Tom Davis Donations Are Issue In Wife's State Senate Race

Attorneys for J. Chapman "Chap" Petersen, a Democratic candidate running for the Virginia Senate seat held by Jeannemarie Devolites Davis, wife of Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), are trying to force local TV stations to pull commercials being run by Mrs. Davis, arguing the congressman actually paid for the ads. Tom Davis' re-election campaign recently gave nearly $400,000 in in-kind contributions to his wife's campaign.

In a letter sent out Tuesday by Roy Baldwin, Petersen's lawyer, the Democrat's campaign charged that Rep. Davis' re-election campaign, Tom Davis for Congress, actually paid for the anti-Petersen ads his wife is currently running. Baldwin suggested this was a violation of federal campaign law, and he asked the stations to pull the ads unless Tom Davis, not Devolites Davis, appears in a required disclaimer at the end of the commercial stating as much.

"Moreover, the facts tend to show that the entity that actually paid for these advertisements - the Tom Davis for Congress campaign - has done so in violation of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002," Baldwin wrote.

Neither Tom Davis nor Devolites Davis could be reached for comment Tuesday night.

Virginia campaign finance records filed by Devolites Davis show Rep. Davis' campaign paid the GOP media firm of Stevens Reed Curcio & Potholm nearly $389,000 recently for ads run by Devolites Davis. There are no limits to the size of campaign contributions that Devolites Davis can accept under Virginia election law.

Tom Davis told Capitol Hill reporters the other day that his wife and Petersen will "spend more than $1 million each" on Tuesday's Virginia Senate election, a figure that he said was astounding "for a job that pays only $18,000 per year."

Politico is owned by Allbritton Communications, parent company of WJLA and NewsChannel 8 in Rosslyn, Va. Both stations have been running the Devolites Davis ads, and as of the close of business on Tuesday, they had not pulled or suspended the commercials in response to Baldwin's letter.