Lawmakers Take in Private Gifts, Trips

(ASSOCIATED PRESS, 02/11/2010)

By Bob Lewis - AP Staff Writer

Legislators reported receiving $144,000 in gifts and perks last year, not counting more than $106,000 in state-funded trips to conferences.

But hard times may be taking their toll.

The value of gifts, air travel, hunting expeditions, sports junkets, wining-and-dining and nights at the theater given to lawmakers was down by nearly one-fourth from one year before.

The most swag came from the state's dominant electrical utility, Dominion. The $11,735 it lavished on legislators was 2½ times greater than the second-largest giver, Altria, parent of tobacco giant Philip Morris.

The data came from legislators' reports compiled by the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonprofit tracker of money in Virginia politics.