ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 15, 1997 TAG: 9701150056
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: FAIRFAX
SOURCE: Associated Press
A day after Virginia's public colleges made loud claims on part of a $247 million state budget surplus, Gov. George Allen came to one of their campuses to announce how some of the money will be spent.
But the $1 million pledge Allen made Tuesday is intended not for education but to promote an international meeting of technology executives the governor said will attract millions in investment and jobs to Virginia.
The 1998 World Congress on Information Technology will bring about 1,500 top information and technology executives from around the world to George Mason University in Fairfax County.
``It will give us the opportunity to showcase our pro-growth business policy, our reasonable regulatory policy and our great location,'' Allen said.
Allen has proposed amendments that would claim $226 million of the surplus, leaving $21 million.
The governor's agenda has not deterred a long list of supplicants who have jammed public meetings in recent weeks to ask for a chunk of the windfall.
On Monday, a leading advocate for public education asked for $200 million for the state college system. Northern Virginia developer John ``Til'' Hazel scolded legislators for ignoring the plight of colleges, and warned of Virginia's ``disinvestment in education.''
Allen has proposed that colleges get $118,000 from the surplus. The state is already spending $1.2 billion on higher education in the current two-year budget.
The General Assembly will vote on the $1 million request and the rest of Allen's budget amendments this session. Allen said he is confident legislators will think the World Congress is a good investment.
``It is like the Olympics of technology,'' Allen said.
Sen. John Chichester, R-Fredericksburg, said the conference provides an opportunity to show the world the new face of the Old Dominion. ``I think this conference is an outstanding coup for Virginia and George Mason University," he said. "We're going to put our money where our mouth is - we haven't found the money yet, but we're turning over rocks looking for it.''
The conference and trade show is expected to draw participants from 50 countries. It is the biennial gathering of the World Information Technology and Services Alliance, an organization representing information technology associations worldwide.
The conference, which began meeting in 1978, was held in Spain last year and in Japan in 1994.
Fairfax County has pledged about $1million to promote the conference, and the Center for Innovative Technology, a public-private business partnership in Herndon, has pledged $100,000.
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