Does LA’s mayor stretch ethical boundaries when he shows up at fancy events for free?

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s routine appearances at top-tier sporting and entertainment events are under the microscope. Los Angeles County’s district attorney Steve Cooley has begun an inquiry into whether the mayor should have paid his own way.

The official investigation follows media queries about the mayor’s presence in some of the city’s most coveted seats – courtside at Lakers games, inside the Kodak Theater at the Academy Awards, opening night at the L.A. Opera. Mayor Villaraigosa’s maintained that these are official appearances at which he promotes his city, not freebies he accepts from supporters.

L.A. County’s lead prosecutor begs to differ – the head of the district attorney’s public integrity division is checking into whether the mayor should have cleared those tickets with the city of L.A.’s ethics commission. By law, elected officials aren’t supposed to accept more than $420 worth of gifts from any one person in a given year.

That applies to tickets – unless the official on the receiving end shows up at events in a ceremonial or business-related role. Mayor Villaraigosa says he’s kept track of the 80 or so events he attends free each year. A spokeswoman for his office adds that each one is legit under state and local laws.