THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 23, 1995 TAG: 9511230602
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBERT LITTLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
Virginia's election laws are ``clouded with doubt,'' Attorney General James S. Gilmore III said Wednesday, but they allow U.S. Sen. John W. Warner to side-step a potentially hostile Republican nominating convention next year.
In an opinion released Wednesday, Gilmore said he will support the state law that allows Warner to call a primary election for his renomination in 1996.
The move was a blow to Warner's political enemies, who had sought to have the law declared unconstitutional so Warner's foes could convene a nominating convention and defeat the popular senator without a public vote. Some suggested, however, that they still might challenge the law.
The law says that if a candidate was nominated in a primary in his previous election, a primary election is automatic unless the party calls for a convention and the candidate agrees. Opponents say that the requirement for an automatic primary is unconstitutional. Warner was nominated in a primary in his last election.
Warner called a news conference in Northern Virginia Wednesday to praise Gilmore's opinion, saying it ``confirms a Virginia law that has served our state well for 25 years.''
``To the extent this important decision can be called a victory, then it is the voters of Virginia who won,'' Warner said.
While Gilmore stopped short of calling the law unconstitutional, he was critical that it flouts the free-speech and due-process rights of political parties. He noted ``serious questions concerning the constitutionality'' of the law, but said the problems are too murky to warrant any formal condemnation from the attorney general.
``Unlike a court, the attorney general has no power to invalidate a statute,'' Gilmore wrote in his opinion, prepared at the request of conservative Manassas Del. Robert G. Marshall.
Opponents of the law saw that as an opening to keep their opposition alive.
``There's certainly no closure out of the attorney general's office on this,'' said Dave Johnson, executive director of the state Republican Party.
``I think in the long run it will not be the final word on the matter.''
A poll in August showed Warner a 2-1 bet to defeat any likely Democratic challengers, but some GOP loyalists have sought to defeat him because he actively campaigned against Oliver L. North, the party's nominee for U.S. Senate in 1994. A year earlier, he refused to endorse Michael P. Farris, the GOP nominee for lieutenant governor.
James C. Miller III, Warner's chief competition for the Republican nomination, said he welcomes either nomination format. Polls show Miller faring favorably in a Republican primary.
The Republican State Central Committee will gather in Richmond Dec. 9 and is expected to vote on whether to seek a primary or a convention in 1996. Johnson said the party has taken no position concerning 1996 - except that the state should not dictate its decision.
``It's still our opinion that the state is taking away a right of the party,'' he said. ``It's really the principle involved more than anything else.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Sen. John W. Warner praised the opinion that he is entitled to a
primary election in 1996.
by CNB