[Summary of political donations] [Ranking of recipients] [Ranking of legislators] [A-Z list of legislators]

By Geoffrey Rowland

When you make a donation to a Virginia legislator, it’s common for the money to wind up in another politician’s pocket.

That’s because state lawmakers give away much of the money that pours into their campaign finance accounts. Last year, members of the General Assembly used their campaign funds to make $1.23 million in donations to political parties and federal, state and local candidates.

That represented 17 percent of all legislators’ political expenditures. Lawmakers gave more money to other politicians than they spent on political consulting, television and radio commercials and newspaper advertisements combined, according to a computer analysis by VCU's Legislative Reporting class.

The analysis found that members of the General Assembly last year made:

• 574 donations totaling about $582,000 to party committees. For example, House Speaker Vance Wilkins, R-Amherst, gave more than $15,000 to the Republican Party.

• 655 donations totaling $455,000 to other General Assembly candidates. For instance, Delegate Franklin P. Hall of Richmond gave $55,487 to fellow Democrats, such as Ed Barber and Fenton Bland.

• 99 donations totaling $120,000 to statewide candidates. Delegate John Reid of Henrico County gave $10,000 to a fellow Republican, Jay Katzen, an unsuccessful candidate for lieutenant governor.

• 93 donations totaling $7,000 to local candidates, and 44 donations totaling more than $25,000 to federal candidates.

Critics say such contributions amount to a campaign-finance shell game that might violate the wishes of the original donors.

In 1999, for example, Sen. Warren E. Barry of Fairfax took more than $80,000 from his campaign fund and gave it to his son Stan, a candidate for sheriff of Fairfax County. This was despite the fact that the senator is a Republican -- and Stan Barry ran as a Democrat.

The younger Barry defeated the incumbent Republican sheriff in that race. Some Republicans criticized Sen. Barry for, in essence, aiding the enemy. "Suffice it to say, we certainly feel that a very large disservice was done to the Republican Party by Warren Barry," Joseph Underwood, chairman of the Fairfax County Republican Committee, said at the time.

That is why some organizations have concerns about candidate-to-candidate giving.

"There is no code of ethics or no laws addressing it," said Steve Calos, director of the Center for Open, Ethical and Accountable Government. Although the practice is legal, he said, it might be unethical for a politician to take donations from supporters and then give the money to other candidates.

Some legislators said they realize there is a potential problem. But they said it is not serious -- and that lawmakers use good judgment in doling out campaign contributions.

"I think that it could be questionable," said Sen. R. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath County, who last year tapped his campaign fund to make 32 political donations totaling more than $51,000. For example, he made four contributions totaling $15,500 to the Democrats’ Commonwealth Victory Fund, $10,000 to the Rough Mountain Leadership Political Action Committee and smaller donations to individual legislative candidates.

"It is up to each (legislator) to be ethical," Deeds said. "I think that if someone (donates) money to your campaign, then it is tough to turn around and donate it somewhere else."

However, Deeds said, the person giving the money trusts the politician to do the right thing. "The original donor obviously expresses trust in the candidate."

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