
DATE: Saturday, November 8, 1997            TAG: 9711080349
SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LEDYARD KING and JANIE BRYANT, STAFF WRITERS 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:   83 lines

SHERIFF'S CAMPAIGN SPARKS INQUIRY

Commonwealth's Attorney Martin Bullock is investigating whether Sheriff Gary W. Waters used his office for political gain during his successful re-election campaign.

``I received a number of complaints, and I'm investigating those complaints,'' Bullock said Friday. ``The kinds of complaints I have received and I am investigating are alleged campaign violations. And that's all I'm going to say.''

Bullock last week received several complaints about Waters' campaign from the state Board of Elections. Elections head M. Bruce Meadows said he passed them on to Bullock's office after citizens had filed them with his office.

Meadows said the alleged improprieties, if true, would be among the worst abuses he's seen during his three years as board secretary.

``In the context of an election, it is always a concern to the board when campaign laws are being violated,'' he said.

Among the allegations:

The sheriff ran a newspaper ad Oct. 31 in the Virginian-Pilot offering voters rides to polling places and voter information. The phone number listed in the ad was in the sheriff's office.

Waters said the ad ran with the office phone number only once before Bullock told him it might be seen as improper.

Deputies wore political buttons on their uniforms and put bumper stickers on department vehicles.

Waters said he asked deputies to remove buttons and stickers shortly after he received a complaint.

Stationery from the Portsmouth Sheriff's Office was used in a fax - from the department's machine - to the media to announce a $100 reward for information on the vandalism of Waters' campaign signs.

He called it a mistake that hasn't been repeated.

Deputies carried campaign signs in their official cars and put them up around the city.

Waters said he doesn't inspect deputies' take-home cars. If they did put signs up, he said, it was on their own time.

The sheriff's public information officer brought a stack of office brochures as campaign material to a candidates' forum.

The officer was later advised not to bring any more brochures after one of Waters' opponents objected.

``I'm sure I made some mistakes,'' said Waters, a Democrat who won 60 percent of the vote against two opponents.

But he described the allegations as ``petty,'' and said he had engaged in similar activities in previous elections without being questioned about them.

The newspaper ad, for example, had run in past years with the sheriff's office phone number. The ad urges readers to ``VOTE democrat'' and includes a sample ballot with Waters' name bubbled in. He said he saw nothing political about offering rides to voters.

``We don't ask if they're Republicans or Democrats or independents. All we offer is service,'' Waters said. ``So what's the big deal?''

Among those complaining about Waters' activities is Chris Lacavita, executive director of the state Republican Party. He has asked Attorney General Richard Cullen to investigate the matter.

``We're talking about the integrity of the voting process,'' said Lacavita, who also plans to ask the sheriff for any financial records that would indicate use of public funds for political purposes.

Cullen spokesman Don Harrison would not say whether his office is looking into the matter. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

The Virginian-Pilot/File photo

Portsmouth Sheriff Gary W. Waters watches election results Tuesday

with spokeswoman Elizabeth Aronson.

[Color Photo]

Commonwealth's Attorney Martin Bullock

THE ALLEGATIONS

The Portsmouth Sheriff's Office issued a fax to the media announcing

a $100 reward for information on the vandalism of Waters' campaign

signs.

The sheriff ran a newspaper ad offering voters rides to polling

places and voter information. The phone number listed was for the