Lawmakers give campaign funds to charities and single-interest groups

[Summary of charitable donations] [Ranking of recipients] [Ranking of legislators]

By Juan A. Lizama

One week after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Lt. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine gave $15,000 from his campaign account to the American Red Cross.

Last July, then-Delegate Thomas M. Jackson, a Democrat from the western part of the state, gave $2,500 from his political fund to the Martinsville Youth Traveling Basketball program.

In August, Democratic Sen. Roscoe W. Reynolds of Martinsville gave $200 from his campaign fund to the National Rifle Association.

Virginia legislators are a good source of funds for community, charitable and single-interest groups. Using donations they receive from supporters, lawmakers often make contributions to nonprofit organizations.

Last year, those contributions totaled more than $168,000, according to a computer analysis of campaign-finance expenditures data by VCU’s Legislative Reporting students. State legislators made:

Virginia law requires legislators to report how they spend their campaign money. They can do whatever they want with the money, as long as they don’t spend it on personal items.

The Virginia Public Access Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to opening government records to citizens, has compiled a database of campaign-finance contributions and expenditures. (VPAP itself received 12 contributions, totaling $2,300, from General Assembly members.)

The records show that legislators donate to hundreds of groups in Virginia: from health clinics and rescue squads to church ministries and labor unions.

In interviews, lawmakers said there is nothing wrong with making such donations as long as they are legitimate.

The legislators who donated the most money in 2001 to community and single-interest groups and goodwill were:

Delegate Harry J. Parrish, R-Manassas, said he doesn’t make contributions from his campaign fund, but he supports such donations as long as they comply with the law. Records show that Parrish gave $45 last year to the Osbourn Park High Student Council for an advertisement, and spent $120 on flags.

Former Delegate Earl Dickinson, a Democrat who until this year represented areas west and north of Richmond, gave $1,000 to Trinity Ministries for its operation of an orphanage. Overall, lawmakers made about 40 donations to church organizations.

The top recipient of legislators’ generosity last year was Virginians for Fiscal Responsibility, an organization formed by Senate Republicans who wanted to delay a reduction in the state’s car tax. The group received 18 donations, totaling $37,500, from members of the General Assembly.

The runner-up was the Family Foundation of Virginia, a nonprofit group of political and religious conservatives who oppose abortion and gay rights. The organization is affiliated with Religious Right leader James Dobson and his "Focus on the Family." The Family Foundation received 11 contributions, totaling $2,620, from Virginia lawmakers’ campaign funds last year.

Gary Marx, director of development at the Family Foundation, said the foundation invites legislators to sponsor fund-raising events such as regional banquets.

For example, Delegate Robert F. McDonnell, R-Virginia Beach, made three donations totaling $1,325 to the Family Foundation in 2001. Delegate John J. Welch III, R-Virginia Beach, made two contributions totaling $720, including sponsoring a table at a Family Foundation fund-raising event.

"The donations are endorsing the importance of the work we do in reaching out to the community," Marx said. The foundation’s Web site says the group "promotes and defends Virginia families through the public policy process, civic activism, and citizenship ministries."

Tapping their political funds, Virginia lawmakers last year also made five donations totaling $555 to groups affiliated with the National Rifle Association.

Legislators don’t give only to conservative groups.

Various branches of the NAACP received 36 donations totaling $3,600 from General Assembly members. Legislators also made about 15 contributions totaling approximately $3,700 to unions and other labor organizations.

While these contributions all are legal, they can raise ethical questions:

Is it ethical for legislators to take credit for charitable donations that don’t come from their own pockets?

The donations are coming from the lawmaker’s campaign fund, which consists of contributions from political supporters. What happens if a legislator donates campaign-fund money to a group that the original donor does not approve of?

"That is a chance you have to take when you give money to a candidate’s campaign," Callahan said.

Using his campaign fund last year, he made 28 donations to such groups as the Safe Community Coalition, the McLean Orchestra, the McLean Chamber of Commerce, the Alzheimer’s Family Day Center and the Shenandoah Valley Battlefield Foundation.

If people made more donations like that, the community would be "a lot better off," Callahan said.

"I think it is admirable and it should be encouraged," he said.

Callahan added that legislators each should make their own decisions about how to spend leftover campaign money. "I cannot make decisions for the other delegates on how they spend their money," he said.

Hawkins said he believes General Assembly members should donate money only to groups in their legislative districts.

He made 35 donations last year to such groups as Virginians for Fiscal Responsibility, the Danville Science Center, Ducks Unlimited, the National D-Day Memorial Foundation, Little Theatre of Danville, the Patrick Henry Boys & Girls Home and the Free Clinic of Danville.

As for donations that might go to groups disliked by his political contributors, Hawkins said that all the original donors have to do is call him and voice their disapproval.

"I’ll write them a check and give back the money," he said.

He said he has never had such complaints from donors to his campaign.

Sen. John C. Watkins, R-Chesterfield, said most people who donate money are aware of politicians using campaign money to make donations to other groups or candidates.

Last year, Watkins made 10 donations totaling $2,814 from his campaign fund. The contributions included $1,000 to the American Red Cross and smaller amounts to the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce, the Midlothian Rotary Club, the Powhatan Lions Club and Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens.

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