In a recent edition of C-Ville Weekly, Coy Barefoot (barefoot@cstone.net) showcased campaign financing by the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors (CARR), which supports building Meadowcreek Parkway, and by Opportunity for All, which describes itself as a grassroots coalition of concerned Charlottesville business owners and is reportedly being organized by Justin T. Beights, who is project manager for a local development company.

Coy Barefoot begins his article, entitled "Is Danielson trying to buy Council seats?", with the following:

"No matter what door you peek under these days, the Almighty Dollar is having its way with Sweet Lady Liberty. This was Thomas Jefferson's great fear: that Alexander Hamilton's Federalists would sell off the power of government to the highest bidder."

"Unelected corporate oligarchs now run the show, with bottom line profits as the Holy Grail. They choose our candidates and fund their elections insuring that government will contmue to socialize the risks and privatize the profits of big business."

"Meanwhile the rest of us are damped into the chains of wage slavery, bound by debts and propaganda, and morphed into consumers, clients, patients, prisoners, and stiffs on hold- while droning on about how free we are."

Coy Barefoot ends his article, saying:

"Some argue that business and wealthy investors pouring cash into the campaigns of candidates they support is nothing more than free speech at work. Hardly. As one commentator has put it, this is 'bought-and-paid-for speech.' The more money you have, the more speech you get."

"Hamilton one, Jefferson zip."

Excerpts from Coy Barefoot's report are shown below (along with a call for comments):

"C-VILLE has confirmed that the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors (CAAR) is currently holding private interviews with Council candidates to determine who will receive their financial support."

"'There's no guarantee anybody is going to get any money,' claims Joe Samuels, chair of CAAR's government affairs committee. 'Sometimes we don't give any money at all. It just depends.' Samuels did not clarify exactly what funding depends on."

"We asked Samuels if CAAR had plans to fund only the campaigns of pro-growth, pro-development candidates whose actions would profit those in the real estate-market."

"'That could not be more erroneous,' Samuels replied. 'Yes, that's a common perception people have, but there is a great deal of diversity [over issues] among our members.'"

"Unlike a number of candidate forums slated for the weeks before the City Council election, the CAAR interviews are not open to the public, and information gathered will not be made available to voters outside of CAAR. It is strictly a private affair."

"Despite the secrecy, Samuels likens the CAAR interviews to any other public forum or debate. He says that CAAR has been simflarly involved in elections for the General Assembly and for the Albemarle County, Board of Supervisors and that key issues for CAAR are housing, transportation, and growth and development."

"'We've invited [the City Council candidates] to sit down and chat with us,' says Samuels. 'We want to understand what their views are and want them to know how we feel about some issues. We're just sharing ideas'" (Coy Barefoot, C-Ville Weekly, April 11-17, 2000).

"A group billing itself as Opportunity For All recently sent out letters to Council candidates announcing its intention to 'actively support candidates for public office.'"

"C-VILLE obtained a copy of this group's March 29 letter in which it asks each candidate to provide 300-word answers to five questions about economic development, the Board of Architectural Review (BAR), and City Council's funding. Again, this is all being done privately, and we do not expect not any of these answers to be made available to voters."

"Just who is the 'all' in Opportunity For All? And what kind of 'opportunity' are they talking about? The PAC describes itself as a 'grassroots coalition of concerned Charlottesville business owners.'"

"Then we noticed the signature on the letter: Justin I Beights. Executive director of the new PAC, Beights also happens to be an employee of D&R Development - Lee Danielson and Cohn Rolph's development firm."

"Beights is the project manager overseeing D&R's proposed demolition of a row of protected historic buildings on the Downtown Mall. The BAR recently voted against that demolition, and D&R has appealed to Council to get its way" (Coy Barefoot, C-Ville Weekly, April 11-17, 2000).

"When asked about the PAC's ties to D&R Development, Beights declared that 'there's other investors,' but he declined to name them or describe the PAC's specific plans. 'Right now we're still putting it all together,' says Beights. 'D&R has donated my time to help move it along'" (Coy Barefoot, C-Ville Weekly, April 11-17, 2000).

For my own part, like CARR, I believe housing, transportation, growth, and development are important issues -- though I don't always agree with CARR's positions. I also believe that Lee Danielson has had a positive net impact on the development of the downtown mall.

At the same time, the relationship between campaign financing and special interests certainly merits community discussion.

If you have comments about the relationship between campaign financing and special interests or about the proper use of PAC money in local campaigns, send them to george@loper.org and the most representative will be posted with full attribution.

To date, comments have been received from Kevin Cox, Sue Lewis, James McGinnis, Hal Noakes, and John Potter.