• By GERARD SHIELDS
• Advocate Washington bureau
• Published: Jan 29, 2009 - Page: 1A - UPDATED: 12:15 a.m.

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WASHINGTON — Washington Mardi Gras will begin today, but without Louisiana congressional members controlling or distributing tickets as in the past due to new ethics rules.

The Mystic Krewe of Louisiana, the nonprofit organization that holds two of the events, hired an attorney to meet with the House and Senate ethics committees. Although recipients who received tickets in the past paid for them, organizers want to exclude delegation members from the process because the tickets can be considered a thing of value.

Delegation offices transferred the task of handling ticket requests this year to campaign workers — considered “agents” — to work directly with the krewe. The clampdown is frustrating members, such as U.S. Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-Quitman, this year’s chairman.

“Some of the members are wondering whether it is worth the trouble or worry that it causes,” Alexander said.

Having congressional members handling event tickets is a tradition going back to 1944 when U.S. Sen. Russell Long reshaped the three-day festival to promote economic development in the state.

Former Republican U.S. Rep. Jim McCrery, of Shreveport, served as the krewe captain for the last four years before retiring from Congress.

He would traditionally get 50 tickets for the Friday and Saturday dinner dance and ball, he said.

McCrery usually sent the tickets to campaign donors in the state, who had to pay the krewe $175 for entry to the Friday night dinner-dance and a Saturday night ball ticket, which goes for $200, he said.

“We always sold them real quickly,” he said.

McCrery calls the ethics interpretation unnecessary.

“From what I’ve heard, it sounds like overkill to me,” McCrery said.

Tim Jenkins was the Washington attorney hired by the krewe to get the interpretations from the ethics committees. Jenkins said control and distribution of the tickets likely isn’t a problem but the krewe wanted to be extra careful.

“The last thing you want to do is get somebody in trouble for going to a party,” said Ted Jones, a longtime krewe member who helps run the parties.