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

DATE: THURSDAY, October 14, 1993                   TAG: 9310150391
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A14   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ROGER C. WILEY
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

LEGAL OPINIONS ARE NOT FOR SALE

I WAS DISAPPOINTED, during the Oct. 7 televised gubernatorial debate, to hear George Allen repeat Sen. Robert Russell's old and unfounded charge that Mary Sue Terry had rendered an attorney general's opinion favorable to the investment banking firm of Goldman, Sachs in exchange for a campaign contribution from that firm. I've been the chief of the opinions section in the attorney general's office since 1990, and personally drafted the opinion in question. Here are the facts:

The opinion, issued in December 1992, addressed the constitutional and statutory authority of the Virginia Retirement System to invest in the private firm seeking to construct a private toll road from Dulles Airport into Loudoun County. Goldman, Sachs did not ask for the opinion; Sen. Russell did.

There was never any serious doubt about the answers to the senator's questions. The legal authority of the retirement system to invest in private firms has been settled since the '50s. The opinion emphasizes the responsibility of the VRS board of trustees to evaluate the soundness of the toll-road proposal by the same fiduciary standards it would any other investment. Although the private toll-road project is proceeding, VRS has not invested in it. Thus, Sen. Russell, and now Allen, are attempting to blame Ms. Terry for rendering an opinion that Goldman, Sachs never requested, never needed and never benefitted from.

When I drafted the opinion, I had no knowledge either that Goldman, Sachs was involved in financing the private toll road or that they had given Ms. Terry a campaign contribution. She signed the opinion, virtually as I drafted it, with no significant changes, as she had a legal duty to do once the senator had asked for it.

At no time since I came to the attorney general's office has Ms. Terry (or anyone else) ever told me to draft or revise an opinion to further the interests of a campaign contributor. Most of my 20 years as a lawyer have been spent in local and state government, advising elected officials of both political parties. I've never allowed partisan concerns to alter a legal opinion that I knew to be correct. If she or anyone else, Democrat or Republican, ever asked me to do that, not only would I resign, but I would also state publicly why I was doing so.

I've known Allen longer than I've known Ms. Terry, and have always believed him to be sincere in his views. It distresses me that he would repeat Sen. Russell's unfair and unfounded charges.

To suggest that attorney general's opinions are ``for sale'' is offensive. The facile repetition of that charge in a televised debate, months after it previously has been shown to be false, merely adds to the cynicism and disaffection many citizens already feel for our electoral process. That is a shame. People have a right to expect more from a candidate for governor.

Roger C. Wiley is senior assistant attorney general in Richmond.

by CNB