Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 17, 1995 TAG: 9510180092
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Two of the Roanoke Valley's General Assembly campaigns are on the verge of breaking a record for the most expensive House of Delegate races in Virginia history.
But they probably won't set a new mark, because there is at least one legislative race, in Tidewater, that may be even more costly - a testament to the unprecedented amount of money flowing this year as Republicans mount a major drive to take control of the General Assembly.
The campaign finance reports filed Monday show that the contests between House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell and GOP challenger Trixie Averill, and between Del. Clifton ``Chip'' Woodrum and Republican rival Newell Falkinburg, are both closing in on the record $326,200 spent by two Newport News candidates six years ago:
Cranwell, for the first time in the campaign, has eclipsed Averill's fund raising. The Roanoke County Democrat has raised $156,054 through Sept. 31, thanks to a fund-raising push in September that targeted Roanoke Valley business leaders. Averill has raised $144,786, much of it from Republican donors with ties to Gov. George Allen.
Falkinburg, a Roanoke physician who is raising much of his money from fellow doctors, continues to stay ahead of Woodrum. Falkinburg has raised $162,634 to Woodrum's $144,351.
Some of the candidates blamed each other for the escalating costs of campaigning.
``Newell and I are forced to play on this field because [the Democrats] set the rules,'' Averill said. ``Cranwell set the rules two years ago when he spent almost a quarter of a million dollars to keep a $17,000-a-year job. I knew it would be a minimum of a 150k race just to be in the ball game. I don't know if I'm going to be able to push it to the limit and make it a 200k race.''
Woodrum countered that it's the Republicans who are making politics too expensive. ``It's not my part of the campaign that will break the record,'' he said. ``The good doctor [Falkinburg] has put in $50,000 of his own money and $50,000 from one family."
However, a leading Republican strategist was quick to take credit Monday for driving the cost of both races beyond the $300,000 mark.
``It just shows a general trend across the state: People want to see a Republican majority, and for the first time they're opening up their pocketbooks to make sure that happens,'' said Chris Nolen, the executive director of a political action committee set up by Gov. George Allen to raise and distribute funds for GOP candidates.
He said the most recent reports make Falkinburg and Averill by far the best-funded Republican House challengers in the state. ``They've raised twice as much as the usual Republican challengers,'' Nolen said.
One reason is the $50,000 contribution each candidate received this summer from Edward and Peter Via, the heirs to the fortune of the late Roanoke philanthropist Marion Via - a sum that may itself be a record for a state legislative race in Virginia.
But the key, Nolen said, is who Falkinburg and Averill are opposing, and Republicans' keen desire to knock off Cranwell, who led Democratic opposition to Allen's budget-cutting agenda, and Woodrum, an important Cranwell ally.
That desire shows up in the two Republicans' fund-raising reports.
Allen's PAC, the Campaign for Honest Change, has bought almost $15,000 worth of advertising time on Averill's behalf. Also, former Reagan administration budget director Jim Miller, who wants to run for the U.S. Senate next year, recently held a fund-raising event on Averill's behalf in McLean.
Nearly half of the $12,000 in contributions of more than $100 that Falkinburg raised during September came at a Roanoke fund-raising event featuring Allen.
Falkinburg also continued to raise money from businesses in which he holds an interest. He received a $2,000 contribution during September from Valley Nephrology Associates, his medical practice, and $2,000 from Dialysis Resources Inc., a kidney dialysis unit of which he is a partner.
On the Democratic side, Cranwell and Woodrum appeared to turn to friends in the business community for campaign contributions during September. Cranwell raised the biggest amounts - led by $7,500 from Roanoke developer Elbert Waldron, $5,000 from the Richmond-based utility Virginia Power, $4,000 from Roanoke Electric Steel chief executive officer Donald Smith, and $2,000 from Roanoke civic leader Sally Fishburn Fulton.
Staff writer Leslie Taylor contributed to this story.
Keywords:
POLITICS
Memo: ***CORRECTION***