Unfair perk for O.C. Fair directors?

Along with sampling the latest in fried foods or declaring the winner of the pig races, it would seem the directors of the Orange County Fair might not get much in the way of perks. But it turns out the members have access to a rather popular and valuable freebie that has caught the attention of state auditors. In the last two years, the board has received nearly 9,000 free concert tickets to the fairground's Pacific Amphitheater worth about $376,000, reports the OC Register.

The directors, their friends, family members, business associates and political supporters sat in choice seats near the stage to hear such acts as Bob Dylan, Fergie and Seal. The biggest free ticket taker: Deborah Carona, wife of former O.C. Sheriff Mike Carona, who helped herself to 1,118 tickets.

The Register notes that state auditors have warned the board that the perk could be viewed as a " gift of public money" and could prompt the state to cut $30 million in funding. But the threat has failed to persuade the directors to give up their allotment of free tickets.

Board members may reconsider once word spreads that many music fans lost out on choice seats because of the ticket freebies.

"People like me get screwed," said Jim Branagan, a concert-goer who paid top dollar for a front row seat for Crosby, Stills and Nash in 2003 and ended up sitting behind Mike Carona and a wall of boisterous off-duty sheriff's deputies. "You're not supposed to use your office to obtain that kind of advantage."

-- Jesus Sanchez

Photo: Lori Shepler / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[David Crosby]

Bad government deserves no respect for it is illegal and has no authority. All of our institutions seem to have fallen this direction in the last decades. there are few days that some gov't. entity hasn't fallen on scandalous if not criminal times.
Problem is its partly our fault. We only follow as far as our attention span and pocketbooks allow. To change we need to use as examples the goofy little third world republics where the people riot and sooner or later the gov't. falls.
Now its illegal to precipitate a riot in most communities in the good ol US of A. But if you just simply rely on the First Amendment and practice civil disobidience your ineffective or murdered. War. War on Washington is what it would take hypothetically to change anything. And that is too ugly to imagine. So if you allow your local elected officials to abuse tickets next they will be abusing you. Vote em out!