LAS VEGAS - Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said it's his official duty to attend boxing matches in Nevada and that he did nothing wrong when he accepted complimentary ringside seats from a state agency that was lobbying him.
"I would be criticized if I didn't go," Reid told reporters Tuesday after addressing a veterans group in Las Vegas. "It's just like going to an Ohio State football game, an Arizona State football game - in Nevada, boxing is it. I have an obligation to make sure boxing is conducted properly not only in Nevada but around the country."
William Jefferson (DEMOCRAT-LA), the Congressman caught on tape taking a $100,000 bribe must be kicking himself!
If he had only said it was part of his job to be taking bribes! He'd be off Scot free!
Hey... After Patrick Kennedy pulled that lame "I'm a Congressman! I'm late to a vote!" excuse after plowing his car into a Capitol Hill security barrier Reid obviously figures that anything goes... If you are a Democrat!
After all, this boxing ticket bribe is small potatoes when it comes to the millions of dollars that have gone from Nevada big business into the pocket of every male member of Reid's family. Just pass along this little chart to every moonbat who thinks that the "culture of corruption" is a Republican problem.
UPDATE: Reid "Misstated" Senate Ethics Rules, Will Now Decline Free Tickets
From the Associated Press:
Pssst. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid. What happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas after all.
A day after The Associated Press reported Reid accepted free ringside seats to boxing matches from a Nevada agency trying to influence him on federal boxing legislation, the senator offered his own ethics justification to a home state audience in Las Vegas.
And he vowed to keep taking such gifts.
But Reid's comments Tuesday quickly reached Washington, where several ethics experts concluded the Senate leader had misstated the Senate rules to his constituents.
Within hours of being questioned by AP about the ethics experts' assertions, Reid's office abruptly reversed course and acknowledged Wednesday night he had misspoken about the ethics rules.
The Senate leader also has decided not to take free boxing seats in the future even though he still believes it was ethical to do so in 2004 and 2005, Reid's office said.
"In light of questions that have been raised about the practice, Sen. 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.
So basically Reid has been doing the same thing for years and would have continued to do so had he not been caught.
That's Democrat ethics for you: Rules that the rest of us must follow, but the Dems always have an excuse.
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