THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 14, 1997 TAG: 9701140227
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBERT LITTLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 87 lines
Norfolk Sen. Yvonne Miller wants Bishop Levi E. Willis recognized as a respected community leader whose new church will serve hundreds of children.
But Miller's ceremonial tribute has rankled other legislators, who say the General Assembly, for the first time in memory, is about to express its formal admiration for a convicted felon.
``It certainly is not something that I recall ever happening in my time up here,'' said Norfolk Del. George Heilig, a 24-year veteran of the House of Delegates. ``If we've ever commended someone with a felony record, we didn't know it.''
Willis pleaded guilty in 1992 to breaking a federal law designed to impede money laundering. He was sentenced to four months of home detention and two years of probation, and fined $10,000.
A judge said at the time that Willis clearly had ``innocent motives'' when he illegally structured the repayment of an $88,500 loan from Curtis G. Maddox, assistant vice president for operations at Norfolk State University at the time. The structuring law, which went into effect in 1987, was designed to impede money-launderers who had been skirting laws requiring that cash transactions above $10,000 be reported.
Willis pleaded guilty to willfully breaking the law, a felony, but has consistently denied any intentional wrongdoing.
Miller's resolution commending Willis - ``an expression of the General Assembly's admiration for his many accomplishments'' - already has passed the Senate without opposition.
It is scheduled for a vote Friday in the House of Delegates. If approved, the commendation will be set in calligraphic type and stamped with the Senate seal for presentation to Willis.
But several legislators say they expect the House to take the extraordinary step of debating the measure, with some members urging its defeat. That would be the first instance in veteran legislators' memories that a commending resolution was anything but a unanimous formality.
Willis owns several dozen radio stations and has long been an influential leader in Norfolk's African-American community. The pastor and founder of Norfolk's Garden of Prayer Temple, he opened a new, $2 million, 1,750-seat church last August, prompting Miller's resolution commending him. Willis also was an early political mentor for Miller, and he urged her to enter politics.
The General Assembly has no formal rules governing whom it commends, but some legislators said Monday that felons ought not be among them.
``If no one else objects, I will,'' said Norfolk Del. William P. Robinson Jr. ``To pass the resolution suggests that this body approves of all that this individual has done, and I don't believe that is a proper statement for us to make.''
The General Assembly passes several hundred resolutions every year commending individuals and civic groups or memorializing people who have died. Most lawmakers never read them, trusting that their colleagues select appropriate recipients for commendation.
``It's a courtesy,'' said Virginia Beach Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle. For that reason, Stolle said, he and the rest of the Senate approved Miller's resolution by voice vote Thursday.
Last year, Stolle entered a resolution commending three Hampton Roads police officers who shot and killed a suspect after a deadly crime spree. The resolution was signed by every senator but one - Miller.
``I remembered, but the things she was commending Bishop Willis for were commendable things,'' Stolle said. ``Unless there is something that really distinguishes an individual, though, we ought not be in the habit of commending convicted felons.''
Miller said Monday afternoon that she had heard objections to her resolution only recently and did not have a comment. She suggested, however, that she will not push the matter if it becomes controversial.
``If there are some people who are not forgiving and who would consider someone not a worthy human being, then maybe there is some other way of expressing appreciation,'' Miller said.
She would not elaborate, but she said she would find some way ``to say thank you to him for opening a new church.''
``I'm glad I've given them something to work on.''
Objections to Miller's resolution also point to divisions within Norfolk's delegation of Democrats and within the Legislative Black Caucus of the General Assembly.
Norfolk Del. Jerrauld Jones, chairman of the black caucus, retained his seat in a 1995 Democratic primary against Willis' son, Levi Willis II. Miller, a senior Norfolk Democrat and black caucus member, did not support Jones in that election. ILLUSTRATION: Color file photo by Jum Walker/The Virginian-Pilot
Bishop Levi E. Willis
KEYWORDS: BISHOP LEVI E. WILLIS COMMENDATION