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

DATE: SUNDAY, October 3, 1993                   TAG: 9310030077
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: E-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

HORSE-TRACK BIDDER TO HOLD FUND-RAISER FOR TERRY CAMPAIGN

A Maryland horse-racing promoter who is the major investor in a group seeking to build a new Virginia track is backing Democrat Mary Sue Terry's campaign for governor with a fund-raiser.

Joseph A. DeFrancis is the lead investor in the Maryland Jockey Club, which was among six groups that filed applications Friday with the Virginia Racing Commission for the state's first track license.

His Laurel and Pimlico tracks in Maryland could also be affected by the location and racing dates of a Virginia track. The Maryland Jockey Club wants to build at a site near Williamsburg in New Kent County, but another applicant wants to build in Prince William County in Northern Virginia.

If Terry is elected Nov. 2, she could replace any or all of the five members of the commission with her own appointees.

Terry said Friday that she didn't know DeFrancis, and that the Oct. 19 fund-raiser had been scheduled by her staff. She said she didn't expect to influence what track proposal is selected, and that if anyone contributes money to her campaign with a different expectation, "that's inappropriate, that's wrong."

Terry said she didn't expect to replace any commission members. Her first regularly scheduled appointment, aides said, would not be until December 1994, after the commission is scheduled to select a track site.

DeFrancis would not comment on whether his fund-raiser was an attempt to influence Terry. "It's so preposterous, it doesn't even deserve a response," he said.

The commission won't be subject to political pressure, DeFrancis said. "This is a highly regulated industry," he said. "It's as highly regulated as an industry can be."

Terry's Republican opponent, George Allen, said a fund-raiser organized by someone with such a clear financial stake in an imminent decision by state government "does raise some questions" about propriety.

Allen declined to specu ate on whether he would replace the commission members if elected. His chief fund-raiser, Betsy Beamer, said she believes Allen's campaign has not received contributions from any of the racing investors.

Competing investor Jeffrey Taylor of Virginians Inc., a dentist from Covington who wants to build a track in New Kent County, said he didn't believe DeFrancis was trying to cultivate influence with Terry. "It doesn't bother me," Taylor said. "It's his business."

Keywords:
POLITICS

by CNB