THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 4, 1996 TAG: 9607040597
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVID M. POOLE AND ROBERT LITTLE, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 96 lines
Virginia Beach catapulted to the ranks of big-money lobbying last year in a failed effort to seal a Lake Gaston water pipeline agreement.
The city spent more than $151,000 in lobbying before the General Assembly - three times more than any other locality in Virginia - from May 1, 1995, to April 30 this year, according to the reports released Wednesday by the secretary of the commonwealth.
Virginia Beach ranked No. 3 on a list of all legislative lobbying groups, putting it in the company of the state's corporate giants.
Overall during the 1995-96 period, lobbyists reported spending $7.3 million, down slightly from $7.8 million reported in the equivalent 1994-95 period.
The drop - which comes after a decade of steady increases - can be explained in part by the demise of riverboat gambling legislation. Casino operators invested $69,712 in pushing floating casinos this year, compared to $807,717 last year.
The year's most expensive lobbying effort, according to the reports, was waged by the Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority, a semi-public panel negotiating to build a major league stadium in Northern Virginia.
The law firm McGuire, Woods, Battle & Boothe billed the authority $256,895 for its services since last December, when it joined the baseball effort.
The authority has yet to pay the bill. But some lawmakers said they were stunned that a group created by the General Assembly and appointed by the governor could run up such a large lobbying tab, particularly considering the stadium authority's relatively low profile during the recent legislative session.
``Baseball? Nobody said a word to me about the stadium all year - not a peep,'' said Del. Jay DeBoer, D-Petersburg.
``It seems like a lot of money for an authority, quite frankly,'' said Del. Vincent F. Callahan Jr., a Fairfax Republican leading the campaign to bring a major league baseball stadium to Virginia. ``They did a fine lobbying job, but that's more than I would have thought.''
The second-highest spender was Virginia Power Co., which won certain protections of its electric monopoly in the face of possible deregulation.
While Virginia Power earned a tidy return on its investment, Virginia Beach came up dry.
City officials say they had no choice but to ratchet up their lobbying effort last summer, after North Carolina signaled it would not drop its opposition to the city's plan to withdraw up to 60 million gallons of water a day from Lake Gaston.
``Even though there was never a special session called, for a month and a half there was a tremendous focus on Virginia Beach and the Gaston issue,'' said Anthony F. Troy, a lobbyist hired by the city.
The city retained two politically wired Richmond law firms - Mays & Valentine and Hazel & Thomas - to persuade Gov. George F. Allen and General Assembly leaders to hold a special legislative session on Lake Gaston.
Hopes of the session dissolved, however, because of opposition from western Virginia localities and complications from election-year politics.
Customers of the city's water system picked up most of the tab by paying $129,058.
Outside lawyers accounted for about 60 percent of the expenses. The rest came from city officials, a portion of whose salaries were charged to the utility account.
Virginia Beach also paid the services of in-house lobbyist Robert Matthias, bringing the city's total costs to $151,259.
An anti-pipeline group - Fair Play for All Virginians - reported lobbying expenses of $3,990.
Lobbying expenditures for other South Hampton Roads cities were: Norfolk, $2,855; Chesapeake, $9,222; Portsmouth, $9,448; Suffolk, 8,135.
McGuire, Woods attorney James W. Dyke Jr., who led the stadium authority's lobbying effort, said actual lobbying accounted for closer to $150,000 of the authority's bill, and the rest was for work as the authority's legal counsel. That still would be one of the highest lobbying expenses reported.
The authority has no lobbying budget, and the bill remains unpaid. In fact, the group had only enough money to cover administrative costs until Monday, when it qualified for a $250,000 state loan under the 1996-98 budget.
The power to spend that money was granted by a bill that passed the General Assembly earlier this year - a bill McGuire, Woods, Battle & Boothe helped write and for which Dyke lobbied.
Even with that money in place, however, Dyke said the firm and other consultants do not expect to be paid unless a deal is struck to build a stadium and bring a team to Virginia.
``We are at risk to some extent and may never receive payment,'' Dyke said. ``But I don't anticipate that happening. We are confident things will come together.'' MEMO: THE FIVE CITIES
Lobbying expenditures for South Hampton Roads cities, May 1,
1995-April 30, 1996:
Virginia Beach$151,259
Portsmouth$9,448
Chesapeake$9,222
Suffolk$8,135
Norfolk$2,855
Lobbyists' spending in Virginia
For complete information see microfilm by CNB