THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Monday, February 10, 1997             TAG: 9702080040
SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A8   EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Editorial 
                                            LENGTH:   44 lines

VIRGINIA CONSUMERS ARE LOSING A WATCHDOG FOX MOVES ON

You may never have heard of Jean Ann Fox, but for more than a decade she has represented you in Richmond as diligently as your local delegate or senator.

As president and volunteer lobbyist for the Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, the Yorktown resident has been a fixture in legislature committee rooms and the halls of state regulatory agencies.

Amid a sea of well-paid, lawyer-lobbyists representing the state's banks, utilities and other corporate interests, she has raised an often lonely voice in behalf of the ordinary consumer.

That may not have made her right every time, but it guaranteed that the debate was fuller and that industry lobbyists were held to a higher standard of accountability. The fact that Fox was unpaid and had to depend largely on her own wits for research and analysis makes her achievements even more impressive.

That's why Fox, as much as any retiring elected official, deserves warm wishes and gratitude from Virginians as she moves on to a paid post with the Consumer Federation of America.

Her work helped produce an overhaul of the Virginia Consumer Protection Act a few years ago, helped restore 11 positions to the Virginia Office of Consumer Affairs last year, and helped produce almost $100 million in customer refunds from Virginia Power in the early 1990s.

A prime regret as she leaves, Fox says, is that more has not been done to regulate the used-car industry. Attempts to pass a used-car ``lemon law'' and to upgrade the information available to consumers when they purchase a used car failed under opposition from automobile dealers and manufacturers.

A fitting tribute to Fox would be to upgrade those laws. Barring that unlikely gift from the legislature, Virginians might consider requesting a free copy of Fox's guide to filing consumer complaints - what she calls her parting gift to the commonwealth. Available from: VCCC, 6 N. Sixth St., Room 402, Richmond, 23219.

And while they're at it, they might send along a year's membership dues to the Virginia Citizens Consumer Council. Consumers may not always be so lucky as to have an unpaid lobbyist such as Fox who is talented and dedicated enough to compete with the hundreds who pick up a check.