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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 27, 1991                   TAG: 9103270515
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

LAWMAKERS SUED BY ACLU; CLOSED MEETINGS CHARGED

The American Civil Liberties Union and a government watchdog group sued the members of the Senate Finance Committee and three other lawmakers Tuesday, charging that two unannounced legislative meetings violated state law.

The suit filed in Richmond Circuit Court charges that a Dec. 28, 1990, gathering of Finance Committee members and a Feb. 20, 1991, meeting of House and Senate budget conferees violated the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.

"The point here is these meetings are examples of a long history of closed government in Virginia both before and after the passage of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act," said Kent Willis, executive director of the state ACLU.

ACLU is joined in the suit by Common Cause of Virginia, a self-styled citizens' lobby.

"The goal of the lawsuit is to get members of the General Assembly to obey their own laws and practice the open government that they profess to care so much about," Willis said Tuesday night.

The Dec. 28 meeting was held at the Chesterfield County hunting lodge of a Finance Committee member, Sen. Elmon Gray, D-Waverly. Participants said it was not a formal meeting and thus was exempt from the legal requirement to notify the press and public.

The Feb. 20 meeting occurred in Richmond during negotiations on amendments to the 1990-1992 state budget. The lawsuit names Dels. Robert Ball, D-Richmond; Alan Diamonstein, D-Newport News, and Earl Dickinson, D-Mineral, because they attended that meeting.

Ball, Diamonstein and Dickinson could not be reached for comment.

Calls Tuesday night to the offices of several Senate Finance Committee members, including committee Chairman Sen. Hunter Andrews, D-Hampton, were not answered or not returned.

"We'll see what they do now. We've taken the first action. . . . We expect to hear from their lawyers sometime soon," Willis said. Willis said court action on the case could be delayed until after the General Assembly finishes drafting a redistricting plan later this year.

by CNB