
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, July 19, 1990                   TAG: 9007190528
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-14   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

OLIN'S EXPLORE POST CONFLICT OF INTEREST

YOUR EDITORIAL defense of the Explore Project at any cost reads like a page from the Explore propaganda book. However, your logic is as flawed as the project itself.

So Del. Richard Cranwell believes there is plenty of money available for Explore. That comes as no surprise from such a big-spending, liberal Democrat. He and Gov. Gerald Baliles were keen allies pushing through the biggest tax increase in state history. That provided the money Bern Ewert needed to start the scam.

Then there's Rep. Jim Olin. He serves Explore in a dual role. Not only is he using his political position to secure funding for the River Parkway (all of it!), but he also sits on the Explore history board. He's an employee! I thought conflict of interest is against the law. Doesn't he feel any obligation at all to the people who voted him into office and trusted him to spend their money prudently and wisely?

In this time of fiscal restraint there is no place in our government, state or federal, for legislators who can't live within their means. I have to. You have to. There was never, ever, any public demand for the parkway or Explore. With the cost skyrocketing from $15 million (only $12 million in hand) to $102 million, I have to wonder whose agenda these gentlemen are working on. Certainly not mine.

Financial aspects aside, I have to wonder who is representing us? Who's representing Al Hammond? Olin's people are all set to confiscate this man's home and property for the creation of a tourist attraction. Not a school. Not a hospital. Not a needed government facility. A tourist attraction! I don't understand. BURMAN SNIDER JR. ROANOKE

by CNB