PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – House Speaker William Murphy came under fire Wednesday from a government watchdog group after bringing several state lawmakers to a Boston Celtics game.

Operation Clean Government said Murphy appeared to have violated ethics rules when he took lawmakers to a March 2 game against the Los Angeles Lakers. They took a luxury coach to the game and sat in a luxury box, which is estimated to cost $4,950 for a midweek game, WJAR-TV reported.

Murphy told the station that he had done nothing wrong. He said he hadn’t yet received the bills, but planned to pay them this week. He did not say who owned the luxury box, but said the owner gave him and his colleagues the seats on the understanding he would pay for them.

“Obviously, the expenditures will show up on my campaign finance report,” Murphy said Tuesday.

“The problem with that is that he’s already received the gift,” Sara Quinn of Operation Clean Government told WJAR. “If, in fact, this is a box owned by a corporation, then he’s in violation of campaign finance law because that’s a corporate gift.”

The state Ethics Code bars elected officials from accepting single gifts worth more than $150, or gifts from a single source that together are worth more than $450, in a given year.

She said reimbursing the company for the cost of the gift after the fact still violates with state law.

“You can’t do that. It’s a corporate gift that’s already been received,” she said.

Murphy was also criticized for taking three House lawmakers, Raymond Gallison, D-Bristol, Peter Kilmartin, D-Pawtucket and Timothy Williamson, D-West Warwick, away from a committee vote on separation of powers legislation.

The three had voted on the bills that were scheduled when they left for the game. Murphy said the vote they missed wasn’t on the calendar.

AP-ES-03-09-05 1823EST