Fenty: No regrets about free Dubai trip, tickets

WASHINGTON - D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty tells WTOP the $25,000 gift from the United Arab Emirates government included his tickets to a controversial tennis tournament.

Fenty has been criticized by local Jewish leaders for attending the Dubai Tennis Championships where an Israeli player, Shahar Peer, was denied a visa to enter the country.

The mayor, who did not release any details of the trip until it was uncovered by WTOP, dodged answering any specific questions about his activities on the trip or who paid for it until late last week when D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles released a one-page memo outlining the "donation" of $25,000 for travel and related expenses.

Fenty tells WTOP the "Dubai Government" paid for his tennis tickets.

Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld of congregation Ohev Sholom-The National Synagogue, wrote a letter to Fenty saying he was "shocked and saddened" to learn Fenty attended the tennis tournament.

Herzfeld and Fenty spoke privately about the issue, but Herzfeld says the conversation left him wanting.

"The mayor told me he wants to do the appropriate thing - and I'm still waiting."

Fenty says he did nothing wrong and has no regrets. The mayor says while he does have more out-of-town trips planned, he will not release any details of those trips until after he returns -- and only if required by law to do so.

"I'm not going to tell you," Fenty tells WTOP.

(Copyright 2009 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)