ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 1, 1996 TAG: 9602010054
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: GENERAL ASSEMBLY NOTEBOOK
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
In recent years, "lobbyist" has been right down there with "journalist," "bureaucrat" and "telemarketer" in the pop culture Hall of Infamy.
Candidates bash lobbyists. Writers mock them in witty Washington novels. Members of the public roll their eyes at the image of flip-phone-carrying lobbyists, clad in Armani suits and Gucci loafers, up to their Capitol Hill high jinks.
But at the Virginia General Assembly, as at the federal level, they play a key role in the legislative process. Lobbyists (dressed more conservatively in the Old Dominion, of course) meet with lawmakers before and during the session to discuss bills. They suggest and write draft bills. They stalk the halls between committee meetings, tracking the progress of their favored or targeted measures. And they wine and dine legislators at receptions.
State law requires all lobbyists to register with the secretary of the commonwealth's office and pay a $50 fee. The vast majority of the 1,256 lobbyists registered for 701 corporations, groups or associations for the 1996 session come from Richmond, Tidewater and Northern Virginia.
But Roanoke and Western Virginia interests aren't unheard. Representing utilities, teachers, auto dealers - even out-of-state riverboat gambling interests - Roanokers have registered to lobby the General Assembly this winter.
The largest Roanoke contingent, by far, is Medical Facilities of America Inc. It listed 15 Roanoke-area lobbyists - mostly nursing home administrators or employees of its corporate headquarters - in reports filed through last week. It also listed 29 other lobbyists from elsewhere in Virginia, for a total of 44, according to the secretary's office.
William Anglim, Medical Facilities' president, said that number represents administrators from among the corporation's 30 nursing homes across the state (including ones in Roanoke, Vinton, Salem and Pulaski).
Anglim said Medical Facilities' employees go to Richmond routinely to make contact with their local legislators and to track the many measures affecting the nursing home business. This year, for instance, there are several bills dealing with the state's moratorium on issuing certificates of need for new nursing home beds. The moratorium is due to expire soon, and several legislators have proposed ways to regulate the need for new nursing home beds.
What follows is a list of the 34 registered Western Virginia lobbyists (all list Roanoke addresses unless otherwise noted), for whom they are registered and, when not self-explanatory, what they are lobbying for:
Phyllis C. Bailey; League of Women Voters.
R.D. Carson Jr. and Mark Lawrence; American Electric Power Co. Inc. (formerly Appalachian Power Co.).
David W. Saunders; Hollywood Casino Corp., Dallas; matters related to riverboat gambling.
John B. Williamson III; Roanoke Gas Co.
William Anglim (president), Neil R. Covington Jr., W. Heywood Fralin (vice chairman and chief executive officer), G. Ronald Hager (secretary/treasurer and chief financial officer), Brett Landi, Timothy Marshall (assistant secretary and treasurer), Carol E. Mullins, Andrew Munoz, Robert E. Nelson, Rick Oros, Robert F. Peck, Brett A. Rothwell, B. Fred Sachs, Kendall S. White, Jacqueline H. Wood; Medical Facilities of America Inc.
Angie S. Francis; Comprehensive Health Investment Project of Virginia, which provides basic health care for poor children; to ensure CHIP's survival as an agency by lobbying for state funding.
Lin S. Edlich; Virginia Community Action Re-Entry System Inc.; lobbying for a budget amendment to increase funding and for legislation regarding targeted low-income families.
Dorris Y. Boitnott, Gary Waldo, both of Roanoke, and Marshall K. Leitch of Radford; Virginia Education Association.
Daniel G. Oakey, John Stroud; Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Donald C. Reid; Bell Atlantic-Virginia Inc.
Leo B. Trenor; Automotive Dealers Group, Falls Church.
Jamie Hendry, Linda Hodges, Frank Longaker (president), Debra Maxey, Linda Roach; National Business College, Salem.
Several other Western Virginia groups have registered lobbyists from outside the area, mostly from Richmond:
Treasurer's Association of Virginia, Salem.
Virginia Girl Scout Council, Salem.
Virginia Beer Wholesalers Association, Salem.
Virginia Music Educators Association Inc., Blacksburg.
The city of Lynchburg.
Pittston Coal Management Co., Lebanon.
Virginia Wine Wholesalers, Abingdon.
The Virginia Coal Association, Dante.
The United Co., Bristol.
LENGTH: Long : 111 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1996by CNB