
DATE: Friday, July 4, 1997                  TAG: 9707040463

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LARRY O'DELL, ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: RICHMOND                          LENGTH:   83 lines

MEDICAL SOCIETY TOPS LIST OF SPENDERS ON STATE LOBBYING IT SPENT TWICE AS MUCH, MOSTLY ON SALARIES FOR LOBBYISTS, AS 2ND-PLACE DUPONT MERCK.

Doctors spent nearly twice as much as any other group to influence Virginia legislators in the past year, disclosure reports released Thursday show.

The Medical Society of Virginia spent $201,600, including nearly $18,000 to wine and dine legislators. The biggest chunk of the money, $117,096, was paid to the society's nine lobbyists.

The No. 2 spender was DuPont Merck, a pharmaceutical company, at $105,774.

In all, lobbyists spent more than $7.2 million to gain the ear of lawmakers voting on bills affecting their employers' interests. The total was down from the previous year's $7.8 million, probably because the 1996 General Assembly session was two weeks longer than this year's session. Spending for the short 1995 session was also $7.8 million.

July 1 was the deadline for lobbyists to file reports for the year ending April 30. Some reports were still trickling in to the secretary of the commonwealth's office Thursday, so the final total will be slightly higher.

Madeline Wade Abbitt, the lead lobbyist for the medical society, said the doctors' No. 1 ranking results from the sheer volume of bills affecting health care. ``We monitored over 350 issues this past year,'' she said.

Among the major issues were laws dealing with managed care, the ability to transfer health insurance from one job to another, changes to worker's compensation laws and preserving the $1 million cap on medical malpractice judgments.

``What touches everybody? Hopefully education, but definitely your health,'' Abbitt said.

The medical society frequently sold its ideas over dinner. For example, there was a $449 tab to feed seven unidentified guests at an upscale steak house. The biggest food-and-drink tab, however, was $13,345 for a reception attended by 350 people at the Virginia Historical Society.

Businesses, utilities, teachers and local governments dominated the list of top 10 spenders.

The Virginia Education Association, which fights annually for bigger teacher salaries, deployed the largest platoon of lobbyists: 44. The VEA spent $89,150.

Rounding out the top 10 spenders were the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, Georgia-Pacific Corp., Colonial Downs, the Virginia Municipal League, Virginia Power, Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Virginia Gas Co.

Colonial Downs is a thoroughbred track that is scheduled to open its first season of racing in September. The track is still under construction in New Kent County, about 20 miles southeast of Richmond, and its owners lobbied the legislators to push back by three months the original July 1 opening date. It entertained legislators at the groundbreaking for the track and at the opening of its off-track betting parlor in Richmond.

The most controversial issues do not always result in the huge lobbying expenditures. In the 1997 legislative session, for example, the battle over the parental notification abortion bill was the biggest headline-grabber.

However, Planned Parenthood lobbyist Grace Sparks reported spending only $8,432 to fight the bill. The bill passed, and Planned Parenthood is now challenging it in court.

Louise Hartz of the Virginia Society for Human Life, which supported the bill, spent $5,317. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

THE BIGGEST SPENDERS

Organizations that spent the most lobbying legislators in the

past year, with name followed by area of interest, number of

lobbyists and amount spent:

1. The Medical Society of Virginia, health care and insurance,

nine lobbyists, $201,600.

2. DuPont Merck, prescription drugs, 13 lobbyists, $105,774.

3. Virginia Education Association, public education, 44

lobbyists, $89,150.

4. Virginia Chamber of Commerce, business, four lobbyists,

$86,339.