ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, October 25, 1996 TAG: 9610250045
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: virginia journal
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER AND TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITERS
Republican congressional candidate George Landrith's campaign violated an election law when it failed to properly disclose staff salaries on its most recent finance report, a lawyer with the Federal Election Commission says.
Federal law requires campaigns to list each staff member's pay individually if the person has made more than $200 during a calendar year, Leslie Kerman said this week.
Landrith's campaign listed only lump sums for its entire staff.
The FEC can fine Landrith's campaign an unspecified amount, possibly as much as double the $18,644 reported, Kerman said. Campaigns are required to itemize staff salaries so the public will be able to identify who is receiving money from campaign funds, which are largely made up of donations.
Landrith's Democratic opponent in the 5th District, Virgil Goode, did list individual payments to staffers.
Landrith said his campaign used lump sum figures for salary because it wrote checks to an accountant who then paid the staffers. Landrith could not name the accountant, who, he said, is a volunteer.
"The information is there; it's just a question of how you report it," he said. "We did it that way two years ago, and the FEC never complained. If they want me to do it differently, I'll stand on my head for them if they want me to."
If the Landrith campaign is fined for the error, Kerman said, it won't be a first.
Most campaigns faced with the violation don't believe it is as important at the time as getting their candidates elected, she said.
The battle for Virginia
Those Bob Dole ads you're seeing on TV lately? Don't expect to talk about them with your cousin Lou in Richmond.
In Virginia, the spots are running only in the Roanoke-Lynchburg and Norfolk television markets, presumably the two parts of the state where the Dole campaign believes it most needs to shore up support.
Dole's decision to air television ads in Virginia at all - and to make a campaign stop in Norfolk last week - underscores the degree to which Virginia, once a lock for Republican candidates, is up for grabs this fall.
Bill Clinton's campaign is making a modest bid to carry the state. His campaign hasn't taken to the airwaves, but the president will make a campaign stop in Northern Virginia on Sunday.
- DWAYNE YANCEY
LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines KEYWORDS: POLITICS CONGRESS POLITICS PRESIDENTby CNB