The G-man is sniffing at the Capitol

By: JEFF E. SCHAPIRO TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST | Times-Dispatch
Published: June 28, 2009

As head of the Virginia Association of Counties, a group that lobbies at the state Capitol for local government, Jim Campbell meets a lot of people.

One person he may not have expected to encounter: Jim Melia, a new member of the public-corruption squad of the FBI's Richmond office.

"He told me his boss told him to get to know lobbyists and probe a little bit," said Campbell, who met with Melia for about an hour June 9, primary day. "I hope he doesn't find anything."

Other than a friendly how-do-you-do in a voice that bares a trace of New England, Melia had nothing to say about his assignment.

That Melia is making the rounds -- he also visited the Virginia Public Access Project, an online watchdog of money in politics, and U.Va.'s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service -- is generating curious, nervous murmuring among lobbyists.

Their capacity for gossip and tendency to catastrophize can show up on a rich client's bill as services rendered.

But lobbyists tipped to Melia's movements suggest that his perambulations are pre-emptive and psychological.

Put another way: That as word of Melia's presence spreads, perhaps a bit of paranoia descends on the corps of lawyers, flacks and hacks who spent more than $20 million last year transforming the columned Capitol into a favor factory.

Ted Povar of the Cooper Center sat down this past Monday with Melia, who previously was posted to Chattanooga, Tenn.

"He wants to get a feel for state and local government," Povar said of Melia. "The culture of government here is very different from places I've been or he's been."

That may be an understatement.

Virginia fancies itself a good-government state. Bad behavior, as state law defines it, is indeed a rarity.

But that's also because the law says so little about so many questionable forms of conduct. Activities illegal elsewhere are legal here simply because the law is silent or sieved with loopholes.

Because of disclosure requirements -- never mind, they're lenient and rarely enforced -- elective officials tut-tut that Virginians have nothing to fear. Translated: Trust us; we're politicians.

But the nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity warns otherwise. On Thursday, the center issued grades on the transparency, or lack thereof, of legislators' financial-disclosure statements.

Virginia got an F and was ranked 31st among the 50 states. The center's complaints include -- and you've heard this before -- that lawmakers fail to identify clients they represent in court or before the government agencies they shape through the selection of judges, legislation and the budget.

With Virginians choosing a new governor and deciding control of the House of Delegates, what passes for reform suddenly is in vogue.

Candidates are, for example, vowing to force fuller disclosure by the lobbyists who finance their campaigns, feed and fete them and occasionally fix personal problems before they flower into political embarrassments.

That may not be unique to Virginia. What is, however, is the mannered wink, nod and whisper with which insiders work their will, certain no one notices.

Perhaps agent Melia already has.

Contact Jeff E. Schapiro at (804) 6496814 or jschapiro@timesdispatch.com. Watch his video column Thursdays on TimesDispatch.com. Listen to his analysis Fridays at 8:33 a.m. on WCVE (88.9 FM).