Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 5, 1990 TAG: 9005050218
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARGIE FISHER RICHMOND BUREAU
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Ninth Congressional District GOP Chairman Jim Ferreira said the distribution of the report to the media Thursday was "a power play" by people intent on wresting control of the party from state Chairman Don Huffman of Roanoke and Executive Director Joe Elton.
The report was especially critical of Huffman, Elton and party Treasurer William Hurd.
"There are people who are rushing to take over," and the report is the ammunition being used, Ferreira said.
But Ferreira said, "I think the other side is going to lose." Many Republicans who might have agreed earlier that the party needed new management have been turned off by the tactic of leaking the report to the press, he said.
Ferreira and other members of the party's Central Committee have been invited to join Vice Chairman Hugh Mulligan of Alexandria at a news conference here today, where they are expected to try to restore the party's credibility and defend Huffman and Elton.
Mulligan said Friday the report is full of errors, misstatements, distortions and personal aspersions, and he called it "a dastardly act" for someone to have leaked the report knowing it painted an inaccurate picture of the party's internal affairs.
But Raymond Moore, a Chesterfield County accountant who headed the special audit committee that compiled the 366-page, 10-pound report, defended its accuracy.
Moore said the charges have been documented. "It is a fact that the books were not reconciled; checkbooks were not reconciled for months and months."
Moore said Huffman and Elton should resign.
"Even though the Republican Party of Virginia is not a for-profit organization, we're not going to start winning elections again until we start acting like one. I don't think contributors will find much place for us in their checkbooks until they believe their funds will be handled properly."
State Sen. Robert Russell, R-Chesterfield, said the report was sound but may have been too broad. "There are some editorial comments in there that are probably out of place. But that doesn't remove the facts that are in there."
Fifth Congressional District Chairman Don Moseley of Buckingham acknowledged that the report has "a lot of good in it" in terms of recommendations for better handling of the party's financial affairs. But most of those recommendations have already been carried out by Huffman and Elton, Moseley said.
Moseley said most GOP leaders recognized several months ago that internal management was "screwed up" and changes needed to be made. He said he felt the audit committee "had the party's best interests at heart" when, at Huffman's request, it made an intensive investigation as to what needed to be done.
And the committee "worked like hell," Moseley said. "The problem is, their report sucks." It was "unedited" to reflect the errors and misleading information it contained, and "in its present form, it's garbage."
Mike Salster, a former spokesman for the party, said, "if you can boil that 10-pound report down, there's about an ounce of fact in it. The rest of it is ax-grinding and speculation and a lot of errors."
One Republican, who would not speak for attribution, said if the purpose of leaking the report was to force Huffman and Elton to resign, it has backfired. "If anything, I'd say Huffman and Elton are stronger today after what happened," the party member said. "People I've talked to feel they have been wronged, that they've been victims."
At the same time, this Republican said party leaders had made a bad mistake when they agreed at a central committee meeting last Saturday to try to keep the audit report out of the hands of reporters. "They should have known it would be leaked."
The audit report blamed Elton primarily for poor oversight of the party's financial accounting system. The laxity of oversight led to bounced checks, unpaid bills and accusations of embezzlement against a former bookkeeper.
by CNB