ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, July 6, 1996 TAG: 9607080051
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE AND ROBERT LITTLE STAFF WRITERS
WHICH LOBBYISTS spent the most trying to influence the General Assembly this year? Those representing the state authority trying to bring Major League Baseball to Virginia.
Lobbyists spent $7.3 million last year trying to influence the General Assembly, with one mystery and one surprise among the top big spenders, according to disclosure reports released this week.
The most expensive lobbying effort was waged by the Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority, a semipublic panel negotiating to build a major league stadium in Northern Virginia.
The law firm McGuire, Woods, Battle & Boothe billed the authority $256,895 for its services since last December, when it joined the baseball effort.
So far, the bill has not been paid. But some lawmakers said they were stunned that a group created by the General Assembly could run up such a large lobbying tab, particularly considering the stadium authority's relatively low profile during the recent legislative session.
"Baseball? Nobody said a word to me about the stadium all year - not a peep," said Del. Jay DeBoer, D-Petersburg.
"It seems like a lot of money for an authority, quite frankly," said Del. Vince Callahan, a Fairfax County Republican leading the campaign to bring a team to Virginia. "They did a fine lobbying job, but that's more than I would have thought."
The surprise was Virginia Beach, which spent a total of $151,259 - $129,000 of that went to efforts to seal an agreement to withdraw up to 60 million gallons a day from Lake Gaston near the North Carolina line.
Virginia Beach ranked third in overall lobbying expenditures, spending three times more than any locality that lobbied the General Assembly.
Overall, lobbyists reported spending $7.3 million, down slightly from $7.8 million reported in 1995.
The unexpected drop, which comes after a decade of steady increases, can be explained in part by the demise of riverboat gambling legislation. Casino operators invested only $69,712 promoting floating casinos this year, compared with more than $800,000 last year.
Health care spending shot up, thanks to a high-stakes turf fight between doctors and insurance companies over changes in the delivery of health care.
The battle over managed care, in which insurers contain costs by coordinating care through a gatekeeper physician, involved some of the state's most powerful special interests.
The Medical Society of Virginia spent $121,182 on behalf of doctors; the Alliance for Managed Care spent $82,897 on behalf of insurance companies and large businesses.
The managed-care debate resulted in a stalemate, setting the stage for even more health care lobbying money at future General Assembly sessions.
Some of the biggest spenders made good on their investment.
Virginia Power, which spent $167,421, won laws that will help position the electric utility in the coming era of deregulation.
Virginia Power protected its monopoly by winning legislation that makes it unlikely that large federal customers, such as military bases in Hampton Roads or the Pentagon in Northern Virginia, would seek to buy electricity from other sources. Legislation pending in Congress would allow the Department of Defense to negotiate with nonutility providers.
Virginia Power also gained a new law that would allow the State Corporation Commission to unleash electric rates from the traditional system of costs plus profit.
Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield, which reported lobbying expenses of $134,620, headed off consumer-group opposition to its plan to abandon nonprofit status and raise capital by selling stock.
Consumer groups argued that Trigon became the state's largest insurer in part because it enjoyed special tax breaks for more than 50 years. Consumer groups wanted to ask the State Corporation Commission, which must approve Trigon's for-profit plan, to force the insurer to donate a $600 million surplus to a charitable foundation.
Trigon agreed to put up $175 million, allowing cash-strapped lawmakers to make good on campaign promises for increased education funding. In return, the lawmakers changed SCC rules to effectively bar the legal arguments advanced by consumer groups.
The stadium authority produced the year's heftiest lobbying bill despite having no money to pay it. In fact, the group had only enough money to cover administrative costs until Monday, when it qualified for a $250,000 state loan under the 1996-98 budget.
McGuire, Woods attorney Jim Dyke, who led the stadium authority's lobbying effort, said actual lobbying accounted for closer to $150,000 of the authority's bill, and the rest was for work as the authority's legal counsel.
That still would be one of the highest lobbying expenses reported.
The authority lacked the power to spend state money until passage of a bill earlier this year, a bill the law firm helped write and for which Dyke lobbied.
Even with that money in place, however, Dyke said the firm and other consultants do not expect to be paid unless a deal is struck to build a stadium and bring a team to Virginia.
"We are at risk to some extent, and may never receive payment," Dyke said. "But I don't anticipate that happening. We are confident things will come together."
LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Illustraion by Steve Stinson. color. Chart by staff:by CNBThe top 10 lobbyists. KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1996