THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 29, 1996 TAG: 9603290502
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Short : 43 lines
Attorney General James S. Gilmore III asked a federal court Thursday to throw out a challenge by two conservative Republicans to the state's open primary law.
The chairman of Virginia's Republican party and a GOP legislator want the U.S. District Court in Richmond to strike down as unconstitutional a law that allows any registered voter to participate in primary elections. Specifically, some conservatives are concerned that moderate Republican Sen. John W. Warner could benefit by crossover voting in a June 11 primary.
Gilmore's office asked the court to dismiss the challenge, saying GOP party chairman Patrick McSweeney and Del. Robert Marshall have no standing to sue. And even if they did, they have failed to establish sufficient basis for challenging the law's constitutionality, according to the attorney general's dismissal motion filed Thursday.
McSweeney and Marshall, R-Prince William, argue that the open primary law violates a political party's constitutional right of association. But in fact, Gilmore said, the Republican party last December agreed to select its U.S. Senate nominee through a primary.
``Our view is that the party did not vote to oppose the law,'' said Gilmore, himself a Republican. ``They voted for the law.''
Warner also has asked the court to dismiss the suit on the same grounds.
The plaintiffs' lawyer, Daniel Carrell, said he wanted to review the motions before commenting.
Warner will face conservative challenger James C. Miller III in the June primary. Warner, who is seeking a fourth term, angered GOP conservatives by declining to endorse the party's nominee for lieutenant governor, Michael P. Farris, in 1993, and by actively opposing U.S. Senate candidate Oliver L. North in 1994. by CNB