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| Sen. Reid defends taking free tickets to boxing matches |
Itsdb |
05/30/06 |
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Harry Reid With hands on heart calling on Republicans to clean up their act with lobbyists
AP Photo/J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
John Solomon
Associated Press
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, Democrat of Nevada, 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 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 said.
"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.
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 sena tors who joined Reid for fights with the complimentary tickets took markedly different steps.
Sen. John McCain, Republican of Arizona, insisted on paying $1,400 for the tickets he shared with Reid for a 2004 championship fight. Sen. John Ensign, Republican of Nevada, 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 fund-raiser 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 fund-raiser as a single event.
One of the tribes, the Saginaw Chippewa of Michigan, donated $9,000 to Reid at the fund-raiser 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.
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That's the way to punch at those corrupt Republicans Harry. Things aren't looking too good for the dems election strategy this year, what do you think they're new plan will be - or will they change it at all?
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Clarification/Follow-up by excon on 05/31/06 5:03 pm:
Hello again, Its:
Do you see the little bald guy standing just above Reids’ right shoulder? That's Henry Waxman. In 1967, Henry was contemplating a run for the state house. His term as president of the Beverly Hills Young Democrats was drawing to a close, and Henry asked me to succeed him. I did. We then supported Henry with money and troops on the ground. He smashed Tony Belinson and won the US congressional seat shortly thereafter. He's held it ever since.
I went to visit Henry in Washington a few years ago. He wouldn't even see me.
excon
PS> I dunno what that story is worth, except a little bit of history
Clarification/Follow-up by Itsdb on 05/31/06 5:51 pm:
Ex,
Thanks for that, an interesting bit of history and it speaks volumes to me. I guess he just doesn't need you any more.
Clarification/Follow-up by tomder55 on 05/31/06 6:51 pm:
Waxman has been a big time advocate on regulating and restricting nutritional supplements from the market .If you look closely at the campaign contributions he has garnered over the years from the Drug industry and the fact that it is in the Drug indstries interest to restrict nutritional supplements then you realize that they found a friend in Waxman .Even after Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) was passed in the mid 1990s he was not satisfied and he will not be until you need a perscription for vitamin C .He ,Dingel ,Durbin,and Hillary have been the lead players in this effort.
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