THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 7, 1994 TAG: 9409070566
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARGARET EDDS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
Gov. George F. Allen apologized on Tuesday for remarks he made in June during a statewide televised promotion of his no-parole plan, but he said the misstatements should not detract from the overall value of his proposal.
``I certainly didn't mean to mislead anyone. . . . I do apologize,'' said Allen, who on the show highlighted seven cases of murder and rape that he said would have been prevented under his plan.
In fact, court records show and Allen aides now acknowledge that the proposal would have clearly prevented only one of the crimes.
But Allen noted that analysts have identified more than 4,000 crimes that would have been prevented between 1986 and 1993 under his plan, and Richmond Mayor Leonidas Young said recently that 44 percent of those arrested in his city this year for murder would have been behind bars at the time of their crime under the Allen plan.
The televised comments ``should not detract from the fact that three out of every four violent crimes are committed by repeat offenders,'' Allen said.
But again Allen may be overstating the scope of his program.
His three-out-of-four statistic includes ``repeat offenders'' previously convicted of misdemeanors, as well as those convicted of felonies. Under the Allen plan, the only way a violent criminal's prior record would trigger a stiffer sentence is if he had previously committed a violent felony.
According to one recent state study of 1990-92 records, just 18 percent of those convicted of a violent crime would fit into the category of having a prior violent conviction. However, the study did not consider juvenile records, which would be counted under the Allen plan.
It's not known how much the 18 percent figure would increase if violent convictions as a juvenile were included.
Meanwhile, the governor continued his offensive on the $850 million plan to keep violent criminals locked up longer, disclosing that the Democratic chairmen of powerful House and Senate money committees - Sen. Hunter B. Andrews, D-Hampton, and Del. Robert Ball, D-Richmond - have signed on as co-sponsors of the plan.
In a noon speech, Allen reiterated that he will ask Virginians to approve a general-obligation bond issue to fund part of the plan, but he outlined several alternatives that could make the bond issue smaller than expected. He also said that a referendum on the bond issue might be delayed until 1996.
Allen said that in the short term, any prison construction will be funded through public building authority bonds, which do not require voter approval. The state already has untapped authority to issue about $175 million in prison construction bonds, he said.
He is also exploring turning over some of the building to private companies, and he believes that selling some surplus state property could help pay for the prison plan. Details may be available in time for a special legislative session on abolishing parole, which begins Sept. 19, Allen said.
Responding to questions after his speech, Allen said he was upset to learn that his televised comments in June were incorrect. Asked if aides were to blame for the misstatements, he said: ``I was the one who said it, so it's my fault.''
According to aides, the victims who appeared on the June program were enlisted for an earlier show in March about violent crime. Jo Ann Bruce, a victims' rights advocate from Richmond, arranged the earlier appearances. But she was not asked to find cases in which the perpetrator was on parole, or in which the case would have been affected by the governor's plan, his aides acknowledged.
During the show, Allen said his plan ``would have protected all of the victims and the victims' families that we just saw at the opening of this show.'' by CNB