Prosecutor Among Officials Who Erred In Disclosure Forms

BRISTOL, Va. – Some elected city leaders have substantial property holdings, but one – Commonwealth’s Attorney Jerry Wolfe – failed to list on state-mandated financial disclosure forms one of the two homes he owns.

Those and other facts came to light during the Bristol Herald Courier’s recent review of the statement of economic interest forms that must be filed each year by constitutional officers, the city manager, members of the City Council, Planning Commission, Board of Zoning Appeals and School Board.

Wolfe is an attorney, former council member and former mayor who is completing his first four-year term as the city’s top prosecutor. However, in two places on the seven pages of state disclosure forms he filed, Wolfe failed to follow the letter of the law.

On the fourth page, under the financial interests heading, Wolfe lists his residence on Cross Street. On the next question, which asks for “other real estate,” he lists “none.”

A supplemental disclosure of real estate holdings form lists only the Cross Street property.

However, a search of the Virginia Mass Appraisal Network – or VamaNet – online property records show Wolfe also is the only listed owner of a 1,200-square-foot house on Douglas Street in Bristol, Va.

“That actually is my parents’ home,” Wolfe said in a phone interview. “I guess technically I own it, but they put it in my name several years ago for estate planning purposes. It’s basically their home.”

Wolfe said his mother pays the taxes and insurance on the Douglas Street house.

The Cross Street home is assessed at $49,500 and the Douglas Street home at $70,700.

Asked whether he has ever claimed the home on past Virginia statement of economic interest forms, Wolfe said he hasn’t.

“I never have [listed it] and I never have asked whether it needs to be listed or not,” Wolfe said.

Older forms

Like most City Council members and constitutional officers, Wolfe this year filled out an outdated 2006 version of the disclosure form. Under current Virginia law, officials are no longer required to declare a homestead, but they are required to disclose any additional real estate holdings.

City Clerk Steve Allen said he was unaware the forms were incorrect, but confirmed it is his office that downloads the forms each year and mails them to all city officials who are required to file.

All five Bristol Virginia School Board members filed the proper 2008 forms, which were supplied by School Board Clerk and Director of Finance Tammy Jones.

With the exception of the School Board and Councilman Jim Heaney – who filed the correct 2008 forms – all city officials used older forms and listed their declared homesteads.

Heaney said he wasn’t sure why he filed the 2008 form, but thinks he got his copy from General Registrar Penny Limburg.

All forms filed by other city officials matched the property records shown on the VAMANet site, which is not an official state record.

Property owners

In terms of property holdings, Circuit Court Clerk Terry Rohr owns whole or partial interest in five parcels in the city and in Washington County, Va.

Rohr has half interest in a city condominium on Heritage Drive, assessed at $81,400, and owns a home, assessed at $134,900, on Sinking Creek Road in Washington County, Va.

In addition, Rohr and her two brothers have one-third equal interest in farmland totaling about 190 acres on Sinking Creek Road. She also shares interest with brothers and cousins on two separate parcels of open land, totaling about 45 acres, on High Point Road. The total combined value is more than $805,000.

“This all stems from family farms on both sides and it’s all inherited, except for my townhouse, which I bought,” Rohr said.

Virginia Goodson, who was recently selected chairwoman of the city School Board, reported business income from multiple sources. In addition to working at her husband’s auto repair business, Goodson reported income from five farms in Pittsylvania County. Located near Ringgold, Chatham and Blairs, Va., each farm has a gross income ranging from $50,001 to $250,000.

Goodson is listed as a partial owner of all five properties, along with her two sisters. They inherited the land when their father died, Goodson said.

“We lease the tobacco and pasture land and I go up there about once a month,” she said. “The land and trees look like a better investment than the stock market.”

In addition to homes on Spyglass Court, valued at $328,600, and Westfield Street, $65,800, city Treasurer Wilma Gill and her husband own the Lee Highway location of her husband’s auto parts business.

Gill reported that the home on Spyglass, at the Clear Creek Golf Course, is the couple’s current residence and the Westfield Street home was their former home.

Race tickets

On the disclosure forms, officials also are required to report any and all gifts at a single event valued at more than $50 or total gifts that exceeded $100 in value.

