Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 10, 1993 TAG: 9310100132
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Staff and wire report
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Terry said Allen is distorting her record.
In a forum sponsored by the Virginia Environmental Assembly, a gathering of about 50 environmental groups, Allen said Terry accepted $500 for her 1989 attorney general re-election campaign from an investor in Kim-Stan. A month later, he said, Terry agreed to a "lenient settlement" that allowed the Alleghany County landfill to remain open if it stopped polluting waterways, he said.
The following year, the state closed the landfill that by then had taken in 1 billion pounds of out-of-state trash. Cleanup costs have been estimated at $5 million.
"A campaign contribution may cost us Virginia taxpayers $5 million," Allen said.
Terry said she did not know the contributor, Jerry W. Wharton, was an investor in a corporation her office later discovered owned Kim-Stan. She said she did everything the law allowed to shut down the operation.
"The laws did not give me the tools I needed," she said, adding that she subsequently pushed through a tougher state law against dumps that pollute.
Following the summer 1989 settlement with Kim-Stan, the landfill increased the amount of trash it received. It was virtually full when it closed in May 1990. Two principals in the firm were eventually prosecuted and jailed.
It was the second time last week that Allen charged Terry with taking contributions that appeared to conflict with her duties as attorney general.
During a televised debate Thursday night, Allen attacked Terry for taking a $10,000 campaign contribution from an investment firm days before she issued a legal opinion favorable to the firm. Terry has said there was no connection between the donation and the legal advice.
Neither candidate is known as a strong environmentalist, and both acknowledged that they sometimes differ with the environmental groups.
Both said they wanted to streamline environmental regulations, while cracking down on polluters.
Allen said he would make state buildings more energy-efficient and provide tax incentives for businesses to reduce waste, recycle and protect natural resources.
Terry said she would form a strike force for environmental emergencies and concentrate on complying with the Clean Air Act and the Chesapeake Bay Act.
Joe Maroon, Virginia executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, said environmental concerns have taken a back seat to economic issues this year.
"Unfortunately, there is a sense that being pro-environment means that you're anti-business. We don't believe that, and we hope our next leaders don't, either," Maroon said.
In other political developments:
U.S. Sen. John Warner, R-Va., declined to endorse Mike Farris, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, after meeting the nominee.
"He deserves to be listened to, and each person should make up his own mind," Warner said Friday. Farris is a home-schooling advocate involved in conservative Christian groups.
The Farris campaign criticized a list of 148 "Republicans for Beyer" released last week by Lt. Gov. Don Beyer, a Democrat. Only 19 on the list were GOP convention delegates this year, and only 38 ever contributed to the Republican Party, Farris said.
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POLITICS
by CNB