quiet about the negotiations because he was afraid of losing the project to North Carolina.
``It would seem wise for Democrats to sniff out what's going on as soon as possible, decry any secretiveness or lack of cooperativeness on the governor's part . . . and be in a position to honestly claim a fair share of credit for rescuing a victory and attack Allen's secretiveness for a loss,'' the memo said.
Watkins said the memo shows Democrats were ``willing to ditch jobs and economic development'' for political gain. He sent the Motorola portion of the memo to Allen on Thursday.
Allen accused Democrats of trying to disrupt his economic development efforts. ``It is one of the most despicable things I have witnessed in all my years in public life,'' he said.
He said the memo shows Democrats ``viewed the Motorola project not as an economic opportunity for the people of Virginia, but as a political problem that threatened their century-old grip on legislative power.''
Democrats hold majorities of three seats in the Senate and four in the House of Delegates. Republicans believe they have a chance of taking control in the Nov. 7 election.
Lt. Gov. Donald S. Beyer Jr., the state's top Democrat, said the Republicans' complaints lack merit because the consultant's advice was ignored.
``This is yet another example of unfortunate and overblown rhetoric about nothing,'' Beyer said. ``The consultant was offering an outside opinion about the way we should aggressively run in a political world. Much of the advice was deemed unwise and was rejected.''
Allen said the Motorola deal was ``repeatedly threatened during the legislative session by leaks, near-leaks and unexplained queries about the then-secret project.''
It was no secret that Virginia was battling North Carolina for the project. A story about the contest appeared on the front page of the Durham, N.C., paper two days before the Cooper & Secrest memo was written.
Beyer said he doubted whether the ``leaks'' Allen mentioned were from Democrats.
``No person I've ever talked to discussed doing anything to undermine the Motorola project,'' Beyer said.
The memo fell into Watkins' hands when a copy intended for Del. Watkins Abbitt, D-Appomattox, was inadvertently delivered to him. Democrats harshly criticized Watkins at the time for opening another legislator's mail. by CNB