THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 22, 1996 TAG: 9608220360
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 100 lines
The dean who inspired a faculty revolt at Regent University in 1993 now hopes to inspire a voter revolt in 1996 as the candidate for U.S. vice president of a conservative third party.
Herbert W. Titus, founding dean of the Regent University School of Law, who was fired by chancellor Pat Robertson, is running for vice president under the banner of the U.S. Taxpayers Party.
The party nominated Titus at a convention in San Diego this weekend. He accepted the nomination Sunday.
Titus, 58, still lives in Chesapeake and is affiliated with his son's law firm in Virginia Beach.
The timing could not be worse. Titus could be stuck in a Virginia Beach courtroom for the next three or four weeks. The trial of his defamation-and-conspiracy lawsuit against Robertson and others at Regent is scheduled to begin Monday.
No matter, Titus said. He can always campaign on weekends and evenings.
In any case, Titus said, most of his campaign appearances will be on radio talk shows and in other places that won't require heavy travel or personal appearances.
One other quirk: Titus' friends and neighbors in Virginia won't be able to vote for him. His name will not appear on the Virginia ballot.
That's because the 12th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution forbids a state's electors from voting for both a president and a vice president from their home state. And Titus' running mate, presidential candidate Howard Phillips, lives in Northern Virginia. In this state, another candidate will appear as the party's vice presidential nominee.
Titus' name also won't appear on the ballots in at least 11 other states, which required the party to file its candidates before the San Diego convention. Titus will appear, however, on most other state ballots.
Titus said the party expects to be on 40 or 41 state ballots, and expects to do much better than its 1992 showing, when it pulled in less than 1 percent of the vote.
In that election, Phillips also was the presidential candidate. He is founder of the Conservative Caucus and former director of the U.S. Office of Equal Opportunity under President Nixon.
The party had hoped to nominate Pat Buchanan for president, but he backed out at the Republican convention last week and endorsed Bob Dole instead. As a result, Titus said, Phillips had to run again and was forced to find a vice presidential candidate quickly.
``I didn't want to run,'' Titus said Wednesday. ``I was drafted.''
The U.S. Taxpayers Party, founded in 1992, is one of five national political parties recognized by the Federal Election Commission, along with the Democratic, Republican, Libertarian and Natural Law parties.
The party's platform calls for ending abortion, drastically shrinking the federal government, abolishing the Internal Revenue Service and withdrawing the United States from the United Nations and other international organizations.
The party's stand on abortion is especially strong.
Titus said the party believes that the president has the constitutional authority not to spend any money appropriated by Congress to ``encourage, promote or support'' abortion. He can do that, Titus said, without a new law or constitutional amendment.
Titus also said the president can instruct the attorney general to examine civil rights laws to see if states are protecting unborn children.
``It may be that civil rights are being violated by various people throughout the U.S. who are performing abortions,'' Titus said. ``At the same time, the president should make it very clear to the people of America that Roe v. Wade and all the court opinions that strike down laws that protect innocent life in the mother's womb are illegitimate and void.''
Titus said the party also opposes federal taxes on incomes, estates and inheritances. ``Those are properly state taxes,'' Titus said.
Titus has never run for public office, although he was student body president at the University of Oregon in 1959.
Titus helped found the Regent law school in 1986 and was its first dean. Robertson fired Titus in 1993, prompting a revolt by students and faculty loyal to Titus.
Robertson and other Regent officials said Titus was fired because his views were outside the mainstream of evangelical Christianity. Titus said he was fired to make Robertson seem less extreme so Robertson could run for a second time for U.S. president.
Titus later sued Robertson and others, accusing them of defamation and conspiracy for painting him as a white supremacist. He seeks more than $12 million.
Titus said he knows his chances of becoming vice president are remote, partly because the national press has not paid much attention to his party.
``With God, all things are possible,'' Titus said Wednesday. ``If you don't seek office, you won't win. . . . Obviously a victory for our candidacy would be a miracle this time around. But you have to start somewhere.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Herbert W. Titus
Graphic
The Candidate:
Herbert W. Titus, below, is the founding dean of the Regent
University School of Law. He was fired by chancellor Pat Robertson.
His Party:
The U.S. Taxpayers Party seeks to end abortion, shrink the
federal government, abolish the Internal Revenue Service and end
the United States' involvement in the United Nations.
KEYWORDS: CANDIDATE U.S VICE-PRESIDENT U.S TAXPAYERS PARTY by CNB