Four of five City Council members reported receiving tickets to luxury suites at NASCAR races at Bristol Motor Speedway. The fifth, Jim Heaney, said he did receive a ticket, and did attend the August Food City 250 Nationwide Series race, but he didn’t list the gift on his form.

“I did go to that [event], but I was told the ticket for one person was under the limit. That was why it was not disclosed,” Heaney said when asked about the ticket.

Kevin Triplett, the speedway’s vice president of public affairs, said the tickets are not sold to anyone and don’t have any assigned value.

“We invited all sorts of political figures and decision-makers – city, county, state and federal – to our suite for events,” Triplett said. “And typically we do give tickets for the Nationwide races to Bristol Virginia City Council. While we’re not in Virginia, they’re an integral part of what we do.”

Mayor Jim Rector, Vice Mayor Ernie Sprouse and Councilman Fred Bowman each reported receiving two suite tickets to NASCAR Nationwide Series races at Bristol Motor Speedway in both March and August 2008. In each case, the combined value of the tickets was listed as $250, or $125 a ticket, per race.

Councilman Guy Odum received two suite tickets, valued at $250, to the Food City 250 race at Bristol Motor Speedway, the only 2008 race when he was in office.

“I can see where it could be interpreted either way,” Triplett said. “Our suite is by invitation only and we don’t charge anyone to come there.

Other income

Officials also are required to list sources of income outside the realm of their jobs.

Besides his duties as the city’s top prosecutor, Wolfe listed supplemental income as an adjunct professor at both Virginia Intermont College in Bristol, Va., and King College in Bristol, Tenn.

Because the two sources don’t total more than $10,000 annually, the forms don’t include specific information about his compensation.

Wolfe isn’t the city’s only constitutional officer with an additional source of income.

Commissioner of Revenue Terry Frye received $8,400 for his role as part owner and independent contractor of American Member Benefits, a Bristol, Va.-based insurance firm.

“I don’t do any insurance sales,” Frye said. “I prepare some documents and contracts. It’s a very part-time thing.”

That firm also did business with the State Corporation Commission. Frye said he sometimes files paperwork on behalf of agents who work there.

Frye also reported owning American Member Benefits stock valued at between $10,000 and $50,000.

In addition, Frye reported a one-share ownership interest in Tri-Cities Sports, LLC, based in Blountville, Tenn. The business produces a Web site and newspaper that covers sporting events in the Tri-Cities area.

Frye also sits on the Tri-Cities Sports board of directors, primarily to offer legal advice.

Sheriff Jack Weisenburger reported receiving $2,000 reimbursement for his travel expenses to attend a national meeting of executive directors and presidents of state sheriff’s associations and institutes. In 2008, Weisenburger was president of the Virginia Sheriff’s Institute and that organization repaid his expenses.

Property holdings

Among the property holdings of city officials:
* Mayor Rector owns a residence on Mayfield Lane, valued at $169,800, and shares ownership of a home in the Hassan Heights subdivision, valued at $99,200, that is occupied by his mother. He also has an interest in a house and land in Saltville, Va., owned by his wife and her family.
* Vice Mayor Sprouse and his wife own a home on Pineview Drive valued at $91,500.
* Councilman Bowman and his wife reported owning a home on Osborne Street, $67,200, which is financed through a bank.
* Councilman Heaney reported owning a home on Hilltop Drive, valued at $82,300, and 23.2 acres of vacant pasture and mountain land on Mary Chapel Road in Washington County, Va., appraised at $82,400.
* Councilman Odum and his wife reported owning a home on Old Airport Road, $102,300, a lot in the Virginia Hills subdivision at the corner of Airport Road, $22,500.
In addition, Odum’s wife is listed as the owner of a nearly five-acre tract of open land in Washington County, Va., appraised at $19,800.
* Sheriff Weisenburger and his wife own a home on Bellehaven Drive, $101,100.
* School Board Chairman Goodson and her husband own a home on Heritage Drive valued at $114,900.
* School Board Vice Chairman Randy White owns a home on Woodland Drive, $59,300, and a condominium on Euclid Avenue, $50,300.
* School Board member Ronald Cameron owns a home on Ashley Drive valued at $114,900.
* School Board member Eric Clark and his wife own a home on West Valley Drive, $179,000.
* School Board member Tyrone Foster and his wife own a home on Osborne Street, valued at $93,000, and a timeshare in Daytona Beach, Fla.

dmcgee@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2532