THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 1, 1995 TAG: 9511010501
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
Smithfield Foods Inc., which created a furor by giving $100,000 to Gov. George Allen's political action committee, promised Tuesday to donate another $25,000, the director of the PAC said.
Chris Nolen, director of Allen's Campaign for Honest Change, said the organization expects to have the check by Thursday. The PAC is contributing money to Republican legislative candidates and running ads on their behalf.
Democrats sharply criticized the earlier contribution from Smithfield, which could be fined millions of dollars for polluting waterways. The company is negotiating the fines with the Allen administration.
Allen spokesman Ken Stroupe said the contributions will not influence the administration's regulatory actions.
``Any violation that may have occurred, we are going to make sure that is corrected or the appropriate sanctions are imposed,'' he said.
But state Democratic Party spokeswoman Gail Nardi said the new contribution may be more reprehensible than the first one.
``It's clear they're rubbing the faces of the people of Virginia into the dirt,'' she said.
``They will stop at nothing and will stoop as far as they think they must in order to grab power.''
Luter had said Monday that he planned to send another check.
He expressed his anger over media reports about his contributions, telling The Washington Post he was not ``going to let you people intimidate me.''
Luter was not in his office, and was unavailable for further comment Tuesday.
State officials say Smithfield has neither requested nor received special treatment from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, which is investigating the meatpacking company's discharges of manure-tainted water into the Pagan River.
KEYWORDS: ELECTION CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS PAC by CNB