Well, it looks as though that whole "culture of corruption" thing going around Washington knows no party. First there was House Majority Leader Tom DeLay...and now we have Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid.

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid 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, D-Nev., 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.

That's definitely an "appearance of impropriety" -- something that all politicians should assiduously avoid. Instead of recognizing this, Reid gets defensive.

He (Reid) defended the gifts, saying they would never influence his position on the bill and 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 No. 1 businesses," he told The Associated Press.

Yeah, right. Reid needed to attend the fights to learn how Nevada's boxing industry works because when he was in high school, he spent his time on the Glee Club. Oops, my mistake, Reid was a boxer in high school.

Oh, and Reid is apparently a slow-learner, because he attended multiple fights over a three year period.

There's something else that really stands out in this article: the fact that two other senators behaved differently from Reid.

Two senators who joined Reid for fights with the complimentary tickets took markedly differently steps.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., insisted on paying $1,400 for the tickets he shared with Reid for a 2004 championship fight. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., accepted free tickets to another fight with Reid but already had recused himself from Reid's federal boxing legislation because his father was an executive for a Las Vegas hotel that hosts fights.

In the grand scheme of things, I doubt that Reid was swayed politically by the freebies he received. GOP Representatives cost north of $2 million. You can buy a Democrat Representative for $100,000. Senators, I'm sure, would cost more.

Of course, the real reason that the taxpayers should be outraged is that they don't get free boxing tickets. The flaunting of privilege by politicians is always a source of contempt by the voters. If Reid were smart -- and I have little evidence to support that conclusion -- he would apologize, say this is a mistake, and pay face value for the tickets he received. Those actions would make this no more than a one-week story. However, the course Reid has charted thus far could make this a months-long story and affect the Democrats in the November election.