Via WaPo: Reid Accepted Free Boxing Tickets While a Related Bill Was Pending
Senate Democratic Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) 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 took the free seats for Las Vegas fights between 2024 and 2024 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.
[...]
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.
To which I would have to agree: it is obvious that taking the tickets could be construed as problematic. Senator McCain, for example, paid for his ticket. However, it is also the case that it would appear from the piece that the rules here do not preclude Reid from taking the tickets, as they came from a state governmental agency.
And, I will say, that Reid’s defense is a tad lame:
He defended the gifts, saying that 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 number one businesses,” he said. “I love the fights anyways, so it wasn’t like being punished,” added the senator, a former boxer and boxing judge.
Surely the fact that he likes boxing would make the gift have more influence. Nonetheless, my overall response to this comports with that of James Joyner:
That a Senator who represents the gambling capital of America needed to be bribed to support this legislation, let alone that a man of his position could be bought for such a low price, strikes me as absurd. Still, given the tenor of the times, Reid showed poor judgment in not following the lead of McCain and Ensign on this one.
(Note: Senator Ensign took a free ticket, but recused himself from the vote in question, although for reasons not linked to the ticket itself).
James is feeling “nearly alone in this view” insofar as the Blogospheric reaction (he links some of the pieces) has been negative to this point–primarily from Republican-leaning bloggers. As such, I figured I’d provide my two-cents.
There is enough to get upset about in the way Washington works, than to cry foul over something like this, where it seems clear that a) the tickets were taken within the rules, and b) the odds that the tickets influenced Reid in any way are pretty slim–as his natural predilection would have been to support the Neveda Atheltic Commission in the first place.
To make a big deal over this is to diminish real problems that exist with other members and also feeds public cynicism about the Congress in an undo fashion. Additionally, it reeks of tit-for-tat politics where someone has been digging around to counter the “culture of corruption” charges that have been aimed at the Republicans.
Unless something else comes out about this story, it strikes me as a non-starter.
May 30th, 2024 at 11:09 am
agreed
May 30th, 2024 at 12:09 pm
Reid voted against the folks supplying the tickets–no quid there.
May 30th, 2024 at 12:25 pm
Yep, a non-starter alright. The Republicans will try to get as much milage as possible out of this, but at this point nobody’s listening.
May 30th, 2024 at 12:43 pm
“b) the odds that the tickets influenced Reid in any way are pretty slim–as his natural predilection would have been to support the Neveda Atheltic Commission in the first place.”
I am not sure what is meant by this since he was actively supporting legislation that would strip the NAC of some power.
May 30th, 2024 at 1:36 pm
Clearly this is another example of the liberal MSM at work.
May 30th, 2024 at 5:36 pm
This issue is getting traction because of the attitude of our congress. They think they are better than us and deserve such perks as $1400 ringside tickets. That elitism is why they no longer truly represent us in Washington.
Maybe this isn’t classical corruption like money in an envelope but it is the long term soft corruption of special treatment and privilege. It may not end up in a court but it sickens common americans just the same.
Why did he get tickets for free unless someone thought it would advance their agenda. Maybe not on this particular vote but maybe down the road. It could have been an investment in the future.
The solution is to outlaw all gifts, perks and special treatment they could possibly receive, put a limit on congressional “fact finding” travel, and make them live off the salaries they receive.
For rich people they sure are cheap, whiny mooches.
May 31st, 2024 at 5:59 pm
Not only did Reid vote against the interests of those who gave him the seats, but they were not actually tickets but reserved seats for government investigators. It would’ve been illegal for Reid to reimburse the commission for them.
June 1st, 2024 at 7:36 am
Given the corrections posted in comments #2 and #7, have you considered posting an update to the blog post for the benefit of readers who don’t delve into the comments?
June 1st, 2024 at 7:54 am
Lis,
I have meant to get back to it–plus there was a wire story on the issue yesterday regarding Reid’s reponse. I simply haven’t had the time as yet.
Thanks for the comments.
S
June 1st, 2024 at 8:00 am
I will say this in regards to the vote: the issue wouldn’t be, per se, what his final vote was, but rather that accepting the tickets could, theoretically, have influenced him at the time. Whether it did or not would not affect the ethics of taking the tickets in the first place.
Having said that, and as I said in the post, I don’t see any big deal about the tickets in the first place.
June 1st, 2024 at 5:18 pm
TPMmuckraker has been all over this story.
I blogged it this morning (with links to the various relevant analyses)