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

DATE: SUNDAY, October 15, 1995                   TAG: 9510160014
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DAN CASEY/STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

WHO PAYS FOR CAMPAIGNS?

EVERY NEIGHBORHOOD GETS TO VOTE, but not every neighborhood contributes money. Most of the campaign funds for the Roanoke Valley's General Assembly candidates are coming from just three places.

There those General Assembly candidates are: standing before the Greater Raleigh Court Civic League, the Roanoke County Jaycees and residents of Lincoln Terrace in Northwest Roanoke.

With barely three weeks to go in the campaign, the jockeying for votes is intensifying.

But for months the local legislative campaigns have been operating on a much more shrouded level: the race to collect as many campaign contributions as possible.

Candidates need lots of money. Radio spots, television commercials, newspaper ads and yard signs don't come cheap. Neither does short-term office space, telephone systems, polls and campaign professionals.

While these organizations target the average voter, a computer analysis of contributions to the Roanoke Valley's General Assembly candidates suggests campaigns are largely financed by a few powerful and wealthy interests. Unlike many other states, Virginia has no limit on campaign contributions in state political contests.

Who's buying the ads? According to campaign records, it's the health industry, lawyers, Richmond-based political action committees and people who live in South Roanoke, Hunting Hills and Roanoke's Deyerle neighborhood.

For a in-depth report on this subject, see today's Horizon section.

Staff writer Lisa Smith also contributed to this report.

Keywords:
POLITICS

by CNB