98-07-24:  VIRGINIA POLITICIANS LAUD GODWIN'S CAREER



By Carol S. Wood



Virginia political luminaries past and present gathered in
Charlottesville last weekend for the inaugural conference of a newly
minted University endeavor, the Governors Project, sponsored by the
Center for Governmental Studies and the Weldon Cooper Center for Public
Service.

The focus of the two-day event July 17 and 18 was Mills E. Godwin Jr.,
the only person in Virginia history to be twice elected governor of the
state and the first person in the nation to be elected governor as both
a Democrat (1965) and a Republican (1973).

Godwin, who lives in Suffolk near his birthplace, was unable to attend
the conference because of poor health. But his peers and friends,
including former U.S. Sen. Harry F. Byrd Jr. of Winchester, Lieutenant
Gov. John H. Hager of Richmond, Del. Alan A. Diamonstein of Newport
News and former state Senate Majority Leader Hunter B. Andrews of
Hampton, reminisced about the many accomplishments of the Godwin era,
including the establishment of the state's community college system and
a massive infusion of funds for education, transportation and mental
health.

Former Gov. Gerald L. Baliles, who delivered the keynote address Friday
night in the Rotunda, used the occasion to urge a renewed "sustained
commitment" to the state's longterm needs. "Governor Godwin showed all
of us that a crucial function of government is to [make investments]
today that will benefit women and men for years to come."

Surveying the room after the Rotunda event, U.Va. Government professor
Larry J. Sabato, founder and director of the new Center for
Governmental Studies, said he guessed "there were more influential
Virginia people gathered together in the Dome Room than have been there
in some time."

In addition to those already mentioned, Sabato ticked off a list of
political insiders who mingled after the speeches concluded: Gov.
Gilmore's chief of staff Boyd Marcus, Sen. John Chichester, Del. Paul
Harris, Del. Jeannemarie Devolites -- the first female U.Va.
undergraduate to be elected to the General Assembly -- Del. Jack Rust,
Democratic State Party Chairman (and Del.) Ken Plum, former-Delegates
Al Smith, Sam Glasscock, Archie Campbell, Ray Ashworth, Richard
Reynolds, and former-Sens. Selwyn Smith and Elmon Gray. And that was
just to name a few who had gathered to talk politics during the
conference.

Sabato said he established the project to examine the historical
context and accomplishments of Virginia's former governors. Each summer
hereafter, former administration officials, scholars, journalists and
the former governors themselves will be invited to discuss and debate
individual tenures. Each conference will become an hour-long PBS
special and a chapter in a book Sabato plans after he has held eight
conferences.