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ness. Gordon V. Smith, president of Miller and Smith development companies, and Glen Urquhart, president of Urquhart & Co..also top Coleman’s list of contributors.
Wilder, too, received developer's money. Bahman Bqtmangheiidj, president of a Fairfax County-based development company, contributed $111,600 to Wilder’s campaign. Armada/Hoffler Cos., of Chesapeake, another development company, gave $78,400 to Wilder, according to Virginia Business.
The large gifts lead one reporter to ask Coleman during a statewide televised debate, "What are Northern Virginia developers financing, and what does that say to groups that can’t afford your cover charge?”
In a more general sense, the question can be translated to read: How much influence will these big contributers have on Virginia's elected officials?
The question itself is cause for debate.
“Contributers have influence. It just makes sense," said Waddell. “Obviously the people who have contributed big money will have access [to the elected officials].”
“They’ll certainly get their [the officials] ear, and get their phone calls answered, but I don’t think they’ll have undo influence,” said Del. Raymond R. “Andy” Guest, R31st Dist., who dropped out of the gubernatorial race before the GOP primary.
“When the cash-o-rama drama ends Nov. 7, very few of Virginia’s fat cats will make it into the next governor’s inner circle,” surmised Michael P. Grim in Virginia Business.
For Common Cause Virginia, a political lobbying group committed to making government accountable to the people, the issue is not a new one.
“Either you have your own personal wealth or you have to sell yourself to political action committees,” said Julie Lapham, executive director of Common Cause. “That’s detrimental to Democracy.”
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