CARSON CITY -- Nevada Center for Public Ethics President Craig Walton said Tuesday legislators should have known intuitively it was wrong to accept free tickets to attend a Rolling Stones concert.

"Why do they have to be told it is wrong?" asked Walton. "Their duty is to the people who put them in office. Every candidate or incumbent should make a statement that our relationships with lobbyists will be at arm's length. This practice of accepting gifts has to stop."

The latest count shows 10 legislators, six Democrats and four Republicans, accepted tickets from Ameriquest, the national mortgage lending company, to the Nov. 18 Stones concert at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

An 11th legislator, Assemblyman Mo Denis, D-Las Vegas, accepted tickets from Ameriquest to attend the Luis Miguel concert at Mandalay Bay.

Among those who took Stones tickets was Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, who reported he accepted two tickets valued at $650. Coffin attended the concert with his wife, UNLV journalism professor and former Review-Journal Assistant Editor Mary Hausch, who serves as a member of the board of the Nevada Center for Public Ethics.

"Wow," responded Walton regarding Hausch attending the concert with her husband.

Ameriquest on Monday agreed to pay a $325 million settlement to home buyers who were charged excessive interest rates. Customers in Nevada will receive $1.7 million under the settlement agreement arranged by attorneys general from 48 states.

The tickets were given to the legislators by former Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa, a lawyer who represents Ameriquest, the company that sponsored the Stones and Miguel tours.

Assemblywoman Francis Allen, who accepted a Stones ticket she said was worth "about" $500, said Tuesday she will donate that amount of money to Centennial High School.

"Ameriquest did some shady stuff," said Allen, R-Las Vegas. "I don't want to give the appearance of having any association with them, so I am going to pass a check on to a local high school."

Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said Monday that she earlier returned $676 to Ameriquest to cover the cost of two tickets she accepted to the Stones concert.

Sens. Warren Hardy and Dennis Nolan, both R-Las Vegas, did not initially report the gift of the tickets on their financial disclosure statements. State law requires them to list the sources of gifts valued at more than $200. Each said they will list amended statements showing the Ameriquest gifts.

Coffin said he will not return the money.

"There was no awareness by anyone that there even was a case going on against Ameriquest," he said. "I never met anyone from Ameriquest. They did not have any issues before us last session, and I am told they don't have any issues coming up. There was no perceived conditions that would make me refuse to take the tickets. Therefore, I see no reason to return the money."

Assemblyman Scott Sibley, R-Henderson, echoed Coffin's comment. Sibley accepted four tickets from Ameriquest, two to the Stones concert and two to the Miguel concert, which he said were valued at a total of $1,000.

"I would not have taken a ticket from Ameriquest if I knew about the trouble they were in," Sibley said. "But the laws worked as they were supposed to work. I reported the gift."

Walton said the cavalier attitude legislators have about accepting gifts bothers him. He said he and others were laughed at by legislators last winter when they sought to revamp ethics laws, including lowering the threshold for reporting gifts.

"They dismissed us as idealists," Walton said. "They made fun of us, trivialized what we were trying to do."

Other legislators who accepted Ameriquest tickets were Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, two worth $500; Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, two worth $800; Assemblyman John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas, two worth $800; and Assemblyman Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas, two worth $800.

Oceguera and Giunchigliani also accepted $400 worth of Ameriquest tickets to the Miguel concert.

Denis placed the value of his two Miguel tickets at $630.

"I didn't know much about Luis Miguel," he said. "I had committed to Frankie Sue (Del Papa), thinking they cost $20 to $30. As the only true Hispanic in the Legislature, I felt I had to attend a Hispanic concert."