Malone doesn't think so. But other board members of the Seattle Police Foundation see a problem serious enough that Malone may have to choose between business and philanthropy.

"I don't think anybody would argue that these video games are a detriment to the safety of police officers," said Jim Johnson, a foundation board member and CEO of the Washington Athletic Club. "I don't think Mike would want to stay on, and it would be very difficult for the board to support that. It's a direct conflict."

Malone, a Seattle music entrepreneur and co-owner of the Sorrento Hotel, helped found the nonprofit foundation in 2001 to support and honor city police.

In January, without telling the foundation, he joined the board of Take-Two Interactive Software. The New York firm's violent, anarchic "Grand Theft Auto" series has become a poster child for lawmakers and police nationwide — including Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske — concerned that such games may lead to real-life mayhem.

Malone said he did not disclose his new job to the foundation because it is temporary, and he is prohibited from talking about it. He noted that "Grand Theft Auto" was just one of 87 games sold by a firm with $1.2 billion in sales last year.

"I'm playing a temporary role in a company, with a very specific purpose," Malone said. "I don't have the same sense of conflict that I'm living two lives here."

"Grand Theft Auto," made by Take-Two subsidiary Rockstar Games, has been among the nation's best-selling video games. A spokesman for Take-Two did not return a phone call Thursday.

The American Psychology Association says teens and adults playing such games have increased aggression, although other research results are more mixed. In 2003, Washington was the first state to criminalize the sale of restricted titles to minors. That law, aimed at protecting police, eventually was overturned on First Amendment grounds.

Florida attorney Jack Thompson, who testified in Olympia in 2003 in support of the law, found Malone's name among Take-Two's board members Thursday and sent an e-mail to the Seattle Police Foundation and local media.

Thompson is suing makers of "Grand Theft Auto" on behalf of three Alabama law-enforcement officers killed by an 18-year-old obsessed with the game.

Malone cannot take money from Take-Two and "portray himself as a friend of the officers who lay their lives on the line," Thompson said. "I think it's unethical, hypocritical and duplicitous. The Seattle Police Foundation and the men and women they represent should be pretty upset."

Kerlikowske said he is not convinced about the research, but he said games depicting violence against women, minorities and police "are a great concern to me."

But he also praised Malone's work with the foundation. It gives out about $350,000 a year in grants and programs, including an annual officer-award banquet and bullet-proof shields and shin guards.

"We've had officers, because of that equipment, who are in a better position to go home at night," he said. "But an association with a company that manufactures those games, that's certainly something I'd like to talk to Mike about."

Malone said he, too, is disturbed by the violence of "Grand Theft Auto" and has tried to broker meetings between Take-Two and a video-game watchdog group.

He said he was "embarrassed" by the publicity and would explain his roles with Take-Two to the foundation board in hopes of staying on.

"Because of the temporary nature of what I'm doing, I did not announce it," Malone said. "But I did, and I'm there. I'm going to have to deal with that. The work of the foundation is far too important."

Jonathan Martin: 206-464-2605 or jmartin@seattletimes.com

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