Senate Leader Took Free Boxing Tickets
May 29 2:16 PM US/Eastern
By JOHN SOLOMON
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid accepted free ringside tickets
from the Nevada Athletic Commission to three professional boxing
matches while that state agency was trying to influence him on federal
regulation of boxing.

Reid, D-Nev., took the free seats for Las Vegas fights between 2003
and 2005 as he was pressing legislation to increase government
oversight of the sport, including the creation of a federal boxing
commission that Nevada's agency feared might usurp its authority.

He defended the gifts, saying they would never influence his position
on the bill and 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.

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 states.

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 the tickets
he shared with Reid for a 2004 championship fight. Sen. John Ensign,
R-Nev., accepted free tickets to another fight with Reid but already
had recused himself from Reid's federal boxing legislation because his
father was an executive for a Las Vegas hotel that hosts fights.

In an interview Thursday in his Capitol office, Reid broadly defended
his decisions to accept the tickets and to take several actions
benefiting disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff's clients and partners as
they donated to him.

"I'm not Goodie two shoes. I just feel these events are nothing I did
wrong," Reid said.

Reid had separate meetings in June 2003 in his Senate offices with two
Abramoff tribal clients and Edward Ayoob, a former staffer who went to
work lobbying with Abramoff.

The meetings occurred over a five-day span in which Ayoob also threw a
fundraiser for Reid at the firm where Ayoob and Abramoff worked that
netted numerous donations from Abramoff's partners, firm and clients.

Reid said he viewed the two official meetings and the fundraiser as a
single event. "I think it all was one, the way I look at it," he said.

One of the tribes, the Saginaw Chippewa of Michigan, donated $9,000 to
Reid at the fundraiser and the next morning met briefly with Reid and
Ayoob at Reid's office to discuss federal programs. Reid and the
tribal chairman posed for a picture.

Five days earlier, Reid met with Ayoob and the Sac & Fox tribe of Iowa
for about 15 minutes to discuss at least two legislative requests.
Reid's office said the senator never acted on those requests.

A few months after the fundraiser, Reid did sponsor a spending bill
that targeted $100,000 to another Abramoff tribe, the Chitimacha of
Louisiana, to pay for a soil erosion study Ayoob was lobbying for.
Reid said he sponsored the provision because Louisiana lawmakers sent
him a letter requesting it.

Abramoff, a Republican lobbyist, has pleaded guilty in a widespread
corruption probe of Capitol Hill. Reid used that conviction earlier
this year to accuse Republicans of fostering a culture of corruption
inside Congress.

AP recently reported that Reid also wrote at least four letters
favorable to Abramoff's tribal clients around the time Reid collected
donations from those clients and Abramoff's partners. Reid has
declined to return the donations, unlike other lawmakers, saying his
letters were consistent with his beliefs.

Senate ethics rules require senators to avoid even the appearance that
any official meetings or actions they took were in any way connected
with political donations.

Reid broadly defended his actions, stating he would never change his
position because of donations, free tickets or a request from a
former-staffer-turned-lobbyist.

"People who deal with me and have over the years know that I am an
advocate for what I believe in. I always try to do it fair, never take
advantage of people on purpose," he said.

Asked if he would have done anything differently, the Senate
Democratic leader said his only concern was "the willingness of the
press ... to take these instances and try to make a big deal out of
them."

Several ethics experts said they believed Reid should have paid for
the boxing tickets to avoid violating Senate ethics rules.

Bernadette Sargeant, a former House ethics lawyer, said the Senate
would have to examine the specific facts to determine whether Reid
violated the gift ban. She said the clearer ethics issue involved
Reid's obligation to avoid the appearance that the free tickets and
his official duties were connected.

"From what you are describing, it is such a huge risk that a
reasonable person with all the relevant facts would say this creates
the appearance of impropriety," she said. "The more cautious thing,
the more prudent thing would be to either pay the tickets or fair
market value or not accept the tickets in the first place."

Andrew Herman, a Washington lawyer who frequently works with Congress,
agreed. "I think it is pretty clear what Sen. McCain did in the
current atmosphere in Washington was certainly the more prudent
thing."

"I think if you are receiving anything of value from anyone that has
matters before the federal government and matters under your purview
that you have to be very careful with your conduct," Herman said.

Attorney Marc Elias, who has represented Democrats in ethics cases and
was asked by Reid's office to call AP, said he believed Reid should
not be penalized for trying to help his state. "There are varying
degrees of gift givers," Elias said. "There is a difference between a
gift from a state entity and a gift from a savings & loan."

