$18,000 vacation puts Kaine atop gift recipients list

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RICHMOND -- Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, a Democrat, accepted an $18,000 Caribbean vacation last year, putting him atop the list of Virginia elected officials who in 2005 accepted nearly $315,000 in gifts, trips, concert tickets and other gratuities from corporations, interest groups and wealthy persons.

The newly elected governor's winter getaway on Mustique -- a private island playground for rock stars and royalty -- was paid for by Albemarle County investor James B. Murray Jr.

Many of the trips were business related, but a Kaine spokesman said the governor's 10-day stay at Mr. Murray's vacation home was all about rest and relaxation.

Mr. Kaine "saw this as a unique opportunity to get away with his wife and three children after a year of campaigning and on the eve of four years in the spotlight," said Kevin Hall, an administration press secretary.

Mr. Murray became wealthy by investing in the cellular telephone industry in the 1980s with his longtime friend and Kaine predecessor, Mark Warner, a Democrat.

The trips and gifts are neither illegal nor unusual for Virginia elected officials.

However, ordinary constituents lose faith in government when they see their elected representatives accepting lavish gifts from people and organizations with money, said Leah Rush of the nonprofit Center for Public Integrity in the District

"Especially when it's a blatantly fun thing, it alters the public trust in government that they're doing the work they were hired to do," she said.

About half of the states impose limits on gifts to legislators, but Virginia and the rest of them "pretty much allow anything," Mrs. Rush said.

However, Virginia requires legislators to report the gifts, compared to numerous other states that leave the reporting to lobbyists.