SACRAMENTO — State officials who regulate boxing have used their positions to gain admission to big-ticket events for friends -- actor Sylvester Stallone among them -- relatives and other associates who sit ringside for free, records show.
One member of the California State Athletic Commission directed state employees to obtain free passes for his wife and pastor. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who appointed all but one of the commissioners, attended an event gratis, as did one of his high-ranking aides.
At some fights, guests were placed in VIP rows, in front of fans whose tickets cost hundreds of dollars apiece. Schwarzenegger and his son sat with Stallone at the Antonio Margarito-Shane Mosley welterweight championship bout in January. Tickets to that fight cost up to $300.
Commissioners themselves receive free entry because of their jobs. But Timothy Lueckenhoff, president of the Assn. of Boxing Commissions, a national organization, said asking promoters to admit guests lends the appearance that officials are abusing their regulatory power for personal benefit. The commission can "hold over their head" the ability to approve promoters' fights, license athletes, collect fees and state taxes on ticket sales and pay out winnings, he said.
"It's the appearance of inappropriate activity," Lueckenhoff said. Panel members' acceptance of promoters' largess could suggest that the businesses "are buying some sort of favoritism," he said.
State law requires that commissioners report as gifts anything worth $50 or more obtained from an outside company for anyone else, including friends and relatives. They are required to report their own free admission as well if they do not perform a function related to their jobs while at the event.
But only a fraction of the free entries were disclosed until The Times asked about them. One commissioner did not request admission regularly, the state records show. None responded to requests for comment.
Dave Thornton, the commission's acting executive officer, said that board members were in the process of amending their disclosures before The Times requested the records, and that his predecessor had told them that free admission for guests was "a routine perk of their position."
The revelations are another blow for the commission's parent agency, the California Department of Consumer Affairs, and for Schwarzenegger. He has pledged to make state government more efficient and to impose strict ethical standards, such as a ban he imposed three years ago on gifts to his aides.
