It is a small world after all. Walt Disney Co. last week said it would build an amusement park in Prince William County, about. 30 miles from Washington, D.C., a coup that has mouths watering because of the park's expected boost to tourism.
The trouble is, senior Walt Disney executives supported Democrat Mary Sue Terry's bid to become the state's next governor. Campaign finance records on file at the Virginia Board of Elections show that Terry received $4,400 from Disney officials during 1993, including a $ 1,000 contribution from a Disney chairman, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and a $1,000 donation from Frank Wells, president of Disney Studios.
Terry lost the election to Republican George F. Allen, who received no contributions from Disney executives in 1993.
But it would be goofy for Allen to take it all too seriously. Disney projects that the year-round theme park will employ 1,000 people and attract 30,000 visitors a day after opening in 1998.
The boost to economic activity is something no state can afford to sneeze at and it will dwarf the political contributions Terry received.
