THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 11, 1995 TAG: 9501110444
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
School Board member Charles W. Vincent may be an arrogant politician who bent the rules or a good-hearted father of seven whose political naivete got him into a pinch.
A seven-member jury will have to decide.
The more unsavory portrait was painted by prosecutors Tuesday, the first day of Vincent's trial in Virginia Beach Circuit Court on nine counts of criminally violating state ethics codes.
The second image was projected by Vincent's attorney, Andrew Sacks, who hopes to convince the jury that Vincent intended no wrongdoing when he solicited campaign contributions last September from architecture and construction firms he had helped to nominate for school building projects.
``Charles Vincent was not seeking to break the law,'' Sacks said. ``Charles Vincent was not trying to con anyone, or to get money under the table. He was simply trying to retire a campaign debt.''
Vincent's trial on the misdemeanor charges will continue today. If convicted, he faces up to nine years in jail, $22,500 in fines and automatic loss of his School Board seat.
Vincent is the first sitting elected official in city history to be indicted on criminal charges.
In court Tuesday, Vincent was flanked by his wife, three of his children and two other School Board members, Ulysses Van Spiva and Tim Jackson. Spiva and one other board member, Joseph Taylor, are expected to be called as witnesses.
The proceedings mostly consisted of jury selection, with testimony from only four of the more than 20 witnesses expected to be called in the case. But more details about Vincent's actions were made public.
One of three architects who testified Tuesday, John S. Waller of Waller, Todd & Sadler Architects Inc., said he contributed $200 in response to Vincent's request. Vincent wrote to him on a School Board letterhead, thanking him for the contribution.
After being indicted, Vincent gave the money back, Waller said.
Sacks argued that ``as a newcomer on the political playing field, he (Vincent) did not, perhaps, exercise the good judgment and common sense that we, in hindsight, have the benefit of applying.'' But that does not mean Vincent intended to break the law, Sacks said.
He said Vincent consulted with officials at the state Board of Elections before sending letters and return envelopes to nine firms asking them for money to help pay off about $4,600 in debts from his campaign for the School Board last May.
``If there is a law that says you can't do this, Charles Vincent didn't know about it.''
Commonwealth's Attorney Robert Humphreys said, however, that the issue was ``whether, under all the circumstances, it was proper for him to do that.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
School Board member Charles W. Vincent's trial on the misdemeanor
charges will continue today.
by CNB