Lobbyists pick up the tab. Do they get anything in return?

By Kevin Crossett

Dinner from Merck Pharmaceuticals: $123. Washington Redskins tickets from Verizon: $396. Golf balls and tees from Philip Morris: $587. A hunting trip from Dominion Virginia Power: $1,723. The political influence engendered by such gifts to state legislators: priceless - perhaps.

Members of the General Assembly last year received gifts totaling about $118,000 from businesses, organizations and individuals. The gifts included:

The gifts often leave Virginia lawmakers with mixed emotions. Although the presents represent a nice benefit for service to the state, legislators must wrestle with the appearance that special interests are buying favors at the Capitol.

Before the session begins, each legislator must file a Statement of Economic Interests, disclosing income sources, stock holdings and gifts. Lawmakers must list all gifts of $50 or more received during the previous year.

Not all 140 legislators share in the bounty.

Ten legislators said they did not receive any gifts last year. Several others – like House Speaker Vance Wilkins, R-Amherst, and Sen. Emily Couric, D-Charlottesville – donated their gifts to charity.

Gifts tend to go to members of the party in power – and especially to lawmakers with clout. That trend is evident with Republicans in control of the Virginia Senate and the House of Delegates.

Republican legislators received an average of $1,120 in gifts while Democratic lawmakers got an average of $533. Delegate Lacey Putney, the only independent in the Legislature, received gifts totaling $162.

"In the last few years, the Republicans became the majority party," said Hyland F. Fowler, research director for the Joint Republican Caucus. "When we were the minority, our friends across the aisle did a little better (with gifts)."

The counterweight to receiving such donations, he said, is full disclosure: Under Virginia law, legislators may accept unlimited gifts and campaign contributions – as long as they report this information on forms open to the public. Fowler said he had never heard of lawmakers voting a certain way because of the money or gifts they had received.

But government watchdog groups say expensive gifts, like big campaign donations, are meant to curry favor with legislators. "For people to suggest that that doesn’t influence their vote is an insult to our intelligence," said Connie Houston, president of the League of Women Voters of Virginia.

Proponents of campaign finance reform say that at the very least, gifts open legislative doors: Special interests are buying access to lawmakers, hoping to bend their ear on key issues at critical moments.

But Houston said that view on gifts may be too charitable toward legislators. "We would go a step further and say that it influences their vote."

Not so, said Mike Salster, former director of communications for the Republican Party of Virginia. He said people have to take legislators at their word.

"Shedding the light on things is an amazing cure-all," he said. "And Virginia’s had the light on for a long time."

As communications director, he said, "I’m in the business of raising dollars and getting people elected, but I also consider myself an honest person." He said he believes the men and women at the Capitol are an honest group working for the people of Virginia.

"People give legislators gifts everyday," he said. "I don’t think that’s been abused or even a problem."

However, Houston said there often is a connection between legislators’ positions and the contributions they receive. If people understood that connection, she said, they would be clamoring for campaign finance reform. Such an outcry, Houston said, might help solve some of the state’s legislative problems.

Also see Kevin Crossett's story on campaign finance