Warner Comes Under Fire for NRA Talks

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Warner Comes Under Fire for NRA Talks Former Virginia Governor Wilder Withholds Endorsement of Fellow Democrat By R.H. MeltonWashington Post Staff WriterWednesday, September 12, 2001; Page B03 RICHMOND, Sept. 11 -- Former governor L. Douglas Wilder chided fellow Democrat Mark R. Warner for flirting with the National Rifle Association in the Virginia governor's race and bestowed his endorsement today on only one member of the statewide ticket, attorney general hopeful A. Donald McEachin.Wilder, who as governor in the 1990s championed Virginia's one-gun-a-month law, said he disagreed with Warner's negotiations to neutralize the NRA in the Nov. 6 election against Republican candidate Mark L. Earley, a former state legislator and attorney general."It troubles me a great deal," Wilder said. "I think the courtship is over -- I hope it's over. It's just like that brief courtship the monkey had with the skunk, when the monkey said, 'I think I've had about as much of this as I can stand.'"Now, I'm not certainly calling the NRA skunks, but I don't believe that Mark Warner wants to be in the company" of the nation's most politically powerful gun-rights organization, Wilder added.Wilder pledged to campaign vigorously for McEachin, a Richmond area legislator who is running to become Virginia's first African American attorney general, much as Wilder broke down racial barriers with his elections as lieutenant governor in 1985 and governor in 1989.The former governor expressly declined to endorse either Warner or Timothy M. Kaine, who stepped down as Richmond mayor Monday night to campaign full time for lieutenant governor. "If you'll notice, I'm endorsing him," Wilder said of McEachin. "I haven't mentioned anybody else."McEachin, an ardent gun-control advocate, is running against Jerry W. Kilgore (R), a former state Cabinet member who has said he favors repealing the one-handgun-a-month statute that was passed with broad bipartisan support during Wilder's term. Kaine faces state Del. Jay Katzen (R-Fauquier).Wilder announced his McEachin endorsement just before a busy day of electioneering ground to a halt because of the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center. Their joint appearance at the State Capitol was interrupted just before 10 a.m. by the news bulletin that the Pentagon had been attacked.Warner and Earley promptly suspended all campaign activities and pulled their radio and television advertising off the air, at least for now, both sides said.The terrorist attacks also wreaked havoc with the candidates' fundraising plans. Warner canceled a major Richmond fundraiser scheduled for Wednesday that was sponsored by a group of Republican and independent supporters; the asking price for some tickets was $10,000.Meanwhile, a $500,000 Earley fundraiser set for Thursday night in Richmond also looked doubtful because the star attraction, Vice President Cheney, would probably be tied up in Washington, GOP leaders said. "We're prepared to cancel the event," said Earley spokesman David B. Botkins. "We're in a complete state of hold on everything."President Bush is the scheduled star of a $750,000 fundraising evening for Earley in Northern Virginia on Sept. 19. It was unclear whether that event would take place.In a related development, a spokesman for the state NAACP conference said today the African American group may cancel the gubernatorial debate it planned to host Monday at George Mason University. A spokeswoman for the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce said the business group still planned to hold its Earley-Warner debate as scheduled Sept. 21.Warner declined to comment today on Wilder's announcement, but senior campaign aides have said privately that they expect the former governor to rally to the Democrat's side eventually, as he has after past quarrels with other party elders.In recent days, Wilder has seemed as peeved with Warner for not readily accepting his invitation to debate Earley in late October as he was about the candidate's NRA courtship. The former governor said it would be inappropriate to endorse Warner before such a debate, which he wanted to hold on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University, where he teaches.Advisers to Warner and Earley said tonight that the current flux in the campaign schedules may make a VCU debate that much more attractive, adding that they were closing in on Oct. 3 as a mutually agreeable debate date.Wilder also suggested that he was endorsing only McEachin today to remind Democratic Party leaders not to treat his candidacy as a mere "appendage" to the more visible and richer Warner campaign."I can say categorically that people who support the top of the ticket have refused to return his [McEachin's] phone calls or are strangely absent," Wilder said.c 2001 The Washington Post Company