Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 1, 1993 TAG: 9307010116
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BY ROB EURE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
But the party's executive committee refused, fueling suspicions between the Allen campaign and the GOP leadership and underscoring what many see as Allen's major stumbling block in a campaign he starts from behind: a lack of money.
Party leaders said Allen's plea was turned down because several committee members questioned whether they could authorize a contribution not included in the party's annual budget.
Within days, party leaders and campaign sources say, Allen was able to raise about twice what he'd asked the state party to provide. That money came from the Republican National Committee and regular GOP donors.
Representatives from Allen's campaign staff asked the party's executive committee for the money at a June 22 meeting to keep them "from having to pull their ad," said one participant at the meeting. The commercial went on the air that day and is still running.
"I would have loved to have given him that money," said 6th District Chairman Don Duncan.
But Duncan said he was primarily responsible for the decision to turn Allen away. He said he questioned whether the executive committee - made up of top GOP officials - had authority to change the party's annual budget.
"Hey, we took an informal poll and the committee clearly favored giving George the money . . ." said Don Williams, 4th District GOP chairman. "But because of a technicality in the rules, we couldn't do it."
Recent polls show Allen trailing Democratic nominee Mary Sue Terry by 19 percentage points. He is further behind than that in fund raising, according to the financial reports filed by both campaigns.
Privately, several committee members said they were surprised that anyone balked at the donation. They questioned how the party could have spent $40,000 for a video shown at the recent state convention without prior approval.
One party leader, who asked not to be identified, said that if the size of the request was a problem, the committee could have given Allen "something like $10,000 instead and sent everyone away with a smile on their faces."
Requests from the campaigns of lieutenant governor nominee Michael Farris and attorney general nominee James Gilmore for $25,000 donations also were rejected.
State GOP Chairman Patrick McSweeney said the rejection of Allen's request "simply is not an issue." He denied longstanding rumors of a rift between him and leaders of the Allen campaign.
"We have to deal with some fairly arcane rules in our party," McSweeney said. "But I can assure you we are going to work closely with this campaign. We did not anticipate in the short run this round of ads. But we made an extraordinary effort" to help Allen get more than the needed money.
Some committee members reported they were surprised to learn that the state party had just $260,000 in the bank following its huge convention June 5-6. The gathering, the largest such convention ever in the United States, was estimated to have raised between $500,000 and $600,000 before expenses.
"I think people saw that big money coming in," said Duncan, who heads the party's audit committee. "And they were surprised to learn how much it costs to run the party offices on a monthly basis."
The state GOP recently filled four new positions, including a press secretary in Richmond and three field operatives. The new workers will be responsible for helping Republican candidates for the House of Delegates this fall and giving technical assistance and training to local Republican committees.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB