ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, May 17, 1996 TAG: 9605170041
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
GOV. GEORGE Allen boasts that ``Virginia is open for business.'' We think that's great - when it means Virginia is competing aggressively with other states for new industries, jobs and economic growth.
Unfortunately, the General Assembly seems to think "open for business" means for sale to the highest bidders. That's one result of legislators' dogged refusal to set any limits on campaign contributions for themselves or for statewide elected officials.
We've yet to hear a reasonable explanation as to why Virginia's politicians require unlimited contributions, when their counterparts in most other states manage to get along under laws that impose restrictions on such gifts.
And of special concern are legislators' money collections from businesses and industries that come under state regulation.
In 1995, utilities, insurers, liquor firms, banks and other financial institutions contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to the re-election campaigns of state lawmakers. According to a recent report in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, regulated companies are donating even more this year - toward the 1997 gubernatorial and legislative elections still a year and a half away.
Did the 1995 money buy special influence when several bills affecting regulated industries were considered in the '96 assembly? No, no, a thousand times no, the lawmakers insist. But consumer activists think otherwise.
``The roar of special-interest money drowns out the voice of individual consumers,'' says Jean Ann Fox, president of the Virginia Citizens Consumer Council. ``It stands to reason, [1995] having been the most expensive legislative race in Virginia history, that the bills would come due in January and February [of '96]. From a consumer perspective that certainly happened.''
In 22 states, regulated businesses are banned from making campaign contributions. Nineteen other states put strict limits on the amounts regulated companies can contribute. Virginia lawmakers can't make the case that an ethical problem recognized by others does not affect them. It affects them - and casts all Virginia in a poor light.
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