Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, August 30, 1993 TAG: 9308300047
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CAROLYN CLICK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Robin Barnhill has learned some lessons in the nearly four years she has led a group of politically active employees at Lewis-Gale Hospital:
Get to know your elected officials. Go to Washington and ichmond. Write individual letters rather than showering them with form correspondence. Don't send politicians into the cafeteria at lunchtime. But if there is
anything to suggest that members of the Lewis-Gale Political Awareness Committee have come of age, it is their understanding of that famous political adage: all politics is local.
The PAC, formed in 1989 with the encouragement of Lewis-Gale President Karl Miller, practiced that lesson this summer when it endorsed Republican Morgan Griffith for the 8th District House of Delegates seat.
The decision, Miller said in an Aug. 5 letter to employees, came down to this: Morgan's Democratic opponent, advertising executive Howard Packett, "does over $300,000 worth of business" with the Carilion Health System, Lewis-Gale's crosstown competitor. Carilion is a not-for-profit network, while Lewis-Gale, owned by the Hospital Corporation of America, is a for-profit hospital.
"His [Packett's] ability to represent Lewis-Gale Medical Center is severely compromised," Miller wrote employees in urging them to vote for Griffith and send campaign contributions.
"There is no question in my mind that Carilion will make some very substantial contributions to Mr. Packett's campaign `war chest,' " he said. "I would ask that you take a moment and think about whether you want Carilion running the 8th District."
Miller may have been a bit exaggerated in his assessment of the roles of both Carilion and Packett, said Steve Esworthy, Packett's campaign manager.
"He has never sat down with Carilion and talked just about their particular interests," Esworthy said. "Howard sees the nonprofit side, and he was really willing to learn the profit side."
But the Griffith-Packett debate - including suggestions from the Packett camp that Griffith could also run into conflicts because his wife works for Carilion - highlighted the growing power of the Lewis-Gale PAC as a force in local politics.
"I think they are an emerging force in the valley as a whole," said Griffith campaign manager Chris Nolen, who relishes the prospect of a small army of volunteers to help in the fall campaign.
Sometimes the members are not even aware of their power. The PAC apparently angered Republican House candidate Bud Brumitt by not inviting him to speak to the group of Lewis-Gale senior managers.
Candidates in the past have made a presentation to the senior managers, who indicate their preferences to the committee in a straw poll.
Instead, the group simply backed the Roanoke Valley's incumbent delegates, including Brumitt's Democratic opponent, Del. Richard Cranwell, D-Roanoke County, and two other members of the Roanoke Valley House delegation, Del. Victor Thomas, D-Roanoke, and Del. Clifton Woodrum, D-Roanoke. Thomas and Woodrum have no opposition.
"I was actually very disappointed that we hadn't been contacted," said Amy Averill, Brumitt's campaign manager. "I would think that, if they wanted to be fair, they would have given us a chance."
Barnhill, the hospital's director of noninvasive cardiology and co-chair of the group, said the omission was an oversight and not meant to slight other candidates.
"We were focusing our efforts on Morgan," she said. "We can't spread ourselves but so far."
Bill Russell, vice president for support services who leads the group with Barnhill, said there was a logistical problem as well. Brumitt entered the campaign in June, long after the PAC had conducted its poll.
Barnhill said the decision to concentrate the PAC's resources primarily on one local candidate each year is deliberate and based on practical considerations.
Although she believes more employees are involved in politics because of the PAC, she knows it will be a core group who will actually get involved in the grass-roots efforts of supporting a candidate.
"For a lot of our employees, this is the first time they have been exposed to politics," she said.
Former Salem Del. Steve Agee, who mounted an unsuccessful bid for the Republican nomination for attorney general, received the group's support and likely would have been given a helping hand by the PAC as well. The group has not involved itself in the other statewide races.
The group cut its teeth on health-care issues - lobbying against Medicare cuts and Gov. Douglas Wilder's ill-fated proposal to impose a "sick tax" on hospitals - and only last year entered the endorsement business big-time.
That's when the group promoted Republican Bob Goodlatte in his successful congressional campaign against Democrat Steve Musselwhite.
"When they endorse you, it was not just `we think you're a good guy,' but it was `you're a good guy, and we're going to get you over the finish line,' " said Tim Phillips, Goodlatte's chief of staff.
The committee lined up people willing to stuff envelopes, go door-to-door and buttonhole their friends and neighbors on behalf of the candidate.
Goodlatte, who has made a point of educating himself on health-care issues, made note of the support; the day after his victory, he was back at Lewis-Gale, shaking hands and thanking his supporters.
With both Goodlatte and Griffith, the PAC's announcements were accompanied by all the trappings of a political carnival: flowers, food and plenty of speeches.
So far, Barnhill said, the 14-member committee that actually makes the endorsement decisions has backed the choices of senior managers.
But she said, "I could see us endorsing someone the managers don't."
Nevertheless, the process has led some to complain that the group, which operates on a small budget from the hospital, represents the philosophies of management rather than all the hospital's more than 1,200 employees.
"I don't think for a second that the endorsement of that group represents all of Lewis-Gale," said Esworthy, Packett's campaign manager.
Barnhill said there have been only a few complaints from employees about the activities of the PAC, which has about 90 employees on its mailing list. That's why she knows they don't like politicians interrupting their lunch.
But as the federal government turns its attention to overhauling the way health care is delivered in America, she believes it is important to be involved and get employees thinking about issues.
Then, she said, they can make up their own minds about the candidates who will represent them.
"As a committee, we can say a lot of things and do a lot of things," said Barnhill. "But nobody follows you into the voting booth."
The committee also has no problem with employees who have dissenting political opinions, Russell said. Its mission is to get people involved, no matter who they support.
The group is already trying to network with sister Hospital Corporation of America hospitals in Virginia to enhance their clout at the state Capitol and among their elected officials in Washington.
"We're hoping that when they make decisions, they'll ask us," she said.
by CNB