Flaps
that pushed Harry over the edge:
[reprinted from the NPRI web site]
January 28, 1998
Giving Gift
Rules
a Bad Name
Nevada Senator Harry Reid, as he tells it, is a man of the people. Just a home-grown boy from the little town of Searchlight. Just an average American, like you and me. But when was the last time you or I got free luxury box seats at NHL and NBA games? You’ll be interested to know that U. S. Senators like Harry Reid do, thanks to a recent ethics committee ruling by—who else?—Harry Reid, conspiring with his ethics committee co-chair, New Hampshire Republican Senator Bob Smith. You see, Senate ethics rules do not allow senators to accept gifts that have a cash value of over $50. So in the past the most expensive free seats that Senators could accept at Washington’s MCI Center, where the NBA’s Wizards and the NHL’s Capitals play, were $48 "club" seats. Now, thanks to Harry and Bob, they and their colleagues can get out of the cheap seats, and move up into the luxury boxes for free. They ruled that since luxury box seats have no face value, they’re worth the cost of the nearest seats. As any sports fan knows, the nearest seats are in the "nosebleed" section. You don’t pay much for nosebleed seats, certainly not $50. So the senators can now lounge in the luxury boxes, and enjoy all the amenities—champagne, hotplates, a mini fridge, a TV monitor, a phone, and a private bathroom. I seldom agree with free speech foes at Ralph Nader’s Public Citizen, but this time one of their staffers got it right. Rulings like this give the gift rule a bad name, said attorney Bob Schiff. The little boy from Searchlight needs to know that "little people"—like you and I—can see through his shaky justification of yet another perk for himself and the national ruling class. From NPRI, you think about that!