University of Virginia Library

John Epps

Godwin, Abbitt, And Sounds Of Distress

Republicans are trying to
gain political hay from a
resolution passed at the June 8
meeting of the Democratic
State Central Committee in
Rich,ond. The resolution says
that any member of the
committee who publicly
supports a nominee for office
from any other political party
will be subject to forfeiting his
seat on the committee. The
resolution was passed alongside
another which says the state
committee will not endorse a
candidate for governor but will
allow the local committees to
endorse anyone not running on
another ticket. This was done
to pave the way for local
endorsements of independent
Lieut. Gov. Henry Howell.

Republicans and
Democratic supporters of Mills
Godwin, the Republican
gubernatorial nominee, have
openly stated that the first
resolution coupled with the
second constitutes a loyalty
oath. Former U.S.
Congressman Watkins Abbitt,
the head of Democrats for
Godwin, said on June 11 the
resolution was an "oerou
loyalty oath[placed] on
faithful Democratic officials."
He added that the "loyalty
oath" was placed on these poor
"faithful" officials by the
"McGovern wing" of the state
party.

"The action," Abbit said,
"is a blatant attempt to aid a
candidate who turned his back
on the Democratic party two
years ago in opposing its duly
selected nominee and who this
year continues to exploit the
party while shunning its label."

How interesting that Abbitt
talks of others turning their
backs on the Democratic party
while he is the head of a group
whose sole goal is to elect the
Republican nominee for
governor. Is this how a
"faithful official" of the
Democratic party acts?

Republican gubernatorial
candidate Godwin is also on
record as abhorring the
committee's actions. It is also
interesting that he would
publicly denounce as an oath
something much milder than
the loyalty oath his
Democratic party had on its
statute books when he was a
Democratic That loyalty oath
was killed by the very man he
is trying to damage with the
central committee's "loyalty
oath" resolution.

Henry Howell took the old
Godwin Democratic loyalty
oath to court four years ago
and had it erased from the
statute books. In 1969 Howell
challenged a Dickinson County
loyalty oath which required all
participants in Democratic
primaries to swear that they
would vote for all duly selected
Democratic nominees. In
"Akers vs. Maloney" the U.S,
District Court in Richmond
sided with Howell and said the
oath was unconstitutional and
struck it down. Struck down
an oath that Godwin had
supported.

However, Howell confirmed
last night that he was the chief
patron of a bill in the House
of Delegates in 1964 calling for
party registration in primaries.
The bill carried with it a clause
saying those that voted in a
party's primary must support
the candidates selected by that
primary.

So the fact is that both
gubernatorial candidates have
sat on either side of the fence
concerning loyalty oaths. But
so what? Loyalty oaths have
very little to do with the
effectiveness of a governor. A
candidate's platform should
deal with issues. Abbit's and
Godwin's cries of dismay over
a loyalty oath, which really
does not exist anyway, is a
mere attempt at sensationalism.

A gubernatorial campaign
which sinks to such
sensationalism is distasteful, to
say the least. If the
Republicans would cast aside
their "loyalty oath" mania and
get to the meat of the
campaign and fight Howell on
such issues as consumerism,
then the people of Virginia
could make a choice and
decide who is the best man for
the Governor's Mansion.

But then, maybe that is
what the Republicans are
afraid of.