Enjoying the perks of office

Virginia lawmakers raked in $167,000 in gifts last year from lobbyists and others seeking to influence the legislative process.

State law requires disclosure of these gifts, but it sets no limits on them. Virginia needs tougher standards. It’s time for the lavish spending to stop.

The present situation creates an uneven playing field. Lobbyists and other power brokers use gifts, like fancy dinners in Richmond’s finest restaurants or tickets to professional football games, to buy access to lawmakers. Average state residents have far less clout.

Payday lenders, who want to avoid stiffer rules for their industry, paid more than $6,000 to send two lawmakers to the 2007 Masters in Augusta, Ga. The Virginia Sheriff’s Association, meanwhile, was the most generous giver – spending more than $16,000, most of it on three hunting trips.

Dominion Resources, parent company of Dominion Power, spent more than $11,000 on gifts to 43 state senators and delegates, according to the nonprofit Virginia Public Access Project. Sen. Ken Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, recieved the biggest gift – a hunting trip worth more than $1,000.

Dominion paid for 17 lawmakers to attend Washington Redskins games. Two other lawmakers attended NASCAR races at Richmond International Raceway on Dominion’s dime.

But that’s not all; the company also paid for 30 dinners at fancy restaurants, sent one lawmaker to a show and another to a concert, sent flowers to one legislator and paid for air travel for several others.

It’s as if Dominion has a menu of gift options from which lawmakers can make their selections. Don’t like football? How about flowers?

The company, which is Virginia’s biggest power producer, isn’t spreading around all this cash just to be nice. Dominion expects something in return; it expects favorable treatment on matters pending before the General Assembly.

It received just such favorable treatment last year, when lawmakers passed an electric utility reregulation bill that Dominion not only blessed, but helped craft in secret meetings with the state attorney general’s staff.

Dominion is now fighting hard to build a coal-fired power plant in Wise County. The legislature blessed the project several years ago, and many lawmakers have remained vocal advocates for it, even as those who would suffer the health and environmental effects of the plant have expressed doubts.

None of the region’s lawmakers received gifts from Dominion last year, but several received campaign contributions – another option on the influence-peddling menu.

Delegate Terry Kilgore, R-Gate City, was the only regional lawmaker to crack the gift recipients top 10 list. He reported $5,062 in gifts, including a $1,800 trip to a legislative conference in Philadelphia paid for by state taxpayers. Lawmakers reported $96,000 in taxpayer-funded travel in addition to the lobbyist-provided swag.

Kilgore also reported a $1,500 trip to Las Vegas where he was a speaker at a cable industry conference and a $1,358 trip to speak at the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association conference.

Sen. William Wampler, R-Bristol, reported $1,580 in gifts; Delegate Dan Bowling, D-Tazewell, reported $1,042 in gifts; Sen. Phillip Puckett, D-Lebanon, reported $508 in gifts; and Delegate Joe Johnson, D-Abingdon, reported slightly more than $1,300 in gifts and state-paid travel.

Two local lawmakers, Delegate Bud Phillips, D-Sandy Ridge, and Delegate Bill Carrico, R-Independence, reported no gifts last year.

Perhaps they, like Delegate William Fralin, R-Roanoke, have decided to steer clear of such gifts to avoid even the appearance that they serve the interests of someone other than the voters.

"Politicians have enough problems with perceptions," Fralin told The Roanoke Times. "I’m not trying to be holier than thou. I just don’t think it’s a good idea."

Stung by scandal, both the U.S. Congress and the Tennessee legislature have restricted gift-giving by lobbyists. It shouldn’t take a scandal for Virginia to clean its house.

Virginia lawmakers give the appearance that they are trying to serve two masters, but such a feat isn’t possible. Put the people first; quit accepting gifts from those who want something in return.