Gov. Gilmore received $55,500 in gifts last year

By Jessica Brown

Patricia Cornwell, author of mystery books such as "Postmortem" and "Body of Evidence," gave him gifts valued at $5,627. Willow Oaks Country Club chipped in gifts worth $21,240 – presumably a membership.

Cornwell and Willow Oaks accounted for about half of the $55,500 in gifts that Gov. Jim Gilmore received last year.

Gilmore’s Statement of Economic Interests, filed with the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Office, lists 15 pages of gifts – 337 gifts in all. Although required to report gifts of only $50 or more, the governor listed gifts as small as a $3 present from an Annandale woman.

The list included gifts worth $6,200 from Virginia Beach developer Eddie Garcia and his wife, Sandy; $4,786 from Sharon Beasley of Richmond; $888 from the Capitol Club; and $720 from the Downtown Club. (Unlike state legislators and other officials, Gilmore did not describe the gifts he received.)

Among pages of interesting gifts are those from Richmond International Raceway ($600); A&E Television ($350); Egypt Air ($250); the Arab Republic of Egypt and its president, Hosni Mubarak ($220); Philip Morris Cos. ($220); Joe’s Trees ($200); E-Toys ($60); the Cigar Association ($60); and E*Trade ($15).

Gilmore received 240 gifts worth less than $50. They included gifts from many organizations, such as the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce, Jamestown 2007, the March of Dimes, the Science Museum of Virginia, the Virginia Symphony, the Children’s Museum, the Elizabeth River Project and the Virginia Museum of Natural History.

The governor also got gifts from educational institutions such as the University of Virginia ($345);George Mason University ($195), Old Dominion University ($25); Radford University ($12); and Norfolk Public Schools ($10).

The governor easily outdistanced the state’s other top elected officials in gift receipts:

Lt. Gov. John Hager accepted 20 gifts totaling $9,218. His top benefactor was Richmond Honda, which provided four plane trips worth $3,850 so Hager could attend a wedding, two funerals and a 4-H Club dedication. Philip Morris gave Hager $2,186 in gifts, including $643 in NASCAR tickets and a $1,466 trip to New York.

Hager also received tickets to a variety of other events: to a Washington Redskins game, courtesy of CSX Railroad and Dominion Resources; to a University of Virginia game; to the Strawberry Hill Races; and to Bristol Motor Speedway. Feld Entertainment in Vienna gave Hager’s office 15 circus tickets valued at $300.

Hager also received a $155 gift certificate from the Virginia Wine of the Month Club.

Attorney General Mark Earley received four gifts totaling $900. His biggest gift was $500 in vitamin supplements from Advocare, a Dallas company that claims to "make champions" of those who sell and use its nutritional products.

Earley also received a $77 holiday gift box from Philip Morris; a $123 dinner courtesy of Washington Gas; and a $200 gift certificate from the Virginia Wine of the Month Club.