THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 3, 1995 TAG: 9511030509
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By KATE HUNGER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
Hopewell is a world away from Washington, and the Marks & Harrison law offices are hardly the Watergate. But Democrats trying to wrest the 62nd District General Assembly seat away from incumbent Riley Ingram claim there have been some dirty tricks recently.
Someone, they say, broke into Democratic challenger Del Brown's headquarters in the law office building Wednesday night and carried away key campaign records.
Among the items missing from the office were disks containing Brown's last-minute, get-out-the-vote strategy, pledge cards, voter registration information and an ``extensive'' phone list, Brown said.
None of the office's expensive equipment - including computers, copiers or fax equipment - was taken, she said.
Considering the type of material taken, the thief was interested mainly in dealing a last-minute campaign blow to Brown, said Gail Nardi, director of communications for the Democratic Party.
``It's clear that: A.) it wasn't a friend; and B.) it was someone who knows about politics,'' Nardi said.
Brown's campaign manager, Mason Coleman, Jr., said they had ``stopped short'' of accusing anyone of the break-in, and that police are investigating.
Coleman said the thefts occurred less than four hours after Brown held a press conference to dispute rumors that she does not live in the district she seeks to represent.
Coleman said Brown held the conference Wednesday after learning that a state trooper had questioned both her mother and neighbors after receiving an anonymous tip that Brown did not live in the district.
Brown, a Norfolk State University law professor, said she returned to Hopewell in 1992 to live with her parents after studying and working away from home for years. She said she has always been open to questions about her 90-minute commute to work in Norfolk that, she said, has put 106,000 miles on her 2-year-old car. She said she owns a Virginia Beach townhouse that she uses as a vacation home and a ``respite'' but lives with her parents in the home they have owned since 1972.
``Humans are like salmon,'' Brown said of her return to Hopewell. ``We eventually find our way back home.''
Brown said no troopers have questioned her about her residency.
Coleman said the break-in is the latest occurrence in a ``pattern of intimidation,'' which he said includes both the residency questions and telephone harassment with racial overtones.
Brown is African American.
An alarm in the headquarters went off at 7:37 p.m. Wednesday, Brown said, but the burglary wasn't discovered until campaign workers returned Thursday afternoon.
Ingram, Brown's Republican opponent, said he isn't convinced there was a burglary, noting that police have said there was no evidence of forced entry.
Ingram insisted his campaign had nothing to do with the missing records and also denied that he was behind any investigations into Brown's residency.
``I am seeing a campaign that will do anything to discredit me,'' Ingram said.
``It sounds to me this is a desperate attempt to get publicity. I have to pay for mine - I don't get it for free.''
Both candidates claim that they are leading in the election.
KEYWORDS: HOUSE OF DELEGATES RACE VIRGINIA 62ND DISTRICT
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