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

DATE: TUESDAY, May 11, 1993                   TAG: 9305110512
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C4   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: BONNIE V. WINSTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

GUN GROUPS FAILED TO REPORT SPENDING

Its counterpart, Virginians Against Gun Trafficking, a citizens' group put together by Gov. Douglas Wilder to lobby for gun control, spent close to $88,000 for radio, television and newspaper ads in support of Wilder's bill limiting handgun purchases to one a month.

Both groups failed to report the expenditures on disclosure forms required by the state of all lobbyists and lobbying groups.

The records, which were released Monday by the secretary of the commonwealth, revealed that both lobbying groups reported just a fraction of what they spent during the legislative battle.

The NRA reported spending $6,061, while Virginians Against Gun Trafficking reported only the $30 fee it paid to register its lobbyist, Richmond lawyer Jacquelyn Stone.

"There was no intent to withhold information," Stone said late Monday. "We think [an expenditure report] was filed where it was supposed to be filed."

The gun-control advocates claim they are a political action committee, required to file with the state Board of Elections, although Treasurer Al Rider said no money was contributed to political candidates.

A copy of the group's filing with the Board of Elections showed it spent $87,946 on media buys during the height of the gun-control battle.

That amount, combined with the $439,000 spent on media by the NRA and $47,000 spent by four other groups involved in the gun-control fight, makes the gun-control battle among the most expensive lobbying fights ever in Virginia.

The gun-control spending was part of a record $5.1 million spent by all 1,106 lobbyists and 661 different groups at the 1993 assembly. The total tops the $5 million spent by lobbyists during the 1992 legislative session, which lasted two weeks longer than the 1993 session.

Lobbyists and groups are required annually to report expenses incurred from Nov. 15 through adjournment of the General Assembly the following year. A bill passed this year will require year-round reporting of lobbying beginning in 1994.

Mary Corrigan, deputy director of the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action, called the association's failure to include its media campaign costs an "oversight."

"It was a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing," Corrigan said.

\ BIGGEST SPENDERS 1993 GENERAL ASSEMBLY

American Petroleum Institute $98,976 (opposed vehicle emission inspection program)

Texaco USA $73,678 (fought emission inspection program)

Virginia Education Association $71,274 (lobbied on issues such as teachers' salary increases, children's rights and state aid to education)

Medical Society of Virginia $63,226 (lobbied on health care issues, including medical malpractice, insurance and tort legislation)

Common Cause $58,686 (lobbied on issues such as ethics, campaign finance reform, freedom of information and regulatory matters)

Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Virginia $58,225 C&P Telephone Co. of Virginia $51,506