Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 31, 1993 TAG: 9312310101
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Medium
Allen will open the week of lunches, tours, balls and speeches with a sunrise speech at Thomas Jefferson's Albemarle County home, said Melissa Herring, press secretary for Allen's inaugural committee.
Allen will be sworn in as governor Jan. 15.
The first event, which the committee dubbed "Sunrise at Monticello," is an invitation-only affair "for family members and grass-roots volunteers from around the state," Herring said.
"These are the people who licked the stamps and distributed the literature," she said of the Allen volunteers who will tour Monticello 20 at a time before eating breakfast and listening to Allen's 10-minute address.
Asked if Allen might not be inviting comparisons to President Clinton, who launched his inaugural events with a televised tour and speech at Monticello, Herring said, "There's just no comparison.
"Governor-elect Allen really wanted to start out the week at Monticello because of his very strong Jeffersonian traditions."
Allen, a Republican who campaigned against the president's policies, and Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, both are admirers of Jefferson.
The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation and the Commonwealth Inaugural Committee are co-sponsoring Allen's 7:15 a.m. event and a catered "very simple continental breakfast," Herring said.
"It is not going to cost the commonwealth one dime, and it's still going to be frugal," said state Sen. Edgar Robb, R-Charlottesville, one of the few political leaders invited to the event. "This is his way of saying thank you to the worker bees, and it is not costing them an arm and a leg to attend."
Allen is to spend about two hours at Monticello before leaving to attend his first public inaugural event at noon in Richmond - a $75-a-plate luncheon with 1,000 business leaders.
by CNB