Political Soap Opera

By Laurence I. Barrett/Washington

Why on earth were Virginia's two premier Democrats squaring off like rival schoolyard bullies? For one thing, Senator Charles Robb and Governor Douglas Wilder had resumed their battle for primacy in the political playground. But in creating what Robb called a "demolition derby," they also damaged their own futures and hurt their party on the eve of state legislative elections. And as leaders with reputations beyond Virginia, they embarrassed their already demoralized national party.

The latest feud between Robb and Wilder had its origin in a secret tape -- ostensibly sent to Robb by an anonymous donor -- of an intercepted cellular-phone conversation between Wilder and an ally. When Wilder denounced the eavesdropping caper, a transcript of the tape appeared in two newspapers. Robb responded by suspending three aides, pledging an investigation of his office and pleading for peace talks with Wilder.

Doubtless one reason for Robb's consternation is that some of his advisers had considered the tape a potential weapon against Wilder. Instead it became a boomerang. The conversation was intercepted in October 1988, while Wilder was still lieutenant governor and Robb was running for the Senate. Though allied in most campaigns, the two had also skirmished for years. In the taped conversation, Wilder pronounced Robb "finished" because of reports of his presence at cocaine parties in Virginia Beach. Talking about his own 1989 race for Governor, Wilder said, "I don't want his endorsement, don't need his endorsement."

Wrong on both counts. Robb won easily, and Wilder, ever flexible, used the new Senator's warm words of support in a campaign commercial. Meanwhile, the unsolicited tape showed up at Robb's office. Both federal and Virginia statutes prohibit covert intercepts as well as dissemination of their contents. Robb said he viewed the tape as "political gossip" rather than a legal land mine. In any event, he said, he had ordered the contents kept secret.

But in April a new flash point arose between Robb and Wilder. As NBC prepared a flimsy documentary on Robb's private behavior, including an alleged dalliance with a former Miss Virginia beauty queen, the Robb camp accused Wilder's crew of complicity in the muckraking. The apparent strategy was to paint the expose as resulting from a political vendetta. According to two sources familiar with the episode, two Robb associates -- his press secretary, Steven Johnson, and the political director of Robb's Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Robert Watson -- briefed a Washington Post reporter on the tape's contents about two months ago. But the ground rules prohibited the paper's direct use of the information at that time.

What happened next is still unclear, but Robb's people became uneasy about having the tape and destroyed it. A transcript survived, however, as did at least one other copy of the tape made by the original eavesdropper. The Richmond gossip circuit became aware of the material, causing Wilder, while on a trip to Europe, to break the story in a phone interview with the Post. It was a shrewd ploy by the Governor, moving attention from the content of the tape to Robb's possession of it and portraying Wilder as the "victim" of a crime.

Johnson considered resigning over the incident but was persuaded instead to accept a suspension with pay. Watson and Robb's chief of staff, David McCloud, also went on paid leave. Meanwhile, Robb searched for a lawyer to probe the affair.

If Robb thought his do-it-yourself investigation would deflect heat, he was mistaken. State attorney general Mary Sue Terry, though a Robb ally, asked both the FBI and the Virginia state police to enter the case. Richmond Republicans quickly joined the fray. G.O.P. staffer Steve Haner announced that in 1989 Watson had used the threat of another taped phone conversation to make him admit that fellow Republicans were paying for a private detective to check out Robb's R. and R. at Virginia Beach. Then the state Republican Party asked for an expanded inquiry into suspected political espionage by Democrats during the 1985 gubernatorial election.

While the battle still had several rounds to go, Wilder was beating Robb on points. Once considered a possible presidential candidate and unbeatable for re-election to the Senate, Robb must now worry about survival in Virginia. "He's sinking faster than Saddam Hussein's navy," says political scientist Robert Holsworth of Virginia Commonwealth University.

A few of Wilder's handlers imagine that Robb might be pushed aside, creating a Senate vacancy the Governor could fill when he leaves the statehouse. Of course they only view that as a contingency plan in case Wilder's flirtation with presidential politics fizzles. But while the Governor's tactical skill was on display as he kept Robb on the defensive, so was his grating rough edge. And so was the rancor that was manifest in the taped conversation, which hardly spoke well of his party loyalty.

Wilder initially deflected pleas from other Democrats for a truce, saying that Robb was doing all the feuding, but finally offered to meet with Robb this week. The two have had peace parleys before, resulting only in temporary truces. In the current tense climate, a tape recording of their conversation would make fascinating listening.

With reporting by Don Winbush/Richmond