DATE: Thursday, October 2, 1997             TAG: 9710020556

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LAURA LaFAY, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: RICHMOND                          LENGTH:   66 lines

DEMOCRATIC OPPONENT CRITICIZES EARLEY FOR '94 TAX-EXEMPTION TRY

Democratic attorney general candidate Bill Dolan on Wednesday criticized his opponent, Chesapeake Sen. Mark Earley, for an attempt in 1994 to seek tax-exempt status for a business venture of Virginia Beach televangelist Pat Robertson.

The venture, a $100 million upscale retirement community to be built by Christian Broadcasting affiliate Founders Village Inc., is under construction in Virginia Beach.

The project was planned for Chesapeake when Earley sought to exempt the proposed community from taxes by introducing a bill in the General Assembly designating it as a ``charitable organization.''

The bill, submitted Jan. 12, 1994, died in committee.

According to the state code, religious and charitable organizations, among others, can be given local tax breaks. But Founders Village, which plans to charge up to $240,000 per unit and up to $2,500 per month in maintenance fees, cannot be regarded as charitable, Dolan said at a capital news conference Thursday morning.

``It's for rich people,'' he said. ``Those numbers are for rich people.''

Earley's attempt to get a tax exemption for Robertson was a way to avoid dealing with Chesapeake officials who might have objected to losing roughly $825,000 in annual tax revenues, Dolan said.

``It reflects very bad judgment at best and favoritism to a political contributor at worst,'' he said. Robertson is Earley's biggest contributor so far this campaign. As of Aug. 31, he had contributed $35,000 to Earley's campaign for attorney general.

To illustrate his point, Dolan held aloft a blue cardboard replica of a $35,000 check made out to Earley and signed by Robertson. ``Thanks for all your help!!'' said a memo written at the bottom left-hand corner.

Responding to the Dolan attack as ``character assassination,'' Earley said he was ``not surprised.''

``I think Bill Dolan does not want to run on issues because where he stands on issues - such as parole abolition, which he opposed, and juvenile crime reform, which he opposed - is out of touch with Virginia,'' he said.

Earley said he introduced the bill after receiving a letter requesting that he do so from Robertson's attorney, John M. Paris Jr., of Kaufman and Canoles in Norfolk. Bills conferring tax-exempt status must be submitted on the first day of the legislative session, he noted.

``I was happy to put the bill in,'' he said.

``It would have been a great project for Chesapeake. It is something the City Council would have had to act on.''

Initially planned for Virginia Beach, Founders Village considered locating in Chesapeake after the Virginia Beach City Council refused to grant the project tax-exempt status in 1993.

Founders Village officials, apparently balking at Chesapeake's request that they build a cultural center for the city in exchange for tax-exempt status, eventually decided to move the project back to Virginia Beach.

In August, Founders Village announced plans to build the 300-unit complex adjacent to Mount Trashmore on the CBN campus.

Soon afterward, Virginia Beach economic development officials announced that they would give the CBN affiliate $750,000 for off-site improvements, such as traffic signals, roads and drainage work. It was the largest economic development package in Virginia Beach history. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Democratic attorney general candidate Bill Dolan, left, says his GOP

opponent, Chesapeake Sen. Mark Earley, sought a tax exemption for

Virginia Beach televangelist Pat Robertson in the legislature. KEYWORDS: ATTORNEY GENERAL RACE CANDIDATE

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