Posted on 05/31/2006 7:48:34 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - Reversing course, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid's office acknowledged Wednesday night he misstated the ethics rules governing his acceptance of free boxing tickets and has decided to avoid taking such gifts in the future.
The Nevada senator still believes it was "entirely permissible" for him to accept ringside seats for three professional boxing matches in 2004 and 2005 from the Nevada Athletic Commission but has nonetheless decided to avoid doing so in the future, his office said.
"In light of questions that have been raised about the practice, Senator Reid will not accept these kinds of credentials in the future in order to avoid even the faintest appearance of impropriety," spokesman Jim Manley said.
The announcement came after The Associated Press confronted Reid's office early Wednesday with conclusions from several ethics experts that the Senate leader misstated congressional ethics rules in trying to defend his actions.
The AP reported Monday that Reid accepted the free seats from the Nevada commission as it was trying to influence his support for legislation to create a federal boxing commission. The state agency feared the legislation would usurp its authority to regulate fights and wanted to convince Reid there was no need for a federal body.
Reid told Las Vegas reporters on Tuesday he would continue to accept such tickets and did not believe he did anything wrong even though fellow Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz., who joined him for one of the fights, decided to reimburse $1,400 for his seat.
The gift isn't free if you have to deo something in exchange. Hmmmmmmm.
LOL. QFT.
Now he'll only accept gifts with strings attached...
The donations included:
• $19,500 from the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians of California.
• $5,000 from the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana.
• $7,000 from the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.
• $19,000 from the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan.
In fact, Senator Harry Reid received at least $68,941 from Jack Abramoff’s groups. Which places him third behind only John Kerry ($98,550) and Patty Murray ($78,991) for the top score among Democrat Senators.
Meanwhile, Tom "the most corrupt man who ever lived" Delay only received $15,000 from Abramoff.
Furthermore, the moral paragon Reid refuses to give up his ill-gotten gain. Whereas wicked Tom Delay gave the filthy lucre he received to charity.
And yet Senator Reid regularly calls the Republican Congress "the most corrupt in history" and writes about "Republican organized crime."
But one would expect a man who is in the pocket of the mob represents Las Vegas to be an expert on corruption and organized crime.
deo = do
(FFFAK = Fat Fingers Flying Across Keyboard)
Wow US Senator Harry Reid, by any account one of the 10 most powerful politicians in the country, got to go to a prize fight for free and you didn't. Lemme clue you in, powerful people, rich guys and hot looking babes get to do a lot of things most of us don't.
Harry Reid wrote and tried to pass the Nat'l. Boxing Commission legislation the Nevada Boxing Commission feared. House Repubs refused to pass it because it would create a new federal oversight function. Any business that employs the likes of Don King ought to be federally regulated but that's a whole other issue. Regardless, if getting him in to see these fights was supposed to be a bribe it didn't work.
Contrast Reid's behavior with Republicans allowing their campaign contributors to literally write the energy, bankruptcy and Medicare Drug bills. They have huge payoffs to the oil, credit card and pharmaceutical industries out of our pockets. Look how they let bankers get a cut of student loans. Does that make students loan cheaper? No way but it sure makes bankers happy.
We US taxpayers are paying almost as much for blue tarps on roofs in Louisiana as it costs to reroof those damaged houses because of the outsourcing and fraud. Bush's people hand these contracts out and pay so much more than the going rate 3 or 4 contractors can outsource the business down the line without doing any actual work and still make a handsome profit. Ya know cuz it's all close enough for government work, wink, wink. And the Repub congress does nothing about it.
At least 9 billion in reconstruction money in Iraq isn't accounted for and it sure as hell hasn't shown up in work done there. It's not a surprise the same politically connected Repub contractors bailed in Iraq as the money ran out and the fighting got worse and went to the gulf states to get those contracts.
These AP John Solomon hit pieces on Reid are manufactured out of whole clothe. He tries to paint Reid as a bribe taking crook but time and again if you look at the legislation in question Reid does nothing for the money.
It's laughable to compare the wholesale government auction Repubs have been running in Washington to Dem corruption in the past or what they do today. Reid is on the Indian Affairs Committee and represents Nevada. Of course he's going to vote to protect the major industry in his state. Rostenkowski's $20,000 worth of stamps? Jim Wright's $100,000 worth of vanity books? That's peanuts compared to the K St. Project and the millions in campaign contribution Repubs rake in from the moneyed elites and big business who get the tax breaks and corporate welfare that's driving the deficit. Don't even get me started on Duke Cunningham selling Homeland Security for a Rolls Royce, Cuban cigars and hookers among other things.
Dems have their crooks like Jefferson and Mollahan but these guys are freelancers out to line their own pockets with comparable pocket change. It's a whole magnitude different than the systematic fleecing Repubs have practiced on the US taxpayer with their cronies for years.
John Solomon and the AP are doing the RNC's dirty work for them. His writing is a textbook case of how to skew the facts to fit the story. You don't have to fall for it and you shouldn't.
Sam why would you take anything from the NRSC at face value? As I said in my previous post Reid is on the Indian Affairs Committee. Indians being a minority have always looked to Dems to represent their interests and contributed to the party accordingly. What's odd is that when they got the right to build casinos and Abramoff came to town they started giving to Republicans too. To the tune of $28 million. Repubs have never been known to help Indian tribes. In 2004 Repubs even tried to suppress the Indian vote in South Dakota.
A couple of different studies have shown that Abramoff's Indian clients not only didn't increase their contributions to Democrats they actually decreased them. No wonder as Abramoff was trying to get the Indians to cut Dems off completely.
Reid represents the State of Nevada. Gambling is one of the biggest if not THE biggest business in the state. As a Nevada senator it's in his constituients' interests to oppose competition to Vegas and Reno.
Abramoff worked at one point for the lobbying firm Greenberg Traurig. So did lots of other lobbyists. Reid never met Abramoff. He met with other lobbyists from Greenberg Traurig. He received lobbying money from them and from Indian tribes Abramoff defrauded. But claiming Reid is connected to Abramoff and is therefore dirty is like me calling you a Nazi because you drive a Volkswagon.
But that wouldn't work for these scum would it?
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