Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 14, 1993 TAG: 9302140221
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
NRA DONATIONS CAME JUST BEFORE SESSION
The National Rifle Association gave 18 legislators - including Fincastle Sen. Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo - $500 each a few weeks before the 1993 General Assembly began, state documents show.The NRA's political action committee made the contributions on Dec. 29, 1992, a month before state lawmakers began considering a proposal to limit handgun purchases, according to reports filed this past week with the state Board of Elections.
The reports say the money was given to help repay debts incurred during the legislators' 1991 campaigns. They were filed nearly a month beyond a Jan. 15 deadline.
"It's no accident that the payment came shortly before the General Assembly convened," said Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political analyst. The legislature convened on Jan. 13.
"It's pretty tacky to give contributions that close," said Julie Lapham, executive director of Common Cause of Virginia.
NRA officials said the timing of the contributions wasn't unusual for their group or others.
"We don't buy votes," said Mark Greenberg, NRA director of state and local affairs. "This is one of the larger nonstories to emerge, I think."
Greenberg said the state election reports were filed late because of "an inadvertence rather than a planned scheme."
The House of Delegates has passed a bill to limit handgun purchases to one a month. A Senate bill would allow multiple purchases with police permission.
Eight of the 12 delegates receiving NRA contributions voted against the House bill. One of six senators receiving a contribution voted against the Senate gun bill.
Del. Peter Way, R-Albemarle, said he voted against the handgun limit but returned the payment.
"I knew that gun control was going to be a major issue in the session," Way said. "I didn't want to accept it from either side on the issue."
Lapham and others said the practice of contributing money to lawmakers with an assembly session around the corner is not new, and is not confined to the NRA.
"It is the nature of what is assumed to be business as usual," Lapham said.
Said House Minority Leader Vance Wilkins, R-Amherst, who also received a payment: "All of them do it. Before, after and during, I reckon."
Sen. Edgar Robb, R-Charlottesville, said he doesn't screen who may contribute to his campaigns, and said he doesn't think PAC money influences his or other legislators' votes.
Sabato said the amount isn't substantial since assembly campaigns often cost as much as $70,000.