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

DATE: THURSDAY, August 19, 1993                   TAG: 9309110283
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A14   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

TERRY'S BID FOR ATTENTION|

FORMER Attorney General Mary Sue Terry has criticized five Democratic legislators - including House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell of Vinton - for teaming with a lobbyist to form a private insurance company. A private mortgage-insurance company would be a better description, and its function is to guarantee to lenders amounts in excess of 80 percent on conventional mortgage loans made to qualified borrowers. The guarantee portion does not exceed 15 percent of any such debt.

To infer that the state's Department of Insurance or the State Corporation Commission would show any special favors to a former lobbyist for Blue Cross-Blue Shield is an indictment of many outstanding state employees, and to compare a health insurer to a private mortgage insurer is like trying to compare Attila the Hun with Mother Teresa.

Our state legislative body is a part-time body, and its members, for the most part, make their living in the private sector. To suggest that forthrig

please see microfilm for the rest of the letter.

J. Monty Williams Sr.

Vinton

by CNB