Business group bucks tradition, backs Kilgore

The Virginia division of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) has endorsed Republican gubernatorial candidate Jerry W. Kilgore.

The state chapter of NFIB, a small-business advocacy group, never has endorsed candidates before, but officials with the group said it was necessary now because 90 percent of their members are supporting Mr. Kilgore.

Gordon Dixon, NFIB’s state director, said the differences between Mr. Kilgore and the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, Timothy M. Kaine, are “striking.”

“Jerry Kilgore has a remarkably strong track record of supporting small business, while his leading opponent causes much doubt and concern among our membership,” Mr. Dixon said.

Mr. Dixon said his group favors Mr. Kilgore, the former attorney general, for his support of eliminating the death tax and his opposition to the $1.38 billion tax increase passed by the General Assembly last year.

The endorsement comes from NFIB’s “Save America’s Free Enterprise Trust” political action committee.

Mr. Kaine, the lieutenant governor, supported the tax increase. His campaign countered the endorsement by saying that “Jerry Kilgore is bad for business” because of his opposition to the state budget that was funded by the tax increase.

That budget, Mr. Kaine said, preserved the state’s coveted AAA bond rating and made historic investments in education, public safety and health care.

The campaign also pointed to Mr. Kaine’s commission to come up with health insurance options for small businesses.

The kickoff

D.C. Council member Adrian M. Fenty will kick off his mayoral campaign in September.

Mr. Fenty, Ward 4 Democrat, said his campaign has planned several events for Sept. 10 in all of the city’s wards.

“The 10th is roughly one year before the primary, and it’s important that we get our message out to the residents as early as possible to let them know how serious I am about being the next mayor of the District of Columbia,” he said.

Meanwhile, former Verizon executive Marie Johns filed paperwork for her mayoral bid on Friday. She joins Mr. Fenty and council member Vincent B. Orange Sr., Ward 5 Democrat, as the only candidates who have announced their intentions.

Mayor Anthony A. Williams has not yet said whether he will seek a third term.

Other potential candidates: businessman Michael Brown; council Chairman Linda W. Cropp, at-large Democrat; and council member Marion Barry, Ward 8 Democrat and former four-term “mayor for life.”

By the numbers

Virginia independent gubernatorial candidate H. Russell Potts Jr. is trailing both his Republican and Democratic challengers in the fundraising race.

Mr. Potts, a Republican state senator from Winchester, reported to the state Board of Elections that he raised $37,251 during the period, June 2 to 30. His overall fundraising total is $462,282, and he had $135,396 cash on hand, as of June 30.

By contrast, Republican gubernatorial nominee Jerry W. Kilgore and Democratic nominee Timothy M. Kaine have amassed huge war chests.

During the same period, Mr. Kilgore raised $2.11 million, bringing his overall fundraising total to an estimated $10.8 million. The former state attorney general had $4.6 million cash on hand, as of June 30.

Mr. Kaine raised $1.03 million during that period, bringing his fundraising total to an estimated $11.1 million. The lieutenant governor had $5.1 million cash on hand, as of June 30.

With nearly $22 million in the coffers for the two major-party candidates, the gubernatorial race this year is on track to exceed the 2001 race in fundraising and spending.

The race between Democrat Mark Warner and former state Attorney General Mark L. Earley, a Republican, cost more than $30 million.

Pricey challenges

Most Republican incumbents in Virginia held off pricey last-minute offensives waged by ideological interest groups on behalf of some challengers in hard-fought House of Delegates primaries last month.

An Associated Press analysis of campaign-finance reports compiled into a database by the Virginia Public Access Project also shows that through June, incumbents of both parties held a cumulative 2-to-1 fundraising advantage over their challengers.

But during June, particularly the frenzied days leading up to the June 14 primary, the advantage for incumbents narrowed, particularly for Republicans.

Conservatives backed challengers to six Republican House incumbents who broke with the party’s anti-tax orthodoxy in 2004 and joined a nearly unanimous Democratic minority to pass a $1.4 billion package of tax increases.

Five of the six were re-elected, including House Finance Committee Chairman Harry Parrish, Prince William Republican, who won nearly 55 percent of the vote against an aggressive challenge from Steve Chapman.

Though Mr. Parrish enjoyed a 3-to-1 overall fundraising advantage, the challenger finished furiously, bringing in $42,480 in the final 13 days of his campaign, compared with $40,778 for Mr. Parrish. Slightly more than $31,000 of Mr. Chapman’s total came from the Virginia Conservative Action PAC, more than half of nearly $60,000 VCAP contributed to all House races in June.

The lone Republican incumbent to lose, Delegate Gary Alan Reese of Fairfax, was buried beneath a late surge of money to his challenger, Chris Craddock, who won with two-thirds of the vote. Mr. Reese netted only $20,000 in the final two weeks of the campaign, compared with almost $58,000 for Mr. Craddock, much of it from conservative or anti-tax groups.

Among Democrats, Delegate Floyd Miles had an enormous fundraising advantage over former Delegate A. Donald McEachin and barely lost, nevertheless. Mr. McEachin took in about $77,000 in his campaign to $112,000 for Mr. Miles.

Through June, the real estate and construction industries were the leading donors to House races this year, offering up nearly $1.6 million to all candidates and outpacing transfers of money among political parties, candidates and PACs, which donated $1.2 million. Health care groups and the law profession donated nearly the same amount.

So far, the majority of House contributions — $10.3 million — come from donors inside Virginia. Slightly more than $205,000 came from the District, a little more than $150,000 from New York state and about $126,000 from Maryland.

On second thought

Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. said last week that he will examine membership policies of private clubs when he schedules future fundraisers and would encourage an all-white country club where he held a recent event to integrate its membership.

The Republican governor, commenting during an appearance on a cable TV’s NewsChannel 8, said he agreed with Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, who said last week that the Elkridge Club in Baltimore should accept black members.

“Mike has also said, ’Look, we’re about opportunity. We’re about opening up opportunity.’ He would encourage the club obviously to welcome African-American members,” Mr. Ehrlich said. “That’s the same answer I had given. That’s quite obvious.”

“Clearly, we’ll look at it in the future,” he said. “It’s a good lesson.”

The club has declined to answer questions about its policies. Several members told the Baltimore Sun that, though blacks are welcome as guests and there is no policy banning blacks from membership, the club never has had a black member in its 127-year history.

Mr. Ehrlich’s campaign said he collected about $100,000 at a fundraiser last month at the club.

Keep it open

During the often-frantic last day or two of Maryland’s annual legislative sessions, committee chairmen sometimes call their members away from sessions of the House and Senate to take quick votes in the private lounges behind the two chambers.

Now the state Open Meetings Compliance Board has issued an opinion saying those unscheduled meetings violate the state law requiring government bodies to take votes in public.

The ruling was requested by the Annapolis Capital newspaper.

House Speaker Michael E. Busch said House chairmen no longer will take votes in areas closed to the public.

He said they either will move the impromptu sessions to another room on the main floor of the State House, or the public will be allowed into the lounge to watch the discussion and voting.

“We want to do everything we can to accommodate the press and the public to make sure the process is open to the citizens of Maryland,” said Mr. Busch, Anne Arundel County Democrat.

• Christina Bellantoni and Robert Redding Jr. contributed to this column, which is based in part on wire service reports.