THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 21, 1995 TAG: 9510210312
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARGARET EDDS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
A group calling for increased funding of higher education said Friday that it will mount an advertising campaign on behalf of General Assembly candidates who support its agenda.
At a press conference to announce wide support from legislative candidates, the chairman of the Virginia Business Higher Education Council said the group will spend about $10,000 on print and radio messages ``to be sure those candidates supporting us are known to the public.''
The ads, focused on the Nov. 7 election, will begin running in about a week, said John T. Hazel Jr., a Northern Virginia lawyer-developer who is chairman of the group.
The organization named 165 candidates - of 248 who are running for the Senate or House of Delegates - who are pledged to support the council's agenda of increased funding, improved quality, great affordability and more efficiency in higher education.
Noticeably absent from the group, however, were Republican floor leaders in the House and Senate. Neither Sen. Joseph B. Benedetti, R-Richmond, nor Del. S. Vance Wilkins Jr., R-Amhurst, were on the list. Benedetti is running unopposed.
Some Republicans have shied away from the council's emphasis on $200 million in additional funding for colleges and universities in the next session.
Gov. George F. Allen, for instance, has said that he supports the group's general goals but cannot make any dollar commitment.
The pledge circulated to candidates did not mention the $200 million, but called for ``increasing per-student general fund appropriations to Virginia's two- and four-year public institutions for each year of the 1996-98 biennium.''
South Hampton Roads senatorial candidates signing the pledge were Yvonne B. Miller (D) and Bruce A. Wilcox (R), 5th district; Stanley C. Walker (D) and Dimitrios N. Rerras (R), 6th district; C.A. Holland (D) and Edward L. Schrock (R), 7th district; Johnny S. Joannou (D), 13th district; Mark L. Earley (R), 14th district; Louise Lucas (D) and F. M. Slayton (I), 18th district.
South Hampton Roads House candidates signing the pledge were W.S. Moore Jr. (D), 79th district; Kenneth R. Melvin (D), 80th district; Glenn R. Croshaw (D), 81st district; Harry R. Purkey (R), 82nd district; Philip J. Geib (D), 83rd district; George H. Heilig Jr. (D), 86th district; Howard Copeland (D) and Thelma Drake (R), 87th district; Thomas W. Moss Jr. (D) and Mark A. Yatrofsky (I), 88th district; and W. P. Robinson Jr. (D), 90th district.
KEYWORDS: CAMPAIGN FINANCES VIRGINIA HOUSE OF DELEGATES RACE
VIRGINIA STATE SENATE RACE POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE by CNB