"The FBI and federal prosecutors are joining the probe into alleged Republican eavesdropping on conference calls by Virginia Democrats planning their strategy in the high-stakes legislative redistricting case, U.S. Attorney Paul J. McNulty announced yesterday.

A state grand jury in Richmond already has brought charges against the former executive director of the Republican Party. Then Richmond Commonwealth's Attorney David M. Hicks and the Virginia State Police asked for federal help last month after a top aide to House Speaker S. Vance Wilkins Jr. (R-Amherst) was implicated in the probe.

A joint investigation may help keep the inquiry free of conflict-of-interest issues. Under Virginia law, the state police may not investigate elected officials without the approval of the governor or attorney general. But Gov. Mark R. Warner (D) was a participant in one of the conference calls, and he and Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore (R) are involved in the redistricting battle.

Now the investigation will be directed jointly by Hicks, an elected Democrat, and McNulty, an appointed Republican, and the FBI can venture--unfettered--into politically sensitive areas.

"We're pleased," Hicks said. "We had gotten to the point where the state police were prohibited from asking the next question. This clearly frees up the investigation."

McNulty's office declined to comment beyond a statement announcing the joint probe.

The investigation began in March when Kilgore was informed that the head of the state GOP, Edward Matricardi III, allegedly taped at least one conference call among Democrats discussing defense of a court decision striking down the legislature's redistricting plan. But within weeks, the probe mushroomed to include Claudia D. Tucker, Wilkins's chief of staff, and Jeff Ryer, press secretary to House Majority Leader H. Morgan Griffith (R-Salem).

It is not clear where charges would be brought if the investigation found wrongdoing. The federal and state wiretapping laws are similar, because Virginia's was modeled on the U.S. statute. But federal law has broader prohibitions on evidence destruction, should that become an issue.

For now, Matricardi is scheduled to go on trial in Richmond Circuit Court on charges of listening to two phone calls March 23 and 25. But officials said they are considering dropping the case so that all the people under investigation can be dealt with in the same way.

Matricardi's attorney, Steven D. Benjamin, said it doesn't matter who does the investigation. "They're going to come to the same conclusion.... Ed Matricardi had a right to be on that call," he said. Matricardi has resigned his position in the state GOP.

Tucker's attorney, Anthony F. Troy, said, "I really don't know what it means other than more investigative resources." Tucker's cell phone number appears on a list of participants in the March 25 call. She is on leave.

Warner, in a statement issued yesterday evening, said: "I hope the federal authorities conclude their investigation of this eavesdropping episode quickly. It is important that the facts come to light."

Kilgore spokesman Tim Murtaugh said his boss was comfortable with the decision. "Jerry Kilgore has great respect for Paul McNulty and knows he'll do the right thing," Murtaugh said. He said Kilgore had not been asked to authorize a probe of elected officials.

Democrats yesterday called the federal involvement an indication of the probe's seriousness, while GOP leaders fretted that the case could now drag on for months.

State Democratic Chairman Lawrence H. Framme III said he expects McNulty's presence to mean a new round of interviews with top elected Republicans, including Wilkins and Griffith.

"The entry of the federal law enforcement authorities means this is much more likely to get a very thorough investigation that will run to the end," Framme said.

Wilkins played down the significance. "Whatever will happen will happen," he said. "I don't worry about it."

Other Republicans, though, are worrying. Several said privately that a federal investigation could last for months, as did a 1991-1993 federal inquiry into allegations that aides to then-Sen. Charles S. Robb (D-Va.) illegally recorded a phone call by then-Gov. L. Douglas Wilder (D).

"It's a distraction to governance," Griffith said. "What is important is that we get to the bottom of this and get the investigation done. It is a generally accepted fact that the federal folks take longer. If it takes a long time, that means it slumbers and then comes back up."

Robert D. Holsworth, a professor of political science at Virginia Commonwealth University, said the presence of a U.S. attorney and the FBI "ups the ante" for the state GOP, even if the investigation ends without finding wrongdoing. In Robb's case, a grand jury voted not to indict him after 19 months of damaging political fallout.

"It keeps it open," Holsworth said. "It has the potential effect of all the problems accumulating over time."" (Brooke A. Masters and Michael D. Shear, The Washington Post, May 9, 2002)