Chuck Robb

Robb was the only Democratic incumbent senator to be defeated in that election.

In June 1983, Washington Post reporter Michael Isikoff broke the news that a Robb appointee who was responsible for mine safety also owned stock in a coal mine where seven miners were killed in an accident during the previous month. Later, Isikoff reported that two mine inspectors also held ownership interests in companies where they were responsible for enforcing safety regulations. The highest level appointee implicated in the scandal sold off his ownership interest in the mine and later two mine inspectors were suspended for owning shares in mines they were responsible for inspecting. Robb responded with calls for reforming conflict of interest laws, but this effort languished in the Virginia legislature and criticism of Robb on the mine safety issue likewise vanished.

In June 1984, Virginia experienced its worst death row escape when six prisoners awaiting execution overpowered guards at Mecklenberg maximum security prison and fled in a prison vehicle. Two were immediately caught but the other four went unapprehended for weeks. Later that summer, two even more notorious death row prisoners from Richmond also escaped from their prison and were eventually recaptured in Philadelphia. In September, 1984, six prisoners at a medium security prison took a guard as hostage for six hours and demanded to be relocated to a higher security facility for their own safety. Robb focused attention to reforming the administration of Virginia's correctional system and was not blamed for the mismanagement scandal that resulted in so many incidents of violence and escapes. Read Less