Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 29, 1995 TAG: 9506290078
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Was it a belated pang of conscience, or a PAC skeleton he found rattling around in his campaign coffers?
State Sen. Brandon Bell, R-Roanoke County, called a news conference June 20 at which he vilified the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association. He called trial lawyers "greedy interests" and blasted his Democratic opponent - a trial lawyer - for seeking their support.
Whoops.
On the same day, Bell returned a $500 contribution the trial lawyers made to his campaign in 1991.
Now, the Richmond-based association is refusing to accept Bell's check. On Wednesday, they sent it back. Even worse, the PAC's chairman said, their feelings are hurt.
Bell said the matter of the $500 donation was brought to his attention while he prepared for the news conference at which he attacked his Democratic opponent, Roanoke Vice Mayor John Edwards.
During the news conference, Bell criticized Edwards for a fund-raising letter addressed, "Dear Fellow Trial Lawyers."
Bell said, "the last thing Virginia families and businesses need is another trial lawyer in Richmond."
Bell said on Wednesday that he returned the money because he wants it "absolutely clear" that he's opposed to everything the trial lawyers stand for.
"During my first term in the state Senate, I fought for changes that the VTLA diametrically opposed," he wrote the association when he sent them the check. "For this reason, I am returning the amount of the contribution."
Michael Blachman, chairman of the association's Political Action Committee, said his organization is disturbed at Bell's suggestion that the PAC expected something in return for the contribution.
"We've contributed to Democrats, to Republicans; we contribute to candidates who are very different ideologically than the VTLA," Blachman said. "Never have we suggested to anyone that there's any deal, anything we expect in return.
Bell is "insulting trial lawyers, insulting consumers they represent, and he's insulting his constituents," Blachman added.
Blachman also noted that only last month, Bell sent another campaign solicitation to a trial lawyers' association staff member at the organization's headquarters.
Bell campaign manager James Faulkner admitted the solicitation was sent, but called it "completely unintentional."
Edwards said he found the whole affair funny.
Bell "apparently was happy to receive their money 31/2 years ago and happy to ask them for money last month. If he's so hostile toward trial lawyers, why did he solicit their contribution last month?"
Edwards added that he found it strange that it took Bell 31/2 years to get around to returning the money.
"That [contribution] basically came in before it was clear to me what issues the trial lawyers were fighting for," Bell responded. "If I'd known four years ago ... more about the trial lawyers and the positions they were pushing, I never would have accepted it," he said.
He said he's refused other contributions in the past, most recently from a company pushing the legalization of gambling in Virginia.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB