THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 9, 1996 TAG: 9606090089
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DWAYNE YANCEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LEXINGTON LENGTH: 55 lines
Buddy Holloway couldn't stand it anymore. The mess in Washington? Nope, that could wait.
Right now, he was worried about the mess that had started out as the first state convention of the Virginia wing of Ross Perot's new Reform Party.
``Whoa! Whoa!,'' Holloway shouted, banging his fist on the lectern and shouting over the din of feuding delegates.
``You elected me chairman and we're going to vote! That's the way it's going to be? Is that understood?''
The 60-some delegates quieted, but not without complaints about the way things were being run. ``Is this the Marine Corps?'' grumbled one delegate.
So it went Saturday, as the Virginia Independent Party argued about what to do with its most prized possession - a spot on the state's ballots this November.
The convention delegates who gathered in a meeting room at the Howard Johnson's - most of them veterans of Perot's 1992 presidential campaign - insisted they got involved because they hate politics. But they soon found themselves immersed in the very thing they say they despise.
After six hours, the party didn't do much:
They decided not to nominate a candidate for the U.S. Senate - even though George ``Tex'' Wood, a college instructor from Patrick County, wanted the nod.
Instead, delegates voted 3-1 to rebuff Wood's offer, saying they didn't know much about him and that a Senate candidate would distract them from supporting a presidential candidate.
The delegates decided not to nominate a candidate for president, either.
Some wanted to put Perot's name on the ballot temporarily, then replace him if the Reform Party - legally, a separate entity until a formal merger is completed - picks another candidate at its yet-to-be-scheduled national convention. Others wanted to wait and adopt the Reform nominee.
That prompted more discussion until Holloway started barking orders.
The party didn't even adopt a platform, preferring to wait until it sees who the Reform Party puts up.
In the end, the delegates voted - by two votes or four, depending on who was counting - to recess until August, when they hope the Reform Party will have nominated someone.
Brian Menard, a graduate student who is researching Perot's effort to start a third party, came as an observer.
``They came in spirited. They've had agreements. They've battled. They've discovered politics,'' he said.
To him, Saturday's rowdy convention was a sign of a new party's growing pains. What began as a ``Perot movement'' in 1992 is more than that now.
The big split was over tactics - is it better to build a new party by running candidates for all offices, or just for president?
One matter appears certain: said Bill Huff, ``We need to do something in this state to get our party known.'' >
KEYWORDS: POLITICAL PARTIES VIRGINIA by CNB