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May 30 2006

More Culture of Corruption

Posted at 10:27 pm under Hypocrites

Harry Reid, who had lots to say about Jack Abramoff and corruption seems to have no problem accepting, er, “gifts.”

As he was considering legislation designed to give the federal government a larger say in boxing (which is currently controlled by individual states), he took seats at ringside on multiple occasions from the Nevada State Athletic Commission. You would think that’s the best part of the story, what with Harry Reid coming out guns ablazes about the corruption he saw in others. It really does get better, and you needn’t look any further than his bogus-assed reasoning.

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 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 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.

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.

So. To summarize, Harry Reid took ringside seats including recently at a premiere fight not because he was just accepting a gift and going to the fight, but because it was part of an economic impact study.

Could his excuse be any flimsier? Honestly.

Let’s deal in reality here. Harry Reid could have done the same research with reports and paperwork. He didn’t need to sit ringside at a championship fight. In fact, I can’t think of one thing he could have possibly learned about the industry, the sport, or the Nevada State Athletic Commission, or how regulating boxing federally would affect his state’s economy.

I’m open to suggestions if anyone else could explain it.

The worst part? He’ll get re-elected and continue on with his witch hunt against others while accepting lots of “gifts.”

Then again, that’s usually the way things go.

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4 Responses to “More Culture of Corruption”

  1. RKB Says:
    May 31st, 2006 at 8:17 am

    “In broad terms, political corruption is the misuse of public (governmental) power for illegitimate, usually secret, private advantage.

    All forms of government are susceptible to political corruption. Forms of corruption vary, but the most common are patronage, bribery, extortion, influence peddling, fraud, embezzlement, and nepotism.”

    - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/political_corruption

    You’ll have to help me understand how this is an example of corruption. Where’s the quid pro quo? You grease my palm by giving me tickets to a few boxing matches, and I drop the legislation that you fear “might ursurp your authority.”

    The gifts did NOT influence his position, unlike any of the people involved in the Abramoff shitstorm. So how is this an example of corruption?

    And as far as his flimsy excuse goes, show me the quote from Reid and not the interpretation of the AP writer. Your bold emphasis is what the writer had to say about it, not what Reid actually said.

  2. Vidiot Says:
    May 31st, 2006 at 9:05 am

    Reid was dumb to take the tickets, and even dumber to rationalize them the way he did.

    However, don’t forget that Reid essentially voted against the Nevada Boxing Commission, from whom he got the tickets. From your quote:

    Reid 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.

    (Emphasis mine.)

    Let me say that again: Reid pushed for — and ultimately voted for — the position opposite the one advocated by the source of the gift.

    (There’s also an exemption in the Senate ethics rules for gifts from government agencies, such as the Nevada Athletic Commission. So despite the unfavorable optics, Reid is in no ethics trouble for this.)

    TPMMuckraker’s Paul Kiel has more reax:

    As Solomon admits in the piece, Reid was advocating “the creation of a federal boxing commission that Nevada’s agency feared might usurp its authority.” Reid never changed his position. And this was a dramatically uncontroversial piece of legislation largely preoccupied with ensuring the safety of boxers by creating the United States Boxing Administration. It passed the Senate unanimously.

    Now, Solomon puts all these facts in his piece. So he’s not covering up a key piece of information like he did last time. He seems to realize that he doesn’t have any real story. So Solomon argues that Reid, out of an abundance of caution, should have paid for the tickets to avoid the appearance of impropriety. . .

    Solomon’s foil for Reid’s alleged ethical shortcoming is Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who “insisted on paying $1,400 for the tickets he shared with Reid for a 2004 championship fight.” He’s the hero of Solomon’s piece, the one who went the extra distance to make sure there was no appearance of impropriety. That’s commendable, but it’s by no means apparent that it was a step McCain was obligated to take. I for one can’t muster up even a puff of indigation over the fact that a former boxer and boxing judge, former head of the Nevada Gaming Commission, and current Senator from Nevada accepted free tickets to boxing matches in Las Vegas.

    Solomon is so dead-set on illustrating bipartisan parity on corruption that he’s blind to the weakness of the arguments he’s making. If this is the best that he can come up with after several months, I have to say that Reid seems remarkably incorruptible.

  3. Vidiot Says:
    May 31st, 2006 at 3:43 pm

    And, it’d be illegal for Reid to pay for the tickets. My emphasis:

    Ratner said Tuesday the seats Reid and McCain got weren’t tickets available to the general public but “credentials” the commission gives only to public officials hoping to observe the commission’s activity.

    Skip Avansino, current chairman of the athletic commission and a commission member since 2002, said Reid, McCain and the athletic commissioners sat on folding chairs in a small, cramped area, not in the posh ringside seats for which pricey tickets are sold. Avansino also said the commissioners were too busy to spend much time bending Reid’s ear during the fight.

    Boxing promoter Bob Arum said Reid and McCain also sat in ticketed seating at about three matches each but paid for their tickets “invariably.” Arum said McCain and Reid’s seats at the Hopkins-de la Hoya fight, on the other hand, were credentials from the commission, not tickets from Arum. But McCain, who brought his wife to the fight, sent Arum a check for the price of two ringside seats.

    Arum said he didn’t know what to do with the money.

    “Those credentials cannot be sold,” he said. “There’s no price on them. (They are given to) governors, attorney generals, boxing commissioners of other states. … It’s illegal to accept money for a credential.”

    Arum said he couldn’t accept McCain’s money but McCain wouldn’t take it back, so Arum donated it to Catholic Charities.

  4. Vidiot Says:
    May 31st, 2006 at 3:44 pm

    whoops, shoulda put an ellipsis after “…bending Reid’s ear during the fight.”

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