Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 15, 1992                   TAG: 9203130400
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

DELEGATES' FILING FEES A RAW TYPE OF ELITISM

First, in addition to the $5 fee to attend the county mass meeting, Mr. Bell is requiring $5 for attending the district convention. Local Republicans have to pay this fee before knowing whether they will be elected as delegates to the district convention.

Does Mr. Bell or his hand-picked successor, Oliver Strawn - Mr. Bell's campaign treasurer - intend to refund the $5 to each person who is not elected to serve as a delegate or who, for any other reason, cannot attend the district convention?

The intent of a mass meeting is to bring as many voters as possible together to decide on a candidate. Many Republicans who are not wealthy - myself included - feel that Mr. Bell's decision to require a filing fee totaling $10 is an underhanded way of excluding many Republicans who would otherwise participate. His decision is elitism in its rawest form.

But most important is the question of the legality of Mr. Bell's call for a mass meeting. Can any member of the county committee show me in the minutes of the last meeting where the committee by a proper motion delegated this responsibility to Mr. Bell?

The responsibility for calling the mass meeting and defining the terms for selecting delegates has to be made by the county committee. If it did not do that at its February meeting and if it has not had a meeting since, there is the possibility that the delegates elected through Mr. Bell's call will not be seated at the district convention and will be denied the privilege of helping to choosing a candidate to run against Congressman Boucher.

Does the 9th Congressional District need a congressman who has exhibited this type of leadership? I think not.\ Alvin Hale Blacksburg

Editor's Note: The $5 fee for the district convention was set by the 9th District GOP Committee, not by Bell. Bell, however, is requiring the fee to be paid before the Montgomery County mass meeting, but has said it will be refunded if a person is not chosen a delegate, according to District Committee member Ward Teel.