Marc Ratner, executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission when
Reid took the free tickets, said one of his desires was to convince
Reid and McCain that there was no need for the federal government to
usurp the state commission's authority. At the time, McCain and Reid
were pushing legislation to create a federal boxing commission.

"I invited him because I was talking with his staff" about the
legislation, Ratner said. "This was a chance for all of my
commissioners, who are politically appointed, to interact with them.
It was important for them to see how we in Nevada did things.

"I am a states rights activist and I didn't want any federal bill that
would take away our state rights to regulate fights," he said, adding
that he hoped McCain and Reid, at the very least, would be persuaded
to model any federal commission after Nevada's body.

Reid said he remembered talking to Ratner briefly at the fights and
knew Ratner was working with his Senate staff on the federal
legislation.

McCain's office said the Arizona senator felt an obligation to pay for
the ringside tickets he got from the Nevada commission to attend the
Oscar De La Hoya-Bernard Hopkins championship match in September 2004.

"Sen. McCain has always paid for his own tickets to boxing matches and
sees no reason to change that," aide Mark Salter said.

Ensign's office said he attended one fight in the last couple of years
with Reid and accepted the free tickets from the commission. But his
office said Ensign already had removed himself from the boxing
legislation that would have affected the Nevada commission.

"He did not have anything to do with it because at the time he recused
himself," Ensign spokesman Jack Finn said of the legislation.

Kathleen Clark, a Washington University of St. Louis congressional
ethics expert, said Congress should re-examine the exemption allowing
gifts by state and federal and local governments because they too can
have interest in influencing federal lawmakers like Reid.

"I think he would want to be above approach even when it's from a
state commission and not a private lobbyist," Clark said. "I don't
think we should make any assumption about a government. The fact is
government agencies can act as proxies for different interests. Here
it happens to be the Nevada boxing commission, and I would guess it is
aligned with certain industry groups."


--
"Science is the record of dead religions." -- Oscar Wilde

"There are no absolute certainties in this universe. A man must try to
whip order into a yelping pack of probabilities, and uniform success is
impossible." -- Jack Vance

"Civilization is the interval between Ice Ages." -- Will Durant.

"War is God's way of teaching Americans geography" -- Ambrose Bierce

"Progress is the increasing control of the environment by life.
--Will Durant

Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMverizon.net

Senate Leader Took Free Boxing Tickets
May 29 2:16 PM US/Eastern
By JOHN SOLOMON
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid accepted free ringside tickets
from the Nevada Athletic Commission to three professional boxing
matches while that state agency was trying to influence him on federal
regulation of boxing.

Reid, D-Nev., took the free seats for Las Vegas fights between 2003
and 2005 as he was pressing legislation to increase government
oversight of the sport, including the creation of a federal boxing
commission that Nevada's agency feared might usurp its authority.

He defended the gifts, saying they would never influence his position
on the bill and 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.

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 states.

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 the tickets
he shared with Reid for a 2004 championship fight. Sen. John Ensign,
R-Nev., accepted free tickets to another fight with Reid but already
had recused himself from Reid's federal boxing legislation because his
father was an executive for a Las Vegas hotel that hosts fights.

In an interview Thursday in his Capitol office, Reid broadly defended
his decisions to accept the tickets and to take several actions
benefiting disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff's clients and partners as
they donated to him.

"I'm not Goodie two shoes. I just feel these events are nothing I did
wrong," Reid said.

Reid had separate meetings in June 2003 in his Senate offices with two
Abramoff tribal clients and Edward Ayoob, a former staffer who went to
work lobbying with Abramoff.

The meetings occurred over a five-day span in which Ayoob also threw a
fundraiser for Reid at the firm where Ayoob and Abramoff worked that
netted numerous donations from Abramoff's partners, firm and clients.

Reid said he viewed the two official meetings and the fundraiser as a
single event. "I think it all was one, the way I look at it," he said.

One of the tribes, the Saginaw Chippewa of Michigan, donated $9,000 to
Reid at the fundraiser and the next morning met briefly with Reid and
Ayoob at Reid's office to discuss federal programs. Reid and the
tribal chairman posed for a picture.

Five days earlier, Reid met with Ayoob and the Sac & Fox tribe of Iowa
for about 15 minutes to discuss at least two legislative requests.
Reid's office said the senator never acted on those requests.

A few months after the fundraiser, Reid did sponsor a spending bill
that targeted $100,000 to another Abramoff tribe, the Chitimacha of
Louisiana, to pay for a soil erosion study Ayoob was lobbying for.
Reid said he sponsored the provision because Louisiana lawmakers sent
him a letter requesting it.

