THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 30, 1995 TAG: 9507300090
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
The mayors of Newport News and Hampton and six other public and private area leaders took a four-day fishing trip to Canada this week to discuss the region's future.
The Daily Press paid for the trip, and its top two executives attended, the newspaper reported Saturday.
Jack Davis, the newspaper's president and publisher, said the paper wanted to provide a forum away from distractions to talk about the future of the area. Davis said the trip was not an attempt to influence politicians.
Participants included Davis, Hampton Mayor James Eason, Newport News Mayor Barry DuVal, Newport News Shipbuilding Chairman William R. ``Pat'' Phillips, former Thomas Nelson Community College President Robert Templin, Newport News Industrial Development Authority Chairman Alan Witt, former IDA Chairman Robert Yancey, and Daily Press Advertising Director George McDaniel.
For four days beginning July 23, the eight men fished at a lakeside retreat near Baie-Comeaux, a small town on the St. Lawrence River about 200 miles northeast of Quebec City. The fishing camp is owned by a paper company in which Daily Press parent company Tribune Co. holds an interest.
They talked about many regional issues, including economic development, crime, education and the military, Davis said. The group also talked about establishing a regional identity and broached the topic of revenue-sharing among cities, Hampton Mayor, Eason said.
Julie Lapham, executive director of Common Cause of Virginia, a Richmond lobby for ethics in government, said Thursday that free trips for public officials are always inappropriate, no matter what the intent of the individual paying the bill.
``Somewhere along the line, every single person is going to say, `Hmm. I wonder what I need to do in return,' '' she said. ``It doesn't matter that it's good intent.''
``I wouldn't have gone if I thought that it wasn't appropriate,'' said DuVal.
``We weren't talking about something they can do for the Daily Press,'' Davis said. ``The whole trip and the expense that we incurred is for the benefit of the Peninsula and to safeguard its future.
The Daily Press has on several occasions taken an editorial page stand against the acceptance of gifts by politicians. The newspaper ran an editorial Thursday, the day the group returned from Canada, entitled ``Gifts and trips,'' that condemns Congress for ``letting lobbyists wine and dine them, provide their tickets to entertainment events and pay for plane fare and hotel rooms in fancy resorts.'' The editorial endorsed a bill that would restrict such gifts.
Davis said the newspaper's sponsorship of the trip was not inconsistent with that editorial. ``I don't regard it as a gift,'' he said. ``I don't think anybody who went on this trip did it to get something out of it of value. It was a serious investment of their time.''
Eason said he will note the trip on the gift disclosure he will file in January. Under state law, city councilmen must disclose all gifts, honoraria and travel expenses they receive worth more than $200, said Newport News City Attorney Stuart Katz.
Davis said he did not know the cost of the trip. by CNB