ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, September 27, 1996 TAG: 9609270077
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Below
PERHAPS THEY'LL be singing ``I Got You, Bob'' at the Hotel Roanoke on Monday night.
Rep. Bob Goodlatte has brought a lot of GOP stars to town over the years, including Jack Kemp, Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole.
Now Goodlatte has lured another big name to the Star City. This one has bona fide Hollywood credentials, even if his political career has been less than stellar.
Rep. Sonny Bono - pop diva Cher's former husband and sidekick in the 1960s music duo Sonny & Cher - will be at Hotel Roanoke Monday night for a Goodlatte fete and fund-raiser.
The event proves, quipped Goodlatte's Democratic opponent, Jeff Grey, "that some folks will do almost anything for more [campaign] money."
Bono, a four-time guest star of TV's "Love Boat," was elected to the House of Representatives from California in 1994. From 1988 to 1992, he was the Republican mayor of ritzy Palm Springs. He entered local politics there after getting fed up with red tape while trying to get a city permit to open a restaurant.
During his entertainment career, Bono penned the pop classics "And the Beat Goes On" and "I Got You, Babe." The duo had their own successful TV comedy-variety program, the "Sonny and Cher Show.''
The 61-year-old Bono has commanded less respect on Capitol Hill than he did in Hollywood. In fact, the congressman was listed as No. 8 among "The Ten Dimmest Bulbs in Congress" last year in The Progressive, a liberal magazine.
As mayor of Palm Springs, Bono initially had a few problems presiding at public meetings. His former Palm Springs public relations director, Marilyn Baker, once told the Los Angeles Times that in order to help him run meetings more smoothly, she had to rewrite meeting agendas to make them look like Hollywood scripts.
"For call to order, I wrote, 'Sit.' For salute the flag, I wrote, 'Stand, face flag, mouth words.' For roll call, I wrote, `When you hear your name, say yes,''' Baker told the Times.
In his autobiography, Bono admitted he never voted until age 53.
Goodlatte says he and Bono have become "good friends" since January of last year, when freshman Bono was seated next to Goodlatte on the House Judiciary Committee's courts and intellectual property subcommittee.
The former pop star was an original co-sponsor of one of the pieces of legislation Goodlatte shepherded through the House, the Anticounterfeiting Consumer Protection Act of 1996. Bono also co-sponsored Goodlatte's bill to relax export controls on computer encryption technology and preserve encryption for domestic computer users. They also co-sponsored legislation to bar illegal immigrants from public schools.
As for The Progressive calling Bono dumb, Goodlatte said: "I don't think that's the case at all. I've heard him speak, and he's very good at explaining why he ran for Congress and the frustrations of being a small businessman, which led him into politics in the first place."
The Progressive probably tagged Bono because "Sonny Bono's no liberal," Goodlatte said.
With tickets to the event priced up to $1,000 a couple, Bono has the potential to bring in a big chunk of campaign cash for Goodlatte - although it appears the two-term incumbent hardly needs the money.
By July, according to the latest available campaign finance records, Goodlatte had reported raising about $455,000 for his race against Grey, a Rockbridge County communication technician for a gas company, and Libertarian Jay Rutledge, a self-employed software writer from Roanoke. Grey reported raising less than $10,000; Rutledge didn't file a report because he raised less than the $5,000 Federal Election Commission threshold.
Tickets to the hotel reception are $50 per person. For $500, a couple may get photos of themselves with both congressmen and two tickets to the reception. For $1,000, contributors will get a pre-reception round-table discussion with Bono and Goodlatte, photos with both and four tickets to the 7:30 p.m. reception.
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: File. Sonny Bono seemed rather pleased at the Republicanby CNBNational Convention. color. KEYWORDS: POLITICS CONGRESS