Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 14, 1995 TAG: 9502140128
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ROBERT LITTLE AND DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long
"There is no conflict of interest," the Bristol Republican said.
Wampler said the complaint filed Friday was a "trumped-up charge" engineered by his Democratic predecessor, former state Sen. Jack Kennedy of Norton.
The bill would override local ordinances that ban the spreading of municipal sewage sludge on farmland and on reclaimed coal mines. Wampler has no financial interest in the legislation, but his father - a former 9th District congressman - once was a consultant to a company seeking to place sludge on reclaimed strip mines in Wise County.
The ethics complaint, filed by Wise County Supervisor Donnie Dowell, stated Sen. Wampler may have violated a Senate rule that forbids members from voting on matters in which they have a "personal interest." Dowell, a Democrat, acknowledged Kennedy advised him in wording it.
Wampler said there was nothing improper about his vote on the sludge bill because his father has not been associated with a sludge company for three years.
In any event, Wampler said, he erred in supporting the bill because he mistakenly thought it retained localities' right to bar the sludge. Wampler said he would seek to amend the bill in the House of Delegates to reinstate that local authority.
"It's sad that Jack Kennedy and Donnie Dowell would stoop so low as to challenge a man's integrity over an ethics charge that has no basis in fact whatsoever," Wampler said.
Kennedy said the ethics complaint speaks for itself and he has no interest in running against Wampler in the future.
"I'm sorry he wants to envelop the issue in a cloud of politics," Kennedy said. "I think Mr. Dowell's letter stated it succinctly. Was there a conflict of interest or was there a neglect of duty for not reading his bills?"
In other General Assembly news:
Riverboat gambling lacked the votes needed to win legislative approval this year, but a senator thinks casino operators will try to buy more votes at the polls in November - and he wants a law to stop it.
State Sen. Mark Earley, R-Chesapeake, has proposed a ban on political contributions from out-of-state casino operators, and said he plans to push it before the General Assembly in its closing weeks.
It would bar people or companies that hold casino gambling licenses anywhere in the country from contributing campaign funds to Virginia candidates.
The sponsors of the riverboat bills the General Assembly rejected this year doubted the plan's constitutionality.
``Could you pass a law banning contributions from the teachers association? I don't think you could,'' said Sen. Stanley Walker, D-Norfolk. Del. Jerrauld Jones, D-Norfolk, said, ``I haven't seen the bill, but it doesn't sound to me like it can work.''
Earley, a Republican, will have to weave the plan into an existing bill or get a two-thirds vote to have it introduced separately, because the deadline for submitting legislation this year has expired.
``If something like this isn't passed, you're going to see a tremendous amount of casino money pumped into Virginia politics this year,'' said Earley, who opposes riverboat gambling. He said the reputation of the gambling industry played a roll in his decision to seek the ban.
``It hasn't always been a rosy picture in terms of ethics,'' he said.
A House-approved bill to shield from state fines and enforcement action companies that voluntarily disclose pollution violations advanced Monday in the state Senate.
Environmental groups, which contend the bill goes too far in letting polluters off the hook, worked behind the scenes in hopes of derailing it before the assembly adjourns Feb. 25.
Despite a10-5 setback in the Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee, environmentalists have made gains in recent days. The powerful Virginia Association of Counties came out in opposition to the bill last week. House Speaker Thomas W. Moss, D-Norfolk, directed a Senate-approved version to a potentially unfriendly panel, the House Courts of Justice Committee.
The so-called "environmental audit" bill also would allow companies to withhold any information gathered through in-house environmental assessments.
Sen. Frank W. Nolen, D-Augusta County, said companies may be hesitant to conduct their own environmental audit if information they gather could be used against them in court.
The Senate passed, 26-11, a bill to make it illegal for children under 16 to ride in the open bed of a pickup truck on interstate highways unless strapped in a seat.
The bill passed with little debate, and has already cleared the House of Delegates. The same plan passed both houses last year but Gov. George Allen vetoed it.
The Senate approved a bill to let local governments require bicyclists under 15 to wear helmets. Currently, only some Northern Virginia localities have that authority.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1995
by CNB