Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 29, 1993 TAG: 9306290082
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BY BONNIE V. WINSTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
And Gov. Douglas Wilder, who over the weekend floated the idea of calling in the General Assembly in September to fashion questions for a nonbinding pension tax referendum, seemed to back away from the suggestion in a phone interview from Honduras.
Wilder, on a trade mission in the Central American country, said a Nov. 2 referendum is "only one option" in dealing with the tax issue, which may leave the state owing up to $467 million to retired federal workers whose pensions were illegally taxed.
He declined to elaborate on other possibilities.
A referendum would allow Virginians to choose what would be a fair and equitable payment to the pensioners and how it would be financed, Wilder told a Richmond Times-Dispatch reporter traveling with him. The questions may include the size and type of refund, including tax credits to the retirees.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled this month that unless the state had a procedure by which the retirees could contest the taxes before paying them, refunds in some form must be paid for tax years 1985-88. The case was sent back to the Virginia Supreme Court to answer that question and to determine how much - if anything - the retirees are due and how it should be paid.
The state court will convene in September.
Wilder said Monday that he hasn't talked with anyone outside of his staff about a possible special session for a referendum.
Contrary to published reports, the governor said he doesn't expressly support a referendum. But in responding to pensioners' claims that no referendum is needed, Wilder said, "Anytime you're talking about spending money up to a half-billion dollars, the people of Virginia ought to get involved."
"I see no point in calling for an advisory referendum or a special session," said House Speaker Thomas Moss, D-Norfolk, who said the Virginia Supreme Court needs to act on the issue before the assembly does anything.
His sentiments were echoed by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Hunter Andrews, D-Hampton, among others, who called a special session "premature."
Oscar Honeycutt, former Virginia president of the National Association of Retired Federal Employees, said a referendum on how to settle the issue would be "nothing more than a popularity contest. . . . It seems to me Wilder's playing some kind of political game.
"It has no validity against the Supreme Court," Honeycutt said.
Political analysts and lawmakers said a referendum coinciding with November's gubernatorial election would be bad for Democratic candidate Mary Sue Terry, who has defended the state's position against paying the retirees.
Terry was attorney general when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1989 that Virginia's system of taxing federal retirees while exempting the pensions of retired state workers was unconstitutional.
Her Republican opponent for governor, former U.S. Rep. George Allen, has accused Terry of "being asleep at the switch" by not warning the state about the issue so it could prepare for the liability it now faces.
Wilder said putting the pension question to voters would "depoliticize the issue." He declined to respond to critics of the idea: "I'm not interested in furthering the argument of Wilder vs. anybody."
Jay Marlin, Terry's press secretary, said it was "premature" to discuss the effects of a referendum on the gubernatorial campaign.
Allen said Wilder's call for a referendum shows a general "loss of faith" among Democrats in Terry's advice and competence.
The GOP candidate said that while a referendum could benefit him in November's election, he'd rather see the General Assembly be convened to "solve the problem rather than put it on the ballot."
by CNB