[Stanley C. Walker's career at a glance] [Resolution passed by 2001 General Assembly honoring Sen. Walker]

By Sharon Ramos

Voters don’t like it when they think government officials have used campaign money for personal instead of political purposes. Norfolk voters proved that in 1999 by ousting longtime Sen. Stanley C. Walker and replacing him with a political unknown, Nick Rerras.

Walker, a Democrat who died last year, was the longest-serving member of the General Assembly and the Senate’s president pro tem at the time. Rerras, a 42-year-old Republican, won the race by more than 3,500 votes.

"It was time for a change," Rerras said in a recent interview.

It was an ignominious ending to an illustrious political career for Walker, who had championed education. Political experts say Walker brought about his own downfall: He had become a poster child for perceived abuses of the rules governing political expenditures.

In early 1999, newspapers reported that Walker had used campaign contributions to lease his Mercedes and to hire his own company, Stanley C. Walker and Associates Inc., for consulting services. The senator also had neglected to pay all of his business taxes.

That is why many voters turned against Walker and voted for Rerras, an advocate of campaign finance reform.

"It’s pretty obvious, in my perspective, that Walker lost that race more than Rerras won it," said Stephen K. Medvic, an assistant professor of political science at Old Dominion University in Norfolk.

Walker defended his campaign fund expenditures as lawful reimbursements for routine expenses such as fund raisers, meals and computer services.

"I have an auditor and a finance committee, and they find nothing wrong with it," Walker said soon after the reports came out. "None were for personal purposes, and they’ve always been accepted by the Board of Elections."

Walker considered the 1999 election his most contentious campaign in his nearly 36 years in state politics.

In radio commercials and at candidate forums, Rerras raised questions about Walker’s ethics. Virginia Democrats found themselves spending tens of thousands of dollars to defend Walker’s seat.

Democrats saw the importance of keeping Walker in office because he co-chaired the powerful Senate Finance Committee.

Rerras once said he wasn’t challenging the legality of Walker’s political expenditures. Rather, he said, the expenditures demonstrate the need to plug loopholes in Virginia’s campaign finance laws.

Walker spent twice as much money on the race as Rerras did. But Rerra’s grass-roots, door-to-door campaign got a boost from people like Norfolk City Councilman W. Randy Wright, once a ticket mate and supporter of Walker.

Medvic recalled that local newspapers ran front-page stories about Walker’s campaign finance spending, and these articles were devastating to the incumbent.

"Rerras capitalized on [Walker’s mistakes]. It was a golden opportunity for him -- not that he didn’t work hard in other areas of the election," Medvic said. "But Walker’s use of campaign funds was the main source of Rerras’ victory."

Almost lost in the controversy was a critical fact: Walker had done nothing illegal. Steve Calos, then executive director of Common Cause of Virginia, acknowledged this in a news story at the time.

"As with all our campaign finance laws, everything goes in Virginia, and this is a case in point," Calos said.

Medvic agreed that Walker hadn’t broken any laws. "He has done things that seem questionable to the public. Clearly, his ethics is legal but it’s not right."

The 1999 election was Rerras’ second bid for the Senate seat. In 1995, he won 45 percent of the vote against Walker. In both races, Rerras ran on issues that helped bring Walker to state office decades earlier: education and public safety.

Pam Santacruz, a homemaker in Virginia Beach, said she supported Rerras because of his stand on such issues. She was not aware of Walker’s ethical troubles.

"I supported Rerras because he represented the Republican platform. They stand for less government, pro-life and education," Santacruz said.

But to other voters, questions about Walker’s integrity were an issue. So was his age: Walker was 76 when he lost to Rerras.

As the Nov. 2, 1999, election approached, Walker became increasingly hindered by reports about his use of perks and campaign funds. He explained his four-year failure to pay a business licensing tax, totaling $460, as an unfortunate oversight.

The senator said it had always been his practice to pay some political expenses from his own pocket and reimburse himself later. And he said 90 percent of his consulting company’s work was related to his Senate seat.

Walker was elected to the House of Delegates in 1963 and then to the Senate eight years later. As a legislator, his primary issue was expanding funding for public schools, colleges and teacher salaries.

He authored laws that required mandatory background checks on all child day-care employees, put sprinklers in all nursing homes and secured dignity in legal proceedings for victims of sexual assaults.

Walker died on Jan. 16, 2001, just a little more than a year after he was forcibly retired from the General Assembly.

Walker’s distinguished political career is still appreciated by his supporters, former colleagues and even his opponents.

"I respected him," Rerras said.

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