ROANOKE TIMES 

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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 26, 1994                   TAG: 9401260118
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

ALLEN REPORTS GIFTS FROM SPECIAL INTERESTS

Gov. George Allen has accepted thousands of dollars worth of free rides and other favors from special interests since his election, according to his yearly statement of economic interests.

Norfolk Southern Corp., Universal Leaf, Eagle Coal Co., Washington Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke and Walt Disney Co. gave favors to Allen after he was elected governor, the disclosure form shows.

A Roanoke lawyer, John Rocovich, who provided Allen substantial air transportation during his campaign for governor, flew Allen to the annual Virginia Chamber of Commerce Report to Top Management speech in New York on Nov. 4, two days after the election. The estimated value of the trip was $2,700.

Others providing air transportation included Universal Leaf; Lawrence Lewis, a Richmond financier and chairman of Allen's Inaugural Committee; Eagle Coal, a subsidiary of the Charlottesville-based Amvest Corp.; and Norfolk Southern.

To help defray transition costs, "it was necessary to solicit funds from the private sector," Ken Stroupe, Allen's press secretary, said Monday.

Allen also was given tickets to various Virginia Tech, University of Virginia and Redskins football games.

And Disney gave the Allen family four tickets, valued at $120, to its theme park near Orlando, Fla.

His disclosure form shows Allen has 17 holdings in stocks and money-market funds valued at $10,000 to $50,000. Stocks owned include Dominion Resources, Philip Morris, Hewlett Packard Corp. and General Electric, all of which might do business with the state.

Stroupe said Monday that the governor's legal advisers are looking at the holdings to determine which might have the potential of posing a conflict of interest. 


 by CNB