ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, July 12, 1996 TAG: 9607120052
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Above
The partying lawmakers didn't flinch when the waitress dropped the bill for $375 onto the table.
They didn't reach for their wallets, either.
Not when they had invited a lobbyist along for an evening of Creole cuisine and microbrews at Southern Culture, a trendy eatery in Richmond's Fan District.
Virginia Power lobbyist Bill Crump picked up the tab, a time-honored tradition during the mid-winter sessions of the Virginia General Assembly.
Lobbyist disclosure forms made public last week confirm that special interests treat lawmakers to a two-month movable feast of receptions, private dinners and nights on the town.
A Roanoke Times computer analysis of three dozen of the most active corporate groups shows food and drink expenses totaling $140,000.- enough to pay a family of four's grocery bill for the next 28 years.
The lobbyist disclosures omit one important detail: The names of lawmakers who got wined and dined.
Critics contend General Assembly members crafted the law to keep the public from knowing when they accept free dinners from lobbyists trying to influence legislation.
For instance, Virginia Power Co. reported that it entertained five lawmakers at the exclusive Commonwealth Club on Feb. 22, when the electric utility's most cherished piece of legislation was pending on the House of Delegates floor.
Were Virginia Power officials wooing key hold-outs? Or were they huddling with House leaders to discuss ways to guide the bill around a momentary snag?
"I can understand why you might be very suspicious about it," said Eva Teig, a Virginia Power lobbyist and vice president for public affairs.
Teig said there was nothing sinister - just a small dinner where company officials provided key House members with a detailed explanation of its legislative package dealing with electric deregulation.
"It was complex to explain, even to utility people," she said. "We felt we needed some time away from the hustle and bustle."
Teig refused to name the lawmakers, saying it is not required by state law and would invade legislators' privacy.
Lawmakers downplay the free food and drink that comes their way; they resent the suggestion that their votes can be bought with boiled shrimp, mozzarella cubes and unlimited bourbon refills.
"It don't mean jack squat, as far as I'm concerned," said Sen. Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo, R-Fincastle. "If you can't go out and eat somebody's food and drink their beverages and then vote against them the next day, you aren't worth anything."
Critics reply that the running banquet greases the wheels of big business looking for special consideration.
"It's not something so bold as a vote bought, but it can have a nefarious effect on policy," said Sheila Krumholz, research assistant with the National Library on Money & Politics.
Krumholz said entertainment by special interests can pay particular dividends with highly complex issues like telephone deregulation or tax policy.
"It can be a matter of an amendment not offered or a misplaced comma in a bill that is going to give a company some kind of subsidy or special benefit," she said.
Legislators can maintain a full waistline several ways during assembly sessions without dipping too deeply into the $93 that taxpayers provide every day for their room and board:
There are nightly receptions that can cost more than most couples spend on their wedding; private dinners at pricey establishments where lobbyists can command lawmakers' undivided attention for a few hours; and informal gatherings where lawmakers can invite a lobbyist - and his gold card - for a turn on the town.
Lawmakers' after-hours schedules can be as taxing as their legislative calendars.
"If you are going to one, you eat a lot," advised Fairfax Del. James Dillard, a 22-year veteran of the reception circuit. "If you go to three or four, which is usually the case, you eat a little here and a little there and drink a lime and soda, instead of a gin and tonic, so you don't drink too much."
Big business has been doling out beefsteak and bourbon to lawmakers in Richmond as long as anyone can remember.
Melville Carico, a retired Roanoke Times reporter who covered the General Assembly from 1958-81, recalled one insurance lobbyist who kept a room at the old Hotel Richmond, where most out-of-town lawmakers stayed.
"He never stayed in the room, but he kept it open and well-stocked with booze," Carico said. "To make it look good, he always had a rack of the state code on the dresser, so you could look up a code section if you wanted to. But I don't think those books got too worn."
Over the past 25 years, lobbyists have come under greater scrutiny in Richmond. The 1994 General Assembly passed a reform law requiring lobbyists to provide a year-round accounting of their spending and to disclose their expenses in greater detail.
Lobbyists must disclose the date, location and number of lawmakers and state officials present at any event that costs more than $100. But the law does not require lobbyists to name their guests.
Asked if lawmakers wrote the loophole into law to avoid disclosure of their entertainment life, Norfolk Sen. Stanley Walker, a Democrat, replied, "I think that's a likelihood."
In Kentucky, lawmakers began paying for their own dinners this year after lobbyists had to begin disclosing recipients of any entertainment expense, down to a cup of coffee.
"For all intents and purposes, that kind of expense is almost gone," said Earl Mackey, executive director of the Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission. "Everything has to be reported, and by and large the legislators would prefer not to have that on their record."
Sen. Mark Earley, R-Chesapeake, acknowledged that the lobbyist law results in less than full disclosure. He said the 1997 General Assembly might want to close the loophole to dispel any public perception that something "cynical or malevolent is going on."
"I think it's a logical extension of disclosure," Del. Glenn Croshaw, D-Virginia Beach, said. "I don't think people will mind if you have five dinners a session, but if you have 25 dinners with the same lobbyist and you are carrying his [legislation], that might be another story."
While several lawmakers say they would support tighter disclosure, no one said he was ready to lead the charge.
"I just don't have an internal barometer telling me that this is something that has to be done," Earley said.
"These [lobbyists] are there every day of the session. So, like it or not, we are going to develop a relationship. I don't think that [discouraging meals] solves the problem."
House Democratic Leader Richard Cranwell of Vinton said he thought reporters and such groups as Common Cause were making too much of a few free meals.
"When we're talking about the price of a meal or the price of a cocktail, it's a matter of common courtesy that people do all the time," Cranwell said.
Cranwell was one of eight Democratic legislators treated to dinner at Southern Culture on Feb. 2 by Virginia Power. Other lawmakers included Del. Clifton "Chip" Woodrum of Roanoke, Del. Brian Moran of Alexandria and Sen. John Edwards of Roanoke.
The utility disclosure report did not include names, but a reporter witnessed the company's lobbyist pick up the tab.
Without a change in the law, the public will not know if their representatives are getting free meals - except if a lobbyist accidentally names names.
"I didn't want anyone to say I didn't fill the darn thing out right," said Dave "Mudcat" Saunders, a Roanoke realtor who worked as a lobbyist for Hollywood Casinos.
Saunders listed the names of several Democratic lawmakers, including Del. William Moore, D-Portsmouth. The lobbyist said he treated Moore to dinner at two Richmond restaurants, the James River Wine Bistro and Southern Culture.
Moore said there is no connection between Saunders' hospitality and Moore's decision to vote for riverboat gambling legislation, after years of opposition.
"I don't remember him buying me any damn meals," Moore said. "I don't want to get sideways with him, but I was out in a social setting with others, and he was there. If he says he picked up the check, so be it."
LENGTH: Long : 152 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Chart by staff: Lobbying in 1996. color. KEYWORDS: POLITICSby CNB