THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 2, 1996 TAG: 9605020413
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: THIRTEEN CANDIDATES LENGTH: Short : 41 lines
more than 10 percent of those running in South Hampton Roads races - missed Monday's deadline for disclosing their campaign contributions, according to local voter registrars.
The worst compliance was in Portsmouth. Four of 10 council candidates and one-third of the school board candidates failed to file. One Chesapeake council candidate, and three Virginia Beach school board members turned their reports in Tuesday and will be fined $50, under state law.
Even reports filed on time contained lots of errors.
Veteran politicians such as Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera Oberndorf and former mayor Harold Hesichober failed to list the professions of most large contributors, as state law requires. Chesapeake Mayor William E. Ward turned in an illegible report with no totals, though he corrected it later.
At least 18 school board candidates reported incorrect totals.
Beach candidate Louis R. Soscia, for example, itemized $750 in contributions on one page, then listed none on a total page. Soscia also itemized $1339.84 in ads, bumper stickers and ``stick-ons'' on an expense page, then listed $500 on another page.
Here's a list of candidates who failed to file on time:
Portsmouth: Frank A. Harte, candidate for mayor; council candidates Bernard D. Griffin, Milton A. Hoover and Rafiq Zaidi; and school board candidates N. Gaile Bishop, B. Keith Nance, Elijah ``Buddy'' Sharp III, M.B. ``Randi`` Strutton, and North E. West.
Chesapeake: council candidate Robert D. ``Bob'' Bowman.
Virginia Beach: school board candidates Pedro P. Rodriguez, Frank Edward Rough and Claude R. ``Okie'' Thompson.
Suffolk and Norfolk: All reports filed on time.
KEYWORDS: CAMPAIGN FINANCES CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS by CNB