THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc. DATE: Monday, August 5, 1996 TAG: 9608050061 SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 47 lines
Lobbyists gave thousands of dollars to legislators close to the times that the General Assembly was in session, a survey has found.
A survey by the Richmond Times-Dispatch found that money was given in the weeks just before and just after the Jan. 10-March 11 session.
Taking money during the session isn't against the law in Virginia, although, for the first time, a General Assembly subcommittee is studying a possible ban.
Less than a week after the Assembly's one-day April 17 meeting to consider vetoed bills this year, Del. Alan Diamonstein, D-Newport News, the head of the House General Laws Committee and the House Democratic Caucus, raised $17,000 to $18,000 with a fund-raising day at a Richmond Braves ball game.
``I have no choice,'' Diamonstein said, of the need to raise money. ``As long as I remain a member of the legislature and offer to run in elections, there are certain basic expenses.''
Sen. Stanley C. Walker, D-Norfolk, the co-chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, collected $8,000 in February, including $1,000 from Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield, the insurance giant that launched a massive lobby campaign in the last session to win approval for its plans to convert to for-profit status.
Walker said he believed the contributions were for a fund-raiser he had planned before the General Assembly convened, but had to cancel because of a snowstorm.
``In view of what is being studied and what the perception is, I would never have another fund-raiser that close to the session,'' Walker said.
During the second week of the session, Sen. Richard J. Holland, D-Isle of Wight, got $1,000 from Virginia Power - which this year pushed through legislation to loosen regulation of its rates.
On the last day of the session, Speaker of the House Thomas Moss raised nearly $15,000 for his biennial party for legislators. There were $1,000 donations from Appalachian Power, Bell Atlantic, Chesapeake Corp., Virginia Power and its parent Dominion Resources, Trigon and the Virginia Real Estate Attorneys League, which had pushed for bills that would reserve the lucrative real estate closings business for lawyers.
``Those are not campaign contributions. We don't take nor have we taken campaign contributions during the session,'' said Marian Tucker, Moss' chief of staff.
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY CAMPAIGN FINANCE LOBBYISTS by CNB