THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 9, 1997 TAG: 9702090057
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 72 lines
A day after a federal judicial panel ruled that Virginia's only black-majority congressional district is unconstitutional, Attorney General James S. Gilmore III gave no hint of how the state will respond.
But whatever the outcome, he promised hundreds of members of the Suffolk-Nansemond Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, he ``will stand for civil rights, civil liberties and human rights.''
Gilmore, the guest speaker at the chapter's 31st annual Freedom Fund Banquet, mentioned the ruling only briefly in his remarks Saturday evening. And he was no more specific when he spoke earlier with reporters.
``We'll look at it and determine the best possible approach,'' Gilmore said of the decision by a special panel of two U.S. District Court judges and one federal appeals court judge.
Gilmore has said he will consult with the NAACP and others before making a decision on how to proceed.
The 3rd District is represented by Democratic Rep. Robert C. Scott, the state's first black member of Congress this century. He was elected with 79 percent of the vote in 1992, the year after the district was created.
His district meanders 225 miles in southeastern and central Virginia, stretching into parts of Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Richmond and Petersburg. Its voting-age population is 62 percent black.
The judicial panel said the state failed to prove that creating a majority-black district served a compelling governmental interest.
At Saturday's festive event, Gilmore struck an upbeat note and sought out common ground with his audience.
He referred to Suffolk as his ``adopted home,'' noting that his wife, Roxanne, is a native of the city.
Gilmore, the heir-apparent for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, received a warm and gracious reception. But lest he need any reminder that the campaign would be hard-fought, people were handing out red-and-white bumper stickers reading: ``Don Beyer - Governor.''
If he noticed, Gilmore didn't mention it in his remarks.
``Jobs and education are the foundation of individual and human liberty,'' he told the audience, which applauded in agreement. And although he was instrumental in building what is now the state's third largest law firm, he noted that his roots are with the common man.
His parents ``weren't members of the country club,'' Gilmore said, adding softly but pointedly, ``and neither am I.''
He spoke of needing student loans to attend college and, after serving in the Army, using the G.I. Bill to finance his years in law school. He recalled summer jobs as a grocery clerk.
``I certainly had the helping hand up,'' he said in defending programs that make getting an education easier. And he endorsed greater public help so that more young people can go to college.
He also called for more security in schools and greater legal protections for teachers so they can work to keep classrooms safe.
``If we're going to move into the 21st century, we have to say that everybody will go,'' he said.
Noting the night's theme, ``While our churches burn, we should catch fire for freedom,'' Gilmore drew applause when he backed legislation to apply harsher penalties to anyone who attacks a house of worship and to block insurance companies from dropping church policies.
Those are issues that should rise above partisan dispute, he said. ``There is no room for politics in the church hall,'' Gilmore said.
At the end of his remarks, Gilmore presented the chapter with a large framed reproduction of the ballot from the first free elections held in South Africa in 1994. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by RICHARD L. DUNSTON/The Virginian-Pilot
State Attorney General James S. Gilmore III, left, talks with Paul
C. Gillis, president of the Suffolk-Nansemond branch of the NAACP,
before speaking to the group Saturday in Suffolk.
KEYWORDS: NAACP SUFFOLK