By Jennifer Lawhorne

[List of gifts from Paramount's Kings Dominion to legislators]

Virginia lawmakers were flying high with Paramount’s Kings Dominion last year after the amusement park, located in Doswell, contributed more than $3,000 worth of free admission to legislators.

Mark Riddell, Kings Dominion’s public relations manager, said the park offers the free tickets as a service to its contacts, including local businessmen.

Twelve legislators received free tickets, with values ranging from $74 (two tickets for Delegate Robert Marshall, R-Manassas) to $550 (an undisclosed number of tickets for Delegate Frank Hargrove Sr., R-Glen Allen). The theme park is in Hargrove’s district.

Legislators who were interviewed said they received letters from the amusement park asking if they wanted free tickets.

Many of them saw the offer as a free vacation for their families.

"I just wanted to take my kids on a trip," said Delegate Kirkland Cox, R-Colonial Heights. He has four children and received $258.93 in free tickets.

The gifts raise some suspicion because of the so-called Kings Dominion law, which keeps Virginia public schools closed until after Labor Day.

During the past session, a bill was filed to strike down the law and let local school systems start classes earlier if they wish. The House Education Committee killed the bill, HB 1564, on a 16-7 vote.

Two committee members had received tickets last from from Kings Dominion: Delegates Paul Harris, R-Charlottesville, and Jay O’Brien, R-Clifton. They both voted to kill the bill. Harris got $216 in tickets from Kings Dominion and O’Brien received $500 in tickets.

Tourism businesses have successfully fought such legislation for several years. They oppose the change because they want to keep their base of teen-age employees working until after the amusement parks and other attractions close on Labor Day, critics have charged.

Riddell said the park has nothing to do with the Labor Day law. "We are not tied to that piece of legislation," he said.

Several legislators who received Kings Dominion tickets said they considered them a perk but not a conflict of interest. They said they would support changing the current law and letting schools open before Labor Day.

Cox, a schoolteacher, said he was opposed the House Education Committee’s decision to kill HB 1564.

"I believe you have to base that decision on what is educationally sound, not what is for industry," he said. He noted that schools are under pressure to have their students do well on the state’s Standards of Learning tests.

"With SOL’s, we need to be flexible and open earlier," Cox said.

Delegate Kenneth Plum, D-Reston, said he also believes local school boards should decide when class should open.

Plum received $140 in free tickets so he could take his grandchildren to Kings Dominion. He said the gift would not influence how he stands on political issues. "People assume there’s a relationship between a gift and a vote," he said.

Delegate Earl Dickinson, D-Mineral, received more than $200 in tickets from Kings Dominion. He saw the gift as a chance to send some of his nine grandchildren to the theme park.

But Dickinson said he believed local school boards should be in charge of their opening and closing dates.

Sen. Bill Mims, R- Leesburg, who received $148 in tickets from Kings Dominion, said he has always opposed the law that prohibits schools from opening before Labor Day.

"I’m doing what my constituents tell me," he said. "I agree with my school board that they wish to open before Labor Day."

Kings Dominion was not the only Virginia theme park that gave tickets to legislators last year. Busch Gardens in Williamsburg gave $180 in tickets to Sen. Emmett W. Hanger Jr., R-Mount Solon, and $105 in tickets to Delegate Jeannemarie Devolites, R-Vienna.