City leaders beg state Legislature: Don't take away our freebies, please!
Free tickets to see the Angels, great concert seats at the Grove, thousands of grandstand seats for the Rose Parade -- those are just some of the high-roller perks now in jeopardy as the state's Fair Political Practices Committee takes a hard line on the municipal gravy train, Patrick McGreevy reports.
In Pasadena, the annual tradition of distributing 2,100 grandstand seats for the Tournament of Roses Parade to the mayor and other city officials may also be in jeopardy. And in San Jose, that luxury box reserved for city officials at Sharks hockey games and rock concerts may too be in danger.
The grinch who would restrict the freebies going to politicians is Ross Johnson, a former Orange County state Senator who some would say has turned against his kind since he became chairman of the state Fair Political Practices Committee.
On Thursday, Johnson sided with the commission staff in supporting a proposal to restrict the acceptance of free tickets to cases in which an official’s attendance at an event serves a legitimate public purpose. The ducats are gifts that should be limited, Johnson said. Cries of protest by politicians could be heard Thursday from sports arenas and concert halls all over the state.
Don't expect the freebies to vanish without a fight. More to come in Patrick's full story.
--Veronique de Turenne
