The headline: Reid Accepted Free Boxing Tickets While a Related Bill Was Pending.
The lede: "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."
Sounds pretty scandalous, all right.
The problem with the casting Reid as dirty: Paul Kiel points out in TPM Muckraker that "there is an exception for gifts from governmental agencies (like the Nevada Athletic Commission) in the Senate ethics rules. So there is nothing untoward about Reid having accepted the free tickets."
The bigger problem: Reid voted against the legislation for which the Commission was seeking his support.
Oops. Well, that accusation certainly fell a bit flat. Better luck next time in the ongoing game of Who Wants to Claim a Bipartisan Scandal?
(Crossposted at AlterNet PEEK.)
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