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

DATE: THURSDAY, April 21, 1994                   TAG: 9404210218
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

WILDER MAY OWE FEC FROM PRESIDENTIAL BID

A FEC staff audit released Tuesday also found that the campaign may owe Virginia $30,848 for campaign flights on state aircraft that were ``underbilled'' or not billed by the state and other expenses.

Leslie Kerman, a Washington attorney for the campaign committee, said the committee disagrees with some of the audit recommendations and will contest them in efforts to reduce the amount the FEC says is owed.

``There's a lot in there that will be reduced significantly,'' he said.

Kerman said the campaign paid all its bills to the state.

``To the best of my knowledge, we paid everything we were billed. ... We took great pains to reimburse the commonwealth for items that most elected officials ignore,'' he said.

The FEC will meet today to decide on the audit's recommendations.

The election commission audits all presidential campaigns and over the years has required repayments of as much as several hundred thousand dollars for a variety of reasons.

The largest amount auditors said the Wilder campaign owes the U.S. Treasury is $23,045 to refund excess federal matching fund payments.

Other amounts owed, according to the auditors, are: $13,023 for payments that did not qualify as campaign expenses; $5,200 for contributions that apparently exceeded federal limits; and $3,984 for contributions that apparently were prohibited by federal rules.

The auditors questioned campaign expenses such as whether payments of $2,785 for state airplane travel between Richmond and New York on two dates in July 1991 qualified. The auditors said the plane apparently took Wilder to New York to catch a commercial flight to Switzerland for vacation and flew again to New York a week later to bring him home.

The largest amount auditors said the campaign owes Virginia is $27,977 for use of state aircraft. The auditors said the campaign was underbilled by $25,414 overall and was not billed $2,563 for a campaign-linked flight.

Kerman disputed the flight billing analysis used by auditors and said the auditors had been inconsistent.

Wilder launched his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in September 1991 and announced in January 1992 he was withdrawing his candidacy.

His committee reported receipts of $802,058 through April 30, 1992, and expenditures of $646,931.

Its most recent report indicated cash on hand as of March 31 of $8,183 and outstanding expenses of $4,872, according to Kerman.

Wilder could not be reached for comment. Mark Warner, the committee treasurer and now state Democratic Party chairman, had no comment. He referred questions to Kerman.

Wilder, who in January decided against challenging Sen. Charles Robb in the June 14 Democratic primary, now is considering making such a bid as an independent.

Keywords:
POLITICS