THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 19, 1994 TAG: 9408190611
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARGARET EDDS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
Angry Virginia Democrats charged on Thursday that Attorney General James S. Gilmore is turning the state's bipartisan push for parole reform into a fulcrum for his political ambitions.
And that, they said, could jeopardize efforts at unity when the General Assembly convenes next month for a special session on parole reform, called by Republican Gov. George F. Allen.
Mark Miner, a spokesman for Gilmore, countered that the GOP officeholder was right to criticize ``liberal Democrats . . . and naysayers in the legislature'' in a recently mailed anti-parole fund-raising appeal.
The letter solicited contributions of up to $2,500 for a newly formed political action committee that says it plans a $60,000 grass-roots lobbying effort for parole reform in the next month.
``The Democrats have been in office for 12 years,'' Miner said. ``It's taken a Republican governor and attorney general to finally get things moving.''
The controversy comes four weeks before lawmakers are scheduled to assemble in a special session to consider Allen's call for abolishing parole and reforming the state's sentencing structure.
The authors of the Allen plan have cast their work as a bipartisan effort, even though Allen almost certainly will get top credit for any reform.
But Allen will need Democratic support to get a plan through the Assembly, and some Democrats - whose own parole reform study has been under way for more than a year - said Gilmore's attack could sharpen partisan feelings.
The Gilmore letter is ``a mistake, particularly for it to come out now. Gilmore's promoting his own personal political purposes,'' said Sen. Richard Holland, D-Isle of Wight, a member of the Assembly's parole study group.
Other Democrats attending a parole meeting at the Capitol were even harsher.
``I think it's tawdry,'' said Del. Jay DeBoer of Petersburg, who suggested that the Committee for a Safe Virginia may be a front for a ``Gilmore for governor'' fund-raising effort. Gilmore is expected to seek the GOP nod for governor in 1997. ``The attorney general is flagrantly violating the call for cooperation. . . . I've never yet met the pro-crime lobby.''
``I've never seen a letter like that coming from a statewide officeholder,'' said Del. Thomas Jackson, D-Hillsville, who questioned whether Gilmore should register as a lobbyist. ``I don't think this is the way Virginia government should work.''
But Miner said it is ``absolutely false and misleading'' that the committee serves a political purpose for Gilmore, who is a founder and honorary chairman.
The president of the group, which filed state papers as a political action committee in mid-July, is a Gilmore political supporter and former GOP chairman in the city of Richmond. Miner also acknowledged that the group's initial mailing went primarily to Republicans, as well as political lobbyists.
But he said that the group expects bipartisan membership and that future mailings will go also to Democrats.
``The attorney general is elected by the people of Virginia to fight crime. This is a way to go out there and fight for a safe Virginia,'' he said.
The four-page Aug. 12 letter, signed by Gilmore, urged recipients to become a founding member of the group and said the committee ``will be active for many years.''
``During the next seven weeks, we must put pressure on the liberals and the nay-sayers in the legislature. . . . Already the liberal Democrats and the professional bureaucrats are working to undermine our proposals,'' the letter stated.
According to the letter, the committee plans to push the Allen plan by:
Contacting 50,000 business and community leaders for support.
Publishing lists of supporters in statewide media.
Distributing 100,000 postcards for citizens to use in contacting legislators.
Meanwhile, Democrats on the legislative parole study plan voiced some skepticism about a report earlier this week that the Allen plan will add $200 million to $250 million to the approximately $650 million already needed in prison construction over the next 10 years.
``That sounds too low. . . . That sounds much too low,'' said H. Lane Kneedler, a Richmond lawyer who heads the financial subcommittee of the legislative study group. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
James Gilmore
by CNB