Gov. Bob McDonnell reports $99K in gifts, travel

RICHMOND

Passes to sporting events, performance-art exhibits and airline trips are some of the nearly $99,100 in gifts and travel costs Gov. Bob McDonnell reported receiving last year.

Almost half – nearly $43,600 – was paid for by taxpayers, according to an analysis by the Virginia Public Access Project.

Much of those costs are from domestic and international marketing trips McDonnell took as part of his efforts to improve the state's economy, said Tucker Martin, a spokesman for the governor.

The trips - to countries such as India, Israel and China - led to the creation of more than 1,800 jobs, $21 million in capital investment and $75 million in agricultural exports, Martin said.

Other gifts to McDonnell took the form of trinkets, event tickets and travel often provided by various business interests, VPAP reported.

Among the items he received was a $665 outfit from J.Crew and a $4,000 pair of night vision goggles later given to Virginia State Police.

He also got more than $14,500 worth of travel, tickets and lodging from various donors for events at the University of Notre Dame, his alma mater.

Another $3,000 was the reported value of an event he attended at the upscale Barboursville Winery north of Charlottesville.

McDonnell's 2011 haul is slightly greater than the $90,100 then-Gov. Timothy M. Kaine reported in 2008, when Kaine's taxpayer-backed travel was about $18,200. Administration officials say the comparison isn't entirely apt because McDonnell's reporting is more comprehensive than Kaine's.

McDonnell's 2011 gift intake, by value, was nearly four times what he reported the previous year, according to VPAP.

A nonpartisan tracker of money in state politics, VPAP also tallied the gifts reported by Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling ($15,419) and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli ($35,290), and reviewed economic disclosure statements from the three statewide office holders.

Julian Walker, 804-697-1564, julian.walker@pilotonline.com