What can you buy for $100?

Here are five nice gifts:

—Two tickets to a VCU home basketball game, plus a Coke;

—Ten home games, more or less, of the Richmond Flying Squirrels baseball team;

—A round of golf, maybe, at a Richmond-area course;

—Lunch for six at Peter Chang China Café, consistently voted one of Richmond’s top restaurants; and,

—A few Timex watches.

The question is important now, as Virginia’s General Assembly ponders a recommendation to limit gifts to lawmakers to that amount.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe imposed the same rule upon himself and the rest of the state’s executive branch after taking office last year.

And the matter has had relevance in Virginia since Robert McDonnell became embroiled in a Giftgate scandal that has now resulted in a two-year sentence for the former governor. For a Rolex watch and much, much more swag, Bob and Maureen McDonnell were convicted of selling the influence of the governor’...