Kevin Youkilis, after hitting a home run. In the second row, from left, are lobbyist Kevin Horan, House Majority Leader Gordon Fox and lobbyists Robert Goldberg and Marc Crisafulli.

Photo courtesy of New England Sports Network

On the field, the playoff-bound Boston Red Sox were putting on a power display, slugging six home runs in a September baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles.

From his seat near home plate at Fenway Park, Rhode Island House Majority Leader Gordon D. Fox was part of another power tableau, taking in the game with three State House lobbyists, two for gambling giant GTECH — the company involved in a 2003 ethics complaint that resulted in Fox’s paying a $10,000 fine.

Fox — poised to become the next speaker of the Rhode Island House — says he reimbursed one of the lobbyists, Marc Crisafulli, for the ticket. The box seat where he sat, which sold for $120 last season, is one of the choice seats at Fenway Park, where the Red Sox have sold out a major-league-record 550 straight games.

Crisafulli says that the seats belonged to his law firm, Hinckley, Allen & Snyder, and that he invited Fox along with lobbyitsts Robert Goldberg and Kevin Horan for a night that was social, not political –– and not unethical.

“Perception does matter,” Fox said. “That’s why I have an open-door policy, whether you’re the smallest of the small or the biggest of the big. Going to a game and talking to Marc isn’t going to give him any special advantage. We didn’t talk about GTECH. No bad deals were made. No promises were made, good or bad. It was just small talk, on my own time. It’s about building relationships.”

Goldberg, a former senator from South Kingstown, is regarded as perhaps the most powerful State House lobbyist, with an estimated $750,000 in lobbying fees this year, according to state records. That includes $330,000 from GTECH and Twin River, where GTECH provides some of the slot machines that pumped $254 million into the state budget last year.

Crisafulli, a former GTECH vice president, reports $210,000 in lobbying fees this year from GTECH and Twin River.

Horan, a former state legislator from Pawtucket, reports about $200,000 in lobbying fees this year, including $83,000 from the Newport Grand slot parlor.

Asked why he chose to invite Fox, Goldberg and Horan, Crisafulli responded, “Why not? I’m close to Bob. Kevin’s a good friend . . . Gordon is an important person in the state. We invited [Fox], and we’re glad he decided to come. It was a chance to spend time together. It was just a night at the ball game.”

THE RHODE Island ethics code forbids legislators to take any gift worth more than $25 from a lobbyist, and no gifts worth more than $75 total in a year. But since Fox and Crisafulli say the majority leader paid for his ticket, the question is whether Fox received a favor in the form of access to a ticket that the average fan couldn’t buy –– and whether the lobbyists gained special access to a powerful politician.

“How do you value access?” said Jason M. Grammit, a prosecutor for the Rhode Island Ethics Commission. “What’s the value of being able to get a ticket that other people can’t get? That issue hasn’t cropped up before the commission.”

Fox has come before the Ethics Commission three times in the past. Two of the complaints against him were dismissed, including one accusing him of joining House Speaker William J. Murphy and nine other legislators in the Coca-Cola suite for a Boston Celtics basketball game in 2005. The commission dropped that case after determining that Murphy had planned to reimburse Coca Cola, which at the time had an interest in pending legislation regulating soft drinks.

In the other complaint against him, Fox paid a $10,000 fine in 2004 for supporting legislation that gave GTECH a state lottery contract and tax incentives to move its headquarters to Providence. The week before the House vote, GTECH had hired the law firm where Fox worked for legal work connected to the Providence move, which was dependent on the legislation passing. Although Fox said he was unaware, he admitted to a “substantial conflict” and agreed to pay the fine. Crisafulli, then GTECH’s general counsel, had negotiated the deal and also hired the law firm, though he said he was unaware Fox was with the firm.

Fox said the ethics case taught him the importance of being “diligent and vigilant.” Asked whether that should have made him more cautious about attending a Red Sox game with two GTECH lobbyists, he replied, “No, because I didn’t really think of it that way, and that’s not the way I comport myself. We didn’t talk about GTECH.”

RECENTLY, MAJOR League Baseball drew criticism for selling about 75 World Series tickets to members of Congress and their aides for sold-out games between the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies. Melanie Sloan, executive director of the nonpartisan Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told The Wall Street Journal that the tickets should be considered gifts, since ordinary citizens didn’t have the ability to purchase them.

Crisafulli said Fox didn’t receive any special treatment, because he paid for his ticket. Hinckley Allen arranges to buy tickets from a season-ticket holder to about half the Red Sox home games, then distributes them to lawyers “for marketing purposes,” says Crisafulli. He said the law firm’s marketing person gave him an invoice for the game. Fox says he wrote a check to Hinckley Allen before the game, though he doesn’t recall the exact amount. There was no food or drink tab, Crisafulli said.

“We followed all the rules,” Crisafulli said. “We did everything that was appropriate. You can’t take the human element out of it, unless you legislate that people can’t talk to one another.”

At the time of the Sept. 8 game, anticipation was building about a fall special session of the legislature. The state budget, with which gambling revenues from GTECH and Twin River are inextricably linked, was in crisis. And Fox was considered the front-runner in a behind-the-scenes race to succeed Murphy as speaker.

Fox, Crisafulli and Horan said they didn’t recall what they discussed, but that there were no weighty State House issues. (Goldberg did not return calls seeking comment.)

“There might have been something mentioned casually, but the order of business was baseball,” said Horan.

Crisafulli acknowledged that “it doesn’t hurt to know people” when lobbying –– “but that has less bearing than you might think. Ultimately, issues are decided on the merits.” He added that it wasn’t fair to single out GTECH, since Hinckley Allen “represents a lot of clients.”

“But none of that had any bearing,” he said. “It’s just getting to know people.”

Fox says he doesn’t remember the conversation that night, but that the intrigue surrounding the speaker’s race “probably came up.”

“Everybody likes to talk that inside baseball,” he joked.

Unlike other legislators who are preoccupied with tickets to sporting events, Fox says, he’s not a big fan, maybe attending one Red Sox game a year –– and usually with people who are “not even remotely connected to a lobbyist.”

The Red Sox belted six home runs in that Tuesday night game against the Orioles –– a team that Fox had rooted for as a child, after someone gave him a foul ball hit by Boog Powell –– and won, 10-0. In televised replays, the Rhode Islanders can be seen cheering the homers from their second-row seats, just to the third-base side of home plate. When David Ortiz crosses home plate after tying the major-league record for career homers by a designated hitter, Fox stands to the left, clapping.

Fortunately, Fox says, he was alert when Boston center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury lined a foul ball right at him.

“I jammed my fingers and made a basket catch,” said Fox, laughing as he drew his hands against his chest to demonstrate. “The next day, I had a huge bruise on my chest.”

mstanton@projo.com