Lowry Says Little After He, Party Chair Huddle Nothing Settled About Timing Of Governor’s Re-Election Plans

One thing seemed certain after a closed-door meeting Thursday between Gov. Mike Lowry and the state Democratic chairman: Lowry’s political plans, if any, will remain under wraps.

Speaking through press aide Barbara Dunn, Lowry was vague about the substance of his conversation with party chairman Paul Berendt.

Lowry and Berendt discussed the party, its direction and future, Berendt’s leadership and other issues, Dunn quoted Lowry as saying.

The question of when Lowry would disclose whether he will seek reelection also was discussed, she said.

Lowry told Berendt it is too early to kick off a campaign for governor, Dunn said.

Berendt, who has said he would welcome an early announcement, said he and Lowry had a “cordial, frank and constructive discussion.”

He said he didn’t press Lowry to come up with a timetable for announcing whether he will seek a second term, “and he gave no indication when he would make an announcement.”

Lowry reminded reporters earlier that he hadn’t announced his first campaign for governor until May 1992 and still won the race.

Lowry has been wrestling with the decision since suffering political damage from an accusation by his former press aide, Susanne Albright, that he had sexually harassed her.

The controversy escalated last week when he announced he had agreed to pay Albright $97,500 and she had agreed not to sue. The agreement said the payment “shall (not) in any way be construed as an admission or an acknowledgment by the settling parties that any of them has acted wrongfully or improperly with respect to the other.”

But Berendt said the pact would be “devastating for his re-election chances.”

Even before the announcement, party officials had been urging Lowry to make up his mind. The longer he waits, they said, the harder it will be to put together an effective Democratic campaign for governor in 1996.

On another front, the state chapter of the National Organization for Women has announced it will not support Lowry if he decides to seek re-election.