Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 14, 1994 TAG: 9410140088
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PETER BAKER THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
The political flap over undisclosed cost estimates for the now-abandoned Walt Disney Co. theme park could have a long-lasting impact on their relationship with Gov. George Allen, some lawmakers say.
They complain that the Republican administration's decision to withhold higher-than-expected highway costs is part of a pattern of secrecy and manipulation that will make it difficult to trust Allen officials in the future.
``I see it as an extremely serious breach that would impact the ability of Governor Allen to work with the legislature for the next three years,'' said Del. Thomas Jackson, D-Hillsville, a key player in the Disney negotiations. ``Trust is critical to what we do in Richmond. Once you lose that, you lose your ability to govern.''
But other lawmakers, including some senior Democrats, said the episode had been blown out of proportion by outsiders with an ax to grind and is now dying down.
``This was a mistake made,'' said Senate Majority Leader Hunter Andrews, D-Hampton. ``It has been clarified. I think everyone will be more careful the next time around. I don't think it has soured'' the relationship.
The dispute centers on how much road improvements around the proposed Disney theme park in Prince William County would have cost. Confidential documents released last week suggested that in January, senior Allen officials thought the price tag could be $50 million higher than the $131 million eventually made public.
In one memo, Allen's commerce and trade secretary, Robert Skunda, wrote that ``this is critical information which we would not like to have circulated publicly because it will substantiate the claims of opponents that Disney has not been forthcoming.''
A Senate Finance subcommittee summoned state Transportation Secretary Robert Martinez to explain the situation this week. Martinez told the senators that there was no deception, attributing the difference in estimates to projects Disney wanted the state to pay for that Allen decided not to.
Martinez reminded the senators that some of them had attended a briefing in January at which the higher estimate was mentioned.
Three of the four senators at the meeting were satisfied with his explanations.
The exception was Sen. Joseph Gartlan Jr., D-Fairfax County, who was at the January meeting Martinez cited. ``Martinez's explanation was irrelevant to the basic point,'' Gartlan said. ``The point is the advice the governor received and took ... was to keep it from Disney's opponents.''
In recent days, several legislators have pointed to other incidents as examples of what they considered a disturbing pattern on Allen's part. They noted that Allen may have underestimated the cost of his prison construction program by as much as $1 billion, according to some analysts, and that his task force to overhaul state government has kept some of its deliberations secret.
``Listen, I took a lot of flak on Disney, and I think I went a long way toward making that happen,'' House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell, D-Roanoke County, said last week. ``I feel now I kind of hung my political capital out there, took some risks for this, which wasn't necessarily popular in my district, but I feel now that I was being used.''
Allen spokesman Ken Stroupe said, ``The few disgruntled Democrats who may be trying to make political hay from this may be looking out for their own political futures next year.''
Memo: longer version ran in the State edition