THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 10, 1995 TAG: 9511100447
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 136 lines
It never happened before. Now it has happened three times.
In a city that couldn't even whisper the word Republican for 130 years, Republicans have now snatched three citywide offices from the Democrats in the past four elections.
The latest came Tuesday when Republican Albert Teich defeated City Councilman Randy Wright to become clerk of Circuit Court.
What's remarkable is that politicians on both sides agree how it happened: For the third time in a row, they say, Democrats backed a candidate with fatal flaws.
``I think there's something going on in the Democratic Party that we've been able to take advantage of,'' said George Schaefer, Norfolk Republican chairman. ``They're plugging people into positions for very bad reasons. . . To just throw in people for favoritism or for some deal, I think the public rejects that.''
Some Democrats agree that their candidates for citywide office have not been the best. They warn that the party must find better candidates soon.
``If the Democrats run bad candidates, they are going to lose elections,'' said Jeffrey A. Breit, chairman of the 2nd District Democratic Committee. ``The party better look hard about running people who are in touch with the 1990s Norfolk.''
What went wrong?
The string of bad elections began for Democrats in 1992, in the race for commonwealth's attorney.
Democrats put up Joseph Lindsey, a law partner of state Del. William P. Robinson Jr. with little prosecuting experience. To help him win, Democrats made him chief deputy in the prosecutor's office a few months before the election.
But Lindsey's ties to Robinson, a prominent criminal defense lawyer, became a huge liability. Republicans attacked Lindsey on the issue over and over.
His opponent was Republican Chuck Griffith, a veteran federal prosecutor. ``Chuck's experience at the U.S. attorney's office went a long way,'' Breit said.
Griffith beat Lindsey by 6,000 votes. He was the first Republican commonwealth's attorney in Norfolk in 100 years.
In 1993, there was the race for sheriff.
Democrats were stuck with long-time incumbent David Mapp, who carried some huge political baggage. He was popular in the black community, but his jail administration had been under attack as inept for years. His jail was the subject of several investigations.
``Everyone knew he was in danger, yet they allowed him to run,'' Breit recalled. ``They felt they had to stick with him.''
Griffith says top Democrats stuck by Mapp for the same reason they have backed other unqualified candidates: ``It was a payoff. It was a way to placate a certain part of their party, the people who help keep them in power,'' Griffith says.
But the election result was never much in doubt. Republican Robert McCabe beat Mapp 2-to-1. The Democrats lost another citywide office.
``That was something that just had to happen,'' says Jon Babineau, Norfolk Democratic chairman. ``Mapp was someone who overstayed himself.''
Finally, this week, there was Randy Wright.
Politicians in both parties agree that Wright was not the best candidate for clerk of Circuit Court. He had no courthouse experience. And while he is thought to be popular in Ocean View and many white East Side neighborhoods, he had antagonized the black community for years.
In the end, he also lost many of the same Ocean View and Bayview precincts he expected to carry.
The best candidate, many agree, would have been incumbent Clerk William Ryan, a Democrat who has worked in the clerk's office for 34 years. ``If Bill Ryan had been the nominee, we probably wouldn't have run against him,'' Schaefer says.
But Ryan, 72, retired.
Another appealing candidate was Tom Baldwin, the clerk of General District Court. He, too, was a career clerk with years of experience. ``He was probably the strongest candidate the Democrats could have put up,'' Babineau says.
Instead, City Treasurer Joseph Fitzpatrick managed to get Democratic support for Wright's candidacy from most City Council members and state legislators representing Norfolk districts.
Republicans put up Teich, a lawyer and former professor with 38 years' experience in the Norfolk courthouse.
``I don't know why the Democrats put up Randy Wright,'' Teich said Thursday. ``He was a man who was basically unqualified. If they had put up someone who was qualified, I would not have run.''
Several Republicans and Democrats say Wright got the nod because Democrats thought they needed help among Ocean View and East Side civic leagues to retain seats in the House and Senate in Tuesday's election.
One of those legislators, state Sen. Stanley C. Walker, denies this. ``It was not a factor in my case,'' he said Thursday.
But Breit, the 2nd District Democratic chairman, said he believes that's how Wright became the party's nominee. Breit did not support Wright in the election.
Breit said that ``a huge number of people'' in the Democratic party thought Wright was unqualified for the job, but the party's senior politicians wanted him to run.
Babineau, the Democratic party chairman, agrees. ``A lot of Democrats were hesitant (to back Wright),'' he said. ``We had nobody else to step forward. Everyone was taken aback. At least I was.''
Teich beat Wright by 5,000 votes.
``There's a comparison between the sheriff's race and the clerk of court's race,'' Breit said Thursday. In both cases ``the Democrats ran candidates that probably weren't going to win because of the public's perception of them.''
McCabe said the Democrats severely miscalculated in nominating Wright. ``They misjudged the intelligence of the voters in Norfolk. It was basically a political deal,'' McCabe said.
Now Republicans hold three of Norfolk's five constitutional offices. Only Fitzpatrick, the treasurer, and Sam Barfield, the revenue commissioner, are Democrats.
In the end, Barfield said, it may not matter which party holds the sheriff's office, or the commonwealth's attorney's office, or the court clerk's. The jobs are strictly administrative.
``There is nothing a party can get from a constitutional officer,'' except perhaps prestige, Barfield said.
Griffith is already looking toward 1997, when four constitutional officers - all but the clerk - are up for re-election. He has some advice for his opponents, the Democrats.
``Keep doing just exactly what you're doing,'' Griffith said gleefully. ILLUSTRATION: Color file photos
In 1992, Chuck Griffith beat Joseph Lindsey by 6,000 votes. He was
the first Republican commonwealth's attorney in Norfolk in 100
years.
Republican Robert McCabe defeated Democratic incumbent David Mapp
for Norfolk sheriff in 1993. ``That was something that just had to
happen,'' said Norfolk Democratic chairman Jon Babineau. ``Mapp was
someone who overstayed himself.''
``I don't know why the Democrats put up Randy Wright,'' said Albert
Teich, who defeated the city councilman to become clerk of the
Circuit Court.
KEYWORDS: NORFOLK CIRCUIT COURT CLERK RACE ELECTION by CNB