It was, to be sure, entirely predictable that Robb’s

It was, to be sure, entirely predictable that Robb’s opponents would attempt to find a connection between these events and link them in such a way as to show that his administration is floundering in disarray.

When the events are examined individually, however, no connection appears to exist.

The three officials, Dr. Charles Sydnor, Dr. Timothy Sullivan and Secretary of Administration and Finance Wayne Anderson, had all been planning to leave for several months. Anderson will become a college professor; Sullivan will return to his teaching position at the Marshall-Wythe Law School, and Sydnor will become president of Emory and Henry College.

The resignation of Sheila Prindeville, administrator of the State Council on the Environment, was not expected and may have been caused by personal or professional differences within her department. She will remain on the job until July 1.

The suspension of Dr. Joseph Bevilacqua, director of the Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, was appropriate, according to the governor, because of certain grand jury findings which will be made public later. Robb says that if an investigation now in progress exonerates Bevilacqua he will be restated, but that the preliminary report justified immediate and decisive action on his part.

The breakout at Mecklenburg was by far the most embarrassing of the problems which have beset Robb. It was the largest escape from a death house in the history of the country, and because it was made from one of the nation’s newest and supposedly most escape-proof facilities, it was doubly astonishing.

Robb immediately shouldered the ultimate responsibly for the escapes, and mobilized the resources of the Commonwealth in the effort to recapture the fugitives.

The governor’s critics went overboard after the Mecklenburg breakout. There were charges that in the days following, the processes of state government stood very nearly paralyzed, that the governor’s office virtually ceased to function and that - horror of horrors - the governor even cancelled appointments because of the confusion.

It is true that the governor did cancel some appointments the day after the breakout.

They included a ribbon cutting and dedication of a new building, the presentation of pork festival tickets, the acceptance of a gift from a Brownie Troop and his scheduled attendance at a Democratic fund-raiser in Orange County. They were not exactly the kind of things which, if missed, would strip the gears of his administration.

In point of fact, Robb used the day to set up a command post in the state Capitol to coordinate the search for the escapees with the North Carolina authorities. He met with his cabinet and conferred with members of his staff. It was hardly a picture of a governor or government immobilized by events.

Thus, while Robb has encountered a rush of problems, they should be put in perspective. They have angered and frustrated the governor, but they have not disrupted or even slowed the processes of government. They appear to be connected only in the sense that they happened at about the same time.

“Events cannot always be controlled,” Robb said in a recent interview, “but the test of a leader is how well he responds to them when they occur."

Fair enough. And, applying that test, Robb appears to deserve high marks for his early responses.

But the jury is still out on his long-term solutions.

There are many troubling questions about the Bevilacqua suspension and, far more importantly, about the events at Mecklenburg which require answers and, one must assume, prompt and derisive corrective action.

In the latter case there are a host of issues, including those of guard pay, training, discipline, supervision and morale, which- the escape has brought sharply into focus. Indeed, the escapes may provide Robb with the political ammunition needed to confront the problem which has plagued the corrections system for a generation, and which has been bitterly complained about by a procession of department directors.

That is, the General Assembly simply does not appropriate the funds required to operate a really first class, professional corrections system. When guards charged with the custodial responsibility for murderers are being paid as little as $12,000 per year, the Commonwealth is asking for trouble, and in this case has gotten it.

The long-term responses to these and a multitude of other questions are a part of leadership, too. How well Robb exercises his leadership will determine his final mark on this, the toughest test he has yet freed.