DATE: Wednesday, November 26, 1997          TAG: 9711250603

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: NEIGHBORHOOD EXCHANGE

TYPE: PUBLIC LIFE

SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   65 lines

ADVOCATES FOR POOR GET LESSON IN LOBBYING FROM SOMETIME FOE

The Sowers of Justice and Virginia Beach Del. Robert F. McDonnell don't often agree.

Sowers members did not favor Gov. George F. Allen's welfare reform.

McDonnell introduced the legislation.

Now the Sowers group is preparing to lobby the 1998 General Assembly to give poor Virginians some relief.

To whom did they turn for advice?

McDonnell.

The 1-year-old Sowers is a grass-roots social-justice group. Most members are Catholic, although it is open to all.

The Tidewater chapter has more than 100 members. They're often folks like Nancy Burns, a retired medical technologist who lives in Virginia Beach.

Burns said she joined last year after feeling powerless about public issues. ``Once we elect people, we have no further say in what they do,'' she said.

She has found strength and inspiration by banding with others, Burns said. Together, they learn how to combine social concerns with practical advocacy.

They're also trying - not always successfully - to reach beyond like-minded allies.

That's why the Sowers invited McDonnell, R-84th, to its Nov. 13 meeting. ``I think he's looking for middle ground. I'm trying too,'' said Teresa Stanley, a Sowers leader.

The Sowers group will focus on two ideas - earned-income tax credits for working poor families with children and extending child care and transportation aid for people leaving welfare.

The tax break would help the working poor who earn less than $19,000 a year. A similar federal law, passed in 1975, returned more than $118 million to about 89,000 Hampton Roads families in 1996.

Advocates say the tax break is pro-family, pro-community and pro-business, because it allows poor people more money for goods such as groceries, clothes, rent and utilities.

The legislation has failed for seven years. In 1997, it passed the House 92-7 but did not survive the Senate's finance committee.

McDonnell supports tax credits because the Sowers showed him how the program helps the economy. He urged making similar arguments to other legislators.

Still, it won't be easy, McDonnell cautioned. The Assembly must contend with another major tax-cut proposal - abolition of taxes on cars and small trucks.

McDonnell also advised:

Don't seek repeal of welfare reform. The odds are against you.

Don't lose sight of practical ways to help the poor by ``gushing out a lot of philosophy or theology'' to the legislators.

Assemble small groups of voters to visit their specific senators and delegates before the legislature convenes Jan. 14. ``Once it starts,'' McDonnell said, ``it's a rat race.'' Build relationships.

Don't give up. Find common ground.

Common ground. That's what the Sowers are all about. MEMO: For more information about Sowers of Justice, call Nancy Burns,

481-1092. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Nancy Burns

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