A Democratic Party of Virginia spokesman said two staff members did nothing improper at a meeting last week in which Richmond mayoral candidate Dwight Clinton Jones picked up a key endorsement.

State Democratic Party spokesman Jared Leopold said today that Political Director Don Mark and Finance Director Lincoln Saunders attended the Richmond City Democratic Committee meeting as committee members and city residents, not as party staff.

"Under the party rules, we don't regulate what clubs people belong to," Leopold said. " . . . I would say there's no conflict of interest here."

Mayoral candidate William J. Pantele is accusing the state party staffers of improperly participating in Thursday's unscheduled vote to endorse Jones.

Craig Bieber, Pantele's campaign manager, sent a letter today to party Chairman C. Richard Cranwell, asking whether party rules allowed the staff members to take part in the vote. "It is deeply troubling that two of the party's paid staff members openly took sides on a local party vote to endorse a candidate in a non-partisan election where two of the candidates are active members of the Democratic Committee," Bieber said.

The Richmond City Democratic Committee was not scheduled to vote on an endorsement in the five-candidate race for mayor. That changed, however, with a motion from the floor for the committee to endorse Jones, a member of the House of Delegates. That vote prevailed easily, according to committee officials.

Paul Goldman, another candidate for mayor, has filed an appeal with party leaders, saying all committee members were not given notice that such a vote would be taken.

The committee's endorsement is important considering Richmond's strong Democratic leanings and Barack Obama's bid for the presidency. In his letter, Bieber asks whether the state party plans to list Jones on Democratic sample ballots in Richmond. Leopold said he did not know whether a decision on the sample ballots had been made.

-- Will Jones