Harry Reid Took Free Boxing Tickets

Well this certainly doesn’t look very good for the Senate leader of a party looking to castigate their political opponents for a “culture of corruption” this next election cycle.

WASHINGTON – Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, who has criticized Republican ethics, accepted free ringside tickets to three professional boxing matches from Nevada officials who were trying to influence his federal legislation regulating the sport.
Reid, D-Nev., took the free seats for Las Vegas fights between 2003 and 2005 from the Nevada Athletic Commission as he pressed legislation to increase federal oversight of boxing, including the creation of a government commission.
Reid defended the gifts, saying they would never influence his position on the boxing bill and that he was simply trying to learn how his legislation might affect an important home state industry. “Anyone from Nevada would say I’m glad he is there taking care of the state’s No. 1 businesses,” he told The Associated Press.
“I love the fights anyways, so it wasn’t like being punished,” added the senator, a former boxer and boxing judge.
At a news conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday, Reid said he would continue to accept free tickets. “I’m going to go whenever I have the opportunity,” he said.

To be perfectly honest with you, I’m not especially worked up about this. When politicians, up to and including the President, are invited to a sporting event (like, say, a baseball game where they’re throwing out the first pitch) do they buy their own tickets or are they there as guests of the venue/team owners? I’m guessing that most of them get in the door free, and I’m not sure that it is all that big of a deal.
Plus, the Senate ethics rules are a little blurry as to whether or not this is explicitly against the rules.
From the same article:

Senate ethics rules generally allow lawmakers to accept gifts from federal, state or local governments, but specifically warn against taking such gifts — particularly on multiple occasions — when they might be connected to efforts to influence official actions.
“Senators and Senate staff should be wary of accepting any gift where it appears that the gift is motivated by a desire to reward, influence or elicit favorable official action,” the Senate ethics manual states. It cites the 1990s example of an Oregon lawmaker who took gifts for personal use from a South Carolina state university and its president while that school was trying to influence his official actions.
“Repeatedly taking gifts which the Gifts Rule otherwise permits to be accepted may, nonetheless, reflect discredit upon the institution, and should be avoided,” the manual says.
Several ethics experts said Reid should have paid for the tickets, which were close to the ring and worth between several hundred and several thousand dollars each, to avoid the appearance he was being influenced by gifts.
Two senators who joined Reid for fights with the complimentary tickets took markedly differently steps.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., insisted on paying $1,400 for his ticket when he joined Reid for a 2004 championship fight. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., accepted free tickets to another fight with Reid but already had abstained from taking any votes or actions on the boxing bill because his father was an executive for a Las Vegas hotel that hosts fights.

If Reid were my Senator I wouldn’t have much of a problem with this. If we were talking about cash contributions I might feel a bit differently, but we’re not.