THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 29, 1995 TAG: 9511290013
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
Attorney General James Gilmore says incumbent Sen. John Warner may choose his method of renomination - primary or convention. That's the law until a court says otherwise.
Conservative Republicans who oppose Warner hoped to force him to a convention where they'd have a better chance of denying him nomination. They asked Gilmore's opinion on the constitutionality of the existing primary statute. Gilmore has said, in effect, that's not the attorney general's job. Courts must rule on constitutionality.
``It is possible, perhaps even probable, that a court reviewing Virginia's primary statute would find that it . . . places an impermissible burden upon a party's First and 14th Amendment rights,'' Gilmore said.
But until a court does find that the statute interferes with the right to associate and due process, Gilmore has concluded, it has to be treated as if it's valid.
There's no lack of legal opinion to support that view. The Constitution gives the states broad latitude to regulate the manner in which candidates are chosen and elected. As Gilmore notes in his opinion, no federal court has ever struck down a statute favoring primaries over conventions.
The real question about the existing Virginia law continues to be its tilt toward incumbents. Those already in office are given the opportunity to choose the method used to decide if they stay in office. That looks a lot like an incumbent-protection plan.
If reform is needed, it ought not empower the back-room boys at the expense of candidates or vice versa. Reform should give citizens more control over the choice of their own representatives. Primaries are often preferred because, as Gilmore acknowledges, there is ``a strong governmental interest in widening participation in the democratic process.''
James Miller, who will oppose Warner for the nomination, hasn't expressed a preference for primary or convention. But he has argued that a primary to choose a Republican nominee ought to be restricted to Republican voters.
That makes sense, and we continue to believe any change in laws governing candidate selection should give the power to choose not to incumbents or party machines but to individual voters. We reiterate our suggestion that a referendum ask Virginians whether they prefer primaries for the nominating process with voters registered as Republicans, Democrats or independents. by CNB