Source: Augusta Chronicle (GA)
Contact:  http://www.augustachronicle.com/
Pubdate: 6 Aug 1998
Author: Russ Bynum Associated Press

OLIVER AD ATTACKS TAYLOR ON COCAINE USE

ATLANTA -- In the Democratic race for lieutenant governor, state Sen. Mary
Margaret Oliver is airing statewide television ads that attack her opponent
for using cocaine, though she admitted Wednesday that she has smoked
marijuana.

``Admitted cocaine user Mark Taylor is on the attack. Why? So you'll forget
Taylor's drug use, a felony in Georgia,'' an announcer says in the
30-second ad. ``Is this who we want setting an example for our children?
It'd be a crime to elect Taylor.''

Taylor, a state senator from Albany, faces Ms. Oliver of Decatur in
Tuesday's Democratic runoff for lieutenant governor. The winner will run in
the general election against one of two Republicans in the GOP runoff.

Ms. Oliver admitted, when asked by a reporter, that she smoked marijuana as
a college student. She said she has never used cocaine.

``I was in college at a time when I tried marijuana and did not like it,''
she said. ``I tried it and did not like it. I'm not going to discuss the
number of times.''

``She's revealing herself as a petty, pious, hypocritical individual who
obviously wants the state of Georgia to think that she's perfect and
without any human frailties,'' Taylor said of his opponent.

Taylor, who is from Albany, apologized for using cocaine and marijuana in
April when court papers in which he admitted using drugs were mailed to The
Macon Telegraph. The documents were from a 1992 battle between Taylor and
his ex-wife for custody of their son.

The ad highlights a couple of lines from Taylor's custody deposition.
Taylor is asked, ``Have you ever used cocaine?'' He replies, ``Yes.''

Taylor has said he and his ex-wife stopped using drugs when their son was
born in the early 1980s. He said he was 24 or 25 at the time.

``All I can do is continue to apologize, say I'm sorry that it happened,
and it's something I regret,'' Taylor said. ``It has never affected my
public life and it's not going to stop me from fighting crime and fighting
drugs.''

Ms. Oliver said she's using the ad to respond to attacks by Taylor that she
is soft on crime.

``I think there's some hypocrisy for him to claim I am soft on crime and
that he is tough on crime when he has a record that evidences a disregard
for the law.''

It's not the first time Taylor has been attacked on the cocaine issue.
Democratic Sen. Floyd Griffin of Milledgeville, a candidate in the July 21
primary, had said Taylor's drug use made him unfit to hold office and
called on him to withdraw from the race.

Taylor refused and managed to finish second in the primary with 21 percent
of the vote, about 37,000 votes behind Ms. Oliver.

Emory University political scientist Merle Black said Ms. Oliver's ad could
be an eye-opener for many Georgians who have not heard about Taylor's drug
use.

``It would be seen by a lot of voters as a disqualification for office,''
Black said.

Taylor has accused Ms. Oliver of being soft on crime in his own television
ads. Taylor says Ms. Oliver opposed allowing family of members of murder
victims to testify during murder trials and supported making it easier for
arrested drug dealers to post bail.

Ms. Oliver tries to counter those charges in her new ad, which points out
that she supported Georgia's anti-stalking law, mandatory sentences for
rapists and measures aimed at keeping guns out of schools. 

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Checked-by: Mike Gogulski