AP sliming Harry Reid, or legit criticism?

On a slow news day, AP has this enterprise story about Reid taking freebie tickets to boxing matches, and they throw in some Abramoff for good measure. Maybe someone who's better up than me on ethics, and Reid, will be able to say whether this is anything.

The AP lede:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- 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.
He 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.