In order to disclose the trip, Kaine's staff figured it was worth $18,000. Besides the free lodging, Kaine self-funded the rest of the trip.
During 2003 and 2005, Kaine was given $5,500 worth of clothes from Stuart C. Siegel, the Virginia businessman behind S&K Famous Brands, a discount menswear chain that went belly up in 2009.
A majority of the gifts that Kaine reported were for travel to conferences or campaign events, Politico noted.
That trip to the Final Four was paid for by Dominion, a power company, which lobbies the state on energy policy.
Dominion gave Kaine $2,000 toward his 2006 trip to see George Mason University play in the late stage March Madness game.
According to Politico, Kaine rode on Dominion's private jet after missing his commercial flight to attend a state legislator's funeral.
Dominion's dollars also went toward travel so that Kaine could attend Democratic Governors Association and Southern Governors Association meetings.
Other travel-associated gifts including President Barack Obama's 2008 campaign giving Kaine $45,000 for airfare and lodging.
Moving Virginia Forward, Kaine's leadership committee, threw him $20,000 for travel expenses.
The Democratic Party of Virginia gave Kaine $11,000 toward travel.
Teva Pharmaceuticals gave Kaine $12,000 in August of 2006 so that he could attend a Democratic Governors Association meeting in Aspen.
The company later bought a facility in Virginia after lobbying the state government, Politico pointed out.
Sheila Johnson, the co-founder of BET, doled out $4,250 to Kaine for two dinners, travel to a charity benefit and a trip to Denver for the Democrat.
ADR Software CEO E. Scott Kasprowicz gave Kaine $3,000 to be put toward political travel and charity galas.
In the Democrat's case, unlike that of Republican Gov. McDonnell, there was no taint of quid pro quo with these gifts, his staffers and allies argue, though the high dollar amounts show to the greater American public the effects of an overly permissive ethics law.
Staff also pointed out that Kaine over-disclosed the gifts, reporting items that were beneath the dollar amount that the law calls for.
'During his eight years as lieutenant governor and governor, Sen. Kaine went beyond the requirements of Virginia law, even publicly disclosing gifts of value beneath the reporting threshold,' a spokesperson told Politico.
'He's confident that he met both the letter and the spirit of Virginia's ethical standards,' the spokesman said.
