Senator Harry Reid, the dour Democrat who seems closest to happy when fulminating over alleged Republican sins, has got some 'splainin' to do. The AP reports:

The 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.

Mr. Reid, a 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 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.

A couple of Senator Reid's colleagues were much more in tune with Senate ethics rules:

Senator McCain, a Republican of Arizona, insisted on paying $1,400 for the tickets he shared with Mr. Reid for a 2004 championship fight. Senator Ensign, a Republican of Nevada, accepted free tickets to another fight with Mr. Reid but already had recused himself from Mr. Reid's federal boxing legislation because his father was an executive for a Las Vegas hotel that hosts fights.

If Senator Reid were a Republican, we would be reading about this on the front page of the New York Times, and it would lead the evening newscasts of the broadcast networks.

Ed Lasky   5 30 06