THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 14, 1995 TAG: 9511140012
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
Over the years, the citizens of the Smithfield area have benefited from the generosity of its major employer, Smithfield Foods and its owner Joseph W. Luter III.
Mr. Luter and the 5,000 employees of Smithfield Foods have always been there to provide leadership and financial support when the area had needs. Mr. Luter has always been forthright in stating his position, be it about waterfront development on the Pagan River or sewers in northern Isle of Wight county to handle food processing wastewater. Because Mr. Luter is a lifelong resident of the Smithfield area, he has always supported positions that benefited not only Smithfield Foods but the whole community. The downtown redevelopment of Smithfield and the HRSD sewer line are just two examples of this blending of purposes.
Recently, much has been made of Mr. Luter's application of this same philosophy at the state level. Mr. Luter stated he believes Governor Allen's agenda is ``good for the state of Virginia.'' He backed up this belief by making two legal, open, fully disclosed contributions to the Campaign for Honest Change, the governor's political-action committee. Now the Democrats respond by yelling foul. Why?
We suggest that the Democrats' opposition exposes their anti-business bias instead of any conflict of interest on the part of the governor or a leading citizen of our community. In fact, the Democrats can't point to anything illegal, just that they don't like it. They applied this same distorted logic during the 1995 General Assembly session when they opposed the governor's legislative initiatives, not on the basis of principle but simply as obstructionists in an attempt to retain power.
According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch (Oct. 27), Bill Barlow said that Governor Allen should return the money. We don't like it when Mr. Barlow implies that Joe Luter is doing something that is in conflict of interest. The way we see it, Joe Luter is protecting the 5,000 jobs at Smithfield Foods and the economic well-being of this area while Mr. Barlow is watching out for his one job. This certainly is in line with Barlow's voting record which shows that he had voted to oppose business 60 percent of the time as reported by the nonpartisan National Federation of Independent Businesses.
PATRICK D. GLEASON
Chairman
ROBERT P. LEBER
Immediate past chairman
Isle of Wight GOP
Carrsville, Oct. 28, 1995 by CNB