Abramoff, a Republican lobbyist, has pleaded guilty in a widespread
corruption probe of Capitol Hill. Reid used that conviction earlier
this year to accuse Republicans of fostering a culture of corruption
inside Congress.

AP recently reported that Reid also wrote at least four letters
favorable to Abramoff's tribal clients around the time Reid collected
donations from those clients and Abramoff's partners. Reid has
declined to return the donations, unlike other lawmakers, saying his
letters were consistent with his beliefs.

Senate ethics rules require senators to avoid even the appearance that
any official meetings or actions they took were in any way connected
with political donations.

Reid broadly defended his actions, stating he would never change his
position because of donations, free tickets or a request from a
former-staffer-turned-lobbyist.

"People who deal with me and have over the years know that I am an
advocate for what I believe in. I always try to do it fair, never take
advantage of people on purpose," he said.

Asked if he would have done anything differently, the Senate
Democratic leader said his only concern was "the willingness of the
press ... to take these instances and try to make a big deal out of
them."

Several ethics experts said they believed Reid should have paid for
the boxing tickets to avoid violating Senate ethics rules.

Bernadette Sargeant, a former House ethics lawyer, said the Senate
would have to examine the specific facts to determine whether Reid
violated the gift ban. She said the clearer ethics issue involved
Reid's obligation to avoid the appearance that the free tickets and
his official duties were connected.

"From what you are describing, it is such a huge risk that a
reasonable person with all the relevant facts would say this creates
the appearance of impropriety," she said. "The more cautious thing,
the more prudent thing would be to either pay the tickets or fair
market value or not accept the tickets in the first place."

Andrew Herman, a Washington lawyer who frequently works with Congress,
agreed. "I think it is pretty clear what Sen. McCain did in the
current atmosphere in Washington was certainly the more prudent
thing."

"I think if you are receiving anything of value from anyone that has
matters before the federal government and matters under your purview
that you have to be very careful with your conduct," Herman said.

Attorney Marc Elias, who has represented Democrats in ethics cases and
was asked by Reid's office to call AP, said he believed Reid should
not be penalized for trying to help his state. "There are varying
degrees of gift givers," Elias said. "There is a difference between a
gift from a state entity and a gift from a savings & loan."

Marc Ratner, executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission when
Reid took the free tickets, said one of his desires was to convince
Reid and McCain that there was no need for the federal government to
usurp the state commission's authority. At the time, McCain and Reid
were pushing legislation to create a federal boxing commission.

"I invited him because I was talking with his staff" about the
legislation, Ratner said. "This was a chance for all of my
commissioners, who are politically appointed, to interact with them.
It was important for them to see how we in Nevada did things.

"I am a states rights activist and I didn't want any federal bill that
would take away our state rights to regulate fights," he said, adding
that he hoped McCain and Reid, at the very least, would be persuaded
to model any federal commission after Nevada's body.

Reid said he remembered talking to Ratner briefly at the fights and
knew Ratner was working with his Senate staff on the federal
legislation.

McCain's office said the Arizona senator felt an obligation to pay for
the ringside tickets he got from the Nevada commission to attend the
Oscar De La Hoya-Bernard Hopkins championship match in September 2004.

"Sen. McCain has always paid for his own tickets to boxing matches and
sees no reason to change that," aide Mark Salter said.

Ensign's office said he attended one fight in the last couple of years
with Reid and accepted the free tickets from the commission. But his
office said Ensign already had removed himself from the boxing
legislation that would have affected the Nevada commission.

"He did not have anything to do with it because at the time he recused
himself," Ensign spokesman Jack Finn said of the legislation.

Kathleen Clark, a Washington University of St. Louis congressional
ethics expert, said Congress should re-examine the exemption allowing
gifts by state and federal and local governments because they too can
have interest in influencing federal lawmakers like Reid.

"I think he would want to be above approach even when it's from a
state commission and not a private lobbyist," Clark said. "I don't
think we should make any assumption about a government. The fact is
government agencies can act as proxies for different interests. Here
it happens to be the Nevada boxing commission, and I would guess it is
aligned with certain industry groups."


--
"Science is the record of dead religions." -- Oscar Wilde

"There are no absolute certainties in this universe. A man must try to
whip order into a yelping pack of probabilities, and uniform success is
impossible." -- Jack Vance

"Civilization is the interval between Ice Ages." -- Will Durant.

"War is God's way of teaching Americans geography" -- Ambrose Bierce

"Progress is the increasing control of the environment by life.
--Will Durant

Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMverizon.net