Virginia Government Officials

The feud between Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder and Sen. Charles S. Robb (D-Va.) continued as newspapers published what they said were transcripts of a tape of a Wilder phone conversation. Wilder is quoted as discussing newspaper stories saying the state police "had to shut down their investigations" in Virginia Beach because Robb was present at parties under surveillance for possible drug and gambling violations.

Congressman Rick Boucher (D-Va.) is a politician who can truly claim to be a creator of the modern Internet. He wrote the 1992 law that transformed what was then called the NSFnet, overseen by the National Science Foundation, from a government entity that could handle commercial traffic. The congressional subcommittee he chaired then oversaw the transfer of control of the Internet from the NSF, which had allowed only scientific and educational materials on the Net, to the private sector.

Not content with blazing a trail to statewide office that other black politicians are striving to follow, Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder is stumping the country in an undeclared but undeniable bid for a place on the national Democratic ticket in 1992. Of even broader consequence than Wilder's personal ambitions is his determination to cut the Democratic Party free from its traditional liberal moorings and steer it toward the political mainstream.

President-elect George W. Bush has picked Virginia Gov. James S. Gilmore, a tough-minded, tax-cutting conservative with a talent for raising money, to become the chairman of the Republican National Committee, according to party sources. The announcement will be made today in Austin, Texas, sources in Richmond said. Gilmore's selection must be ratified by the RNC next month.

The FBI and Virginia State Police said Wednesday that they are investigating allegations that Gov. L. Douglas Wilder's phone calls were illegally recorded. The federal-state investigation moves a political feud between Wilder and Sen. Charles S. Robb--the state's top Democrats and two men considered potential presidential candidates--into the law enforcement arena.

The Virginia state police agency has ended its inquiry into reports that critics of Sen. Charles S. Robb (D-Va.) had been threatened. The agency had said it was looking into charges of intimidation aired in a national TV show that included allegations that Robb had had an affair with a beauty queen and had attended parties at which drugs were used. Robb has denied the charges. The results of the probe were not disclosed.

A federal judge ruled that Virginia's system of appointive school boards, the only one of its kind in the nation, is constitutional despite arguments that it discriminates against blacks. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit challenging the process on behalf of seven black citizens earlier this year, alleging that blacks' ability to win school board appointments was limited in the vast majority of cases.

Sen. Charles S. Robb (D-Va.), the handsome former Marine and Virginia governor who wed Lyndon B. Johnson's daughter and seemed almost type-cast to succeed him in the White House, is facing a political crisis that only deepens the harder he tries to escape. Petrified by word that a television network was resurrecting old charges of personal misconduct against him, Robb tried to soften the impact last month by calling a press conference and releasing his own version of events in advance.

Gov. L. Douglas Wilder said Friday that someone has been recording conversations from the cellular telephone in his state limousine and passing the information to his Democratic Party rival, U.S. Sen. Charles S. Robb (D-Va.). Wilder, in a telephone interview from Bonn, Germany, where he is in the middle of an 11-day European trade mission, said: "It's wiretapping and it's a criminal act." Wilder's chief of staff, J. T. Shropshire, met late Friday with State Police Supt. William F.

Virginia's two top Democrats, Gov. L. Douglas Wilder and Sen. Charles S. Robb, called an end Tuesday to a bizarre public argument involving allegations of wiretapping, womanizing and political skulduggery that may have hurt their once-favorable prospects for national office. Beaming as they stood side by side at an outdoor press conference on Capitol Hill, the two offered no apologies to each other and no clear explanation for their recent behavior.

Gov. L. Douglas Wilder said Wednesday that he will not challenge fellow Democrat Charles S. Robb for his U.S. Senate seat. After completing his final State of the Commonwealth Address, Wilder announced that he was leaving politics after a two-decade career capped by a historic term as the nation's first elected black governor. "At this stage in my life I feel the need to take another direction," said Wilder, who turns 63 this month.

Gov. L. Douglas Wilder said that he will reimburse the state nearly $2,700 for using the state jet to go to New York City on a vacation last week. Wilder, criticized last year for using state aircraft for personal trips, took the jet to John F. Kennedy International Airport on July 14 and returned to Richmond, Va., on the jet last Sunday, state records show.

For the second time in less than a week, Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder issued an apology Sunday for public comments he had made, and this time he acknowledged that such incidents could damage his credibility as a potential candidate for President. Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," Wilder conceded that reporters had been misled by his repeated statements that he had nothing to do with a short-lived state police investigation that involved his political rival, Sen. Charles S. Robb (D-Va.).

Virginia's two top Democrats, Gov. L. Douglas Wilder and Sen. Charles S. Robb, called an end Tuesday to a bizarre public argument involving allegations of wiretapping, womanizing and political skulduggery that may have hurt their once-favorable prospects for national office. Beaming as they stood side by side at an outdoor press conference on Capitol Hill, the two offered no apologies to each other and no clear explanation for their recent behavior.

The FBI and Virginia State Police said Wednesday that they are investigating allegations that Gov. L. Douglas Wilder's phone calls were illegally recorded. The federal-state investigation moves a political feud between Wilder and Sen. Charles S. Robb--the state's top Democrats and two men considered potential presidential candidates--into the law enforcement arena.

Sen. Charles S. Robb (D-Va.) placed three top aides on leave Tuesday and hired a prominent Washington lawyer to help him deal with the controversy over the taping of Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder's phone calls. Virginia Atty. Gen. Mary Sue Terry has asked the FBI and state police to investigate the wiretapping, a law enforcement source in Virginia said. That source and others spoke on condition of anonymity. Attempts to confirm Terry's request were not immediately successful.

President-elect George W. Bush has picked Virginia Gov. James S. Gilmore, a tough-minded, tax-cutting conservative with a talent for raising money, to become the chairman of the Republican National Committee, according to party sources. The announcement will be made today in Austin, Texas, sources in Richmond said. Gilmore's selection must be ratified by the RNC next month.

Congressman Rick Boucher (D-Va.) is a politician who can truly claim to be a creator of the modern Internet. He wrote the 1992 law that transformed what was then called the NSFnet, overseen by the National Science Foundation, from a government entity that could handle commercial traffic. The congressional subcommittee he chaired then oversaw the transfer of control of the Internet from the NSF, which had allowed only scientific and educational materials on the Net, to the private sector.

The feud between Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder and Sen. Charles S. Robb (D-Va.) continued as newspapers published what they said were transcripts of a tape of a Wilder phone conversation. Wilder is quoted as discussing newspaper stories saying the state police "had to shut down their investigations" in Virginia Beach because Robb was present at parties under surveillance for possible drug and gambling violations.

Sen. Charles S. Robb (D-Va.) confirmed Saturday that his office once had in its possession a secretly recorded telephone conversation of Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, but that it shredded the tape in recent weeks. The tape, a transcript of which was made available to the Washington Post by a source Saturday, was "received anonymously . . . in a brown envelope" in late 1988, Robb said through his press secretary, Steve Johnson.