Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 21, 1990 TAG: 9006210331
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
"I think this either will stimulate the discussions or cause it to be settled by the court," said Robert J. Grey Jr., the committee's lawyer. "I think at this point we're at an impasse."
The inaugural committee, which has tried to negotiate a lower price with Joyce Office Products Centers, is asking a Richmond Circuit Court jury to decide what would be a fair price for the invitations.
Joyce billed the state $192,300 for the invitations, $42,000 more than the state budgeted for the entire swearing-in ceremony. The state has paid Joyce about $43,793 - which is roughly $148,500 short of the amount the company said it was owed.
Joyce President Larry Faulkner said there have been no recent negotiations on the billing and that he was unaware the committee planned to sue.
Faulkner said he has talked with state government officials since the dispute became public three weeks ago, but has not talked with the inaugural committee, which is a private group.
Wilder's inaugural committee planned the public swearing-in, an event traditionally paid for by state taxpayers.
In the lawsuit, the committee maintains it was misled about the cost. It contends it was told by a company sales representative there would not be "a substantial price difference" between Wilder's invitations and those prepared by Joyce four years earlier for the inauguration of then-Gov. Gerald Baliles. The state paid about $50,000 for Baliles' invitations.
The company has said Baliles ordered far fewer than Wilder and used a much simpler, cheaper design.
by CNB