he state's Republican Party leader said yesterday that Jack E. Robinson III still has the GOP's full support in his bid to unseat US Senator Edward M. Kennedy this fall, despite a series of damaging allegations last week about his personal life.
''We're just looking forward to a good debate on the issues,'' said Brian Cresta, state GOP chairman, of Robinson, a 39-year-old millionaire businessman.
''Jack's got a great life story to tell, how he grew up in Roxbury, how he got educated in Boston schools and later Harvard, how he started successful businesses and tried to reform a failing airline,'' Cresta said. ''He brings something to the table that we need in the new century.''
On Friday, Robinson denied allegations that he harassed and sexually assaulted a former girlfriend in 1997, allegations laid out in a 1998 restraining order. He has denied the substance of the restraining order, saying that the woman was, in fact, harassing him.
At the same time, Robinson was forced to explain why he was charged with carrying an illegal martial arts weapon one night in 1985, after he was pulled over by police on suspicion of drunken driving. Robinson, who passed a breath test, pleaded not guilty to the weapons charge, and it was later continued with no finding. Robinson said he has no idea how the weapon appeared in his pocket.
Earlier, Business Week magazine reported that Robinson was fired from his post as head of a commuter airline because he was planning to put in a bid on the company. Robinson said he resigned in order to make the bid.
Other media accounts have stated that a federal judge found ''significant portions'' of a book Robinson wrote in the mid-1990s were plagiarized, which led the publishers to pull it from the presses.
Michael Goldman, a Democratic political consultant, said the flood of negative publicity has essentially freed Kennedy from the political chore of unearthing damaging information about his opponent. He said he would be amazed if Kennedy even mentions it.
''Senator Kennedy will never need to speak about any of this, because every story about Mr. Robinson will have, in the second paragraph, a description of all of this,'' Goldman said. ''Whether or not any of these things are true, they create a tremendously damaging perception problem. At some point, the public says, `Can all of these things be untrue?' The weight of all that is too much for most candidates.''
Wendy Murphy, the attorney representing Robinson's former girlfriend, said her client has said she does not want to have her relationship with Robinson become an issue in the campaign. However, Murphy said she personally believes Robinson's history is relevant to voters and should be an issue in the election.
''Everything about what happened to this victim relates to women as a class and to voters,'' she said. ''I think it speaks volumes about his suitability for Congress, and I take issue with the idea that Republican leaders say this is not an issue.''
Goldman predicted that Robinson's candidacy will not last long, despite Cresta's pronouncements.
''I cannot imagine that this guy will stay in the fight to be the ultimate challenger to the senator,'' he said. ''If he does, I don't think he or the Republican Party would be well-served by that decision.''
But Cresta said Robinson, who could not be reached by phone yesterday, ''can and does convey the Republican Party agenda.''
''Ted Kennedy has had a great 40 years,'' he said. ''He's an icon in Massachusetts and national politics, but his ideas are those of the last century.''
Goldman chalked up such talk to face-saving.
''There's nothing like the Republican State Committee to vet a candidate well,'' he said.
''This is the reason they are the third party in a two-party state. It would be funny, if it weren't so pathetic.''
