State Alcoholic Beverage Control employees reported more than $50,000 in gifts and entertainment from 2008 to 2011, primarily to pay for conference trips but also including tickets to car races, comedy shows and a Washington Redskins game as well as “spa service.”

About 80 percent of the total amount covered travel reimbursements for conferences held by national alcohol regulatory associations, where agency leaders learn best practices, ABC said.

ABC employees also accepted nearly $7,000 in NASCAR tickets from whisky giant Crown Royal over a two-year period, according to state records. Tickets to races, industry events, comedy shows and dinners all were listed on statements of economic interest filed annually by about 525 ABC employees.

The freebies are a drop in the bucket compared to the $5 million the alcohol industry has poured into Virginia politics since 2010, according to Virginia Public Access Project data. But analysts and state legislators call the gifts a “gray area” in a political climate that is increasingly distrustful of outside influence.

“What’s the logic of that?” Del. David J. Toscano, D-Charlottesville, said, referring to the NASCAR tickets. “Is this related to their work?”

ABC said in a statement that the answer is yes.

“Sometimes supplier representatives visit the marketplace, and invite ABC personnel to join them for various events, sometimes including a NASCAR race,” the statement said. “Often these events involve formal sales presentations or a recap of current sales data, other times the occasion is geared toward networking. At the NASCAR races, ABC commissioners and employees are among state and local elected officials and community leaders.”

Agency leaders said there are no strings attached.

“[Crown Royal] has never asked for anything from us and we’ve never given them any special treatment,” said Sandra Canada, a commissioner on ABC’s governing board.

Agency policy prohibits employees and board members from accepting “gifts, gratuities, favors, or rewards for any services performed in connection with their state employment,” according to ABC’s Code of Ethics.

“The maintenance of high standards of honesty and conduct by Department employees and Board Members is essential to assure proper performance of Department business and to maintain the confidence of the citizens of the Commonwealth,” reads the five-page code. “That confidence also requires that Department employees and board Members avoid even the appearance of impropriety. Individual good judgment is essential in applying this policy.”

The race tickets were not connected with any ongoing ABC work, Canada said.

“At NASCAR, [Crown Royal has] a suite, and they’ve invited us,” she said. “It’s just a public relations, social event.”

Crown Royal’s London-based parent company, Diageo Plc, did not respond to an interview request.

Employees working in marketing, logistics, wholesale, retail, administration and senior leadership made use of about 60 NASCAR tickets in 2010 and 2011, records show.

“They are well within the law,” Toscano said. “Whether they should take those gifts is another thing altogether. How does it serve the agency’s, and … the public’s interest, to be out at NASCAR events wined and dined by an industry group?”

The question of whether state employees should accept gifts has received little attention, said Kyle Kondik, communications director at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics.

“There’s this kind of gray area where just because it’s legal doesn’t mean it’s OK,” Kondik said. “I think it’s reasonable for the public to read about the tickets and say, ‘That seems fishy.'”

Kondik said the cloud over Richmond surrounding gifts to Gov. Bob McDonnell and his family underscores the importance of exercising discretion in a position of public trust.

“I think it’s up to the general public to determine how they want employees at a state-run agency to behave,” Kondik said. “Whether donors get something in return is an open question, but to the public, the appearance of impropriety can be as corrosive as actual impropriety.”

ABC spokeswoman Rebecca Gettings said in a statement that establishing close relationships with industry partners benefits the agency and its customers.

“To best serve Virginia consumers and maintain the product mix that they desire, Virginia ABC must maintain close relationships with its suppliers, who have the market research assets, the national sales data, and a wealth of other information essential to successful retail sales,” she said.

Certain state employees are required to file disclosure forms with the state listing family members, outside sources of income and any gifts or reimbursements they received valued at higher than $50.

The majority of ABC employees did not report gifts or entertainment over the period The Daily Progress reviewed. Records for 2012 were not immediately accessible.

Canada and board Chairman J. Neal Insley have not reported receiving the dinners, comedy tickets or spa service enjoyed by former employees and past board members. Both have attended a NASCAR race and reported traveling to events sponsored by national organizations such as the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association, an Alexandria-based nonprofit group representing control states like Virginia. Insley is the group’s board chairman.

“These conferences are informative,” Canada said. “It’s not like it’s some big party. We’re going to symposiums and break-out sessions on regulatory matters.”

Gettings said memberships in groups such as the one chaired by Insley pay dividends. ABC pays the association $2,000 a year in dues, and the group awards member agencies $10,000 in annual education grants, she said.