BOB BLALOCK: A gadfly buzzes state officials over the Iron Bowl
By Bob Blalock — The Birmingham News
December 20, 2009
Jim Metrock relishes the role of gadfly.
It is one the Birmingham man has played before; Metrock was the gadfly in the ointment for public school systems that subscribed to Channel One. He pestered school boards, arguing the in-school TV news program and its ads did captive-audience children more harm than good.
Now, Metrock wants to buzz public officials who score free football tickets to the Iron Bowl each year. This year, Auburn University gave away almost 450 tickets and parking passes to 219 state officials and their staff members.
They are a who’s who of state government. Auburn delivered 22 tickets to the governor’s office, six to the lieutenant governor’s office, and four each to the attorney general’s and House speaker’s offices. Each of 139 lawmakers got a pair of tickets, as did Alabama Commission on Higher Education board members, the governor’s cabinet and assorted other state officials, according to a list Metrock requested from Auburn.
“I’m going to have fun with this,” he said.
No doubt, he will. This past week, Metrock began e-mailing letters to the officials, asking them to donate by year’s end at least $65 per ticket (its face value) to a charity that benefits children. He also wants them to promise they won’t accept free or discounted tickets from the University of Alabama to next year’s Iron Bowl. Since 2010 is an election year, Metrock wants to put those running for re-election on the spot.
“I want them to look at voters and say, ‘I had a choice to give them to a local charity but I really wanted more to go to the game,'” he said. “I want to embarrass them, quite frankly.”
Metrock’s crusade began when he read David White’s Nov. 27 story (see here) in The News about the free tickets for public officials, which outraged him.
“They didn’t earn it,” Metrock said. “It is a bonus they got only because of the position they were elected to or appointed to. So I decided to put a little pressure on them and see if some charitable organizations can benefit.”
Metrock was particularly incensed an Auburn spokesman and some local lawmakers suggested the free tickets give public officials the chance to visit the campus and facilities and learn more about the school. (No doubt scads of them dropped by Auburn’s physics labs or maybe its large-animal clinic last month.)
“That is almost insulting,” Metrock said. “I can’t even give an answer to that. If they don’t know enough about Auburn and Alabama, then they’ve got a problem. … They’re just going to the game.”
It’s impossible not to cheer Metrock on. The universities’ years-long practice helps keep them in the good graces of public officials, particularly those in the Legislature who can pass bills that will help them or kill bills that won’t. Plus, lawmakers approve the budgets for both schools.
Public officials can try to justify the freebies, but there’s no way they can. The tickets are perks they receive only because of the offices they hold and the power they wield.
It’s true there’s nothing illegal about public officials accepting free tickets. Keep in mind, though, that’s because the Legislature — which gets free tickets — wrote the ethics law to exclude tickets to sporting events in the law’s definition of a “thing of value.” Instead, they are hospitality, according to the law.
Try that line out on the poor saps who pay for tickets. Tickets to this year’s game were going for up to $300 each in the days before the game. Ticket broker StubHub last week listed a price range of $425 to $800 each for tickets to the 2010 game in Tuscaloosa.
Metrock is right. Ideally, the universities should quit handing out freebies to public officials. And if the schools continue to give them away, public officials ought to turn them down. Metrock wants the host university to give the tickets to charities, which he said could raffle them to raise money for their cause. And it sure wouldn’t hurt, the way charities are struggling in this economy, for public officials who got tickets this year to donate $130 to charities that help children.
Wish Metrock luck trying to embarrass some of our public officials, who seem incapable of shame.
“It’s this culture of political entitlement that is wrong,” he said. “If they feel like they’re entitled to these tickets, you’ve got to wonder what else they think they’re entitled to other than their salary.”
Yes, you do.
Bob Blalock is editorial page editor of The News. E-mail: bblalock@bhamnews.com. Blog: blog.al.com/bblalock
