Advertiser Editorial: Special ticket access wrong
JANUARY 14, 2011
All Auburn fans who had to shell out a thousand bucks or more for a ticket to the BCS national championship game and all fans who couldn’t get tickets at any price are justified in being upset with elected officials who used their positions to get access to tickets at face value from the university.
According to The Huntsville Times, 15 legislators — including one from Montgomery — bought tickets for $300 or $325 directly from Auburn University. Street value for the tickets ranged from $1,200 to $4,000 each.
But the real problem is that every elected official who took advantage of their office to get access to tickets essentially kept a student or a season ticket holder from getting a ticket, since demand far exceeded the number of tickets available.
The legislators who purchased tickets through the university’s governmental affairs office were Rep. Jay Love, R-Montgomery; Rep. Mac McCutheon, R-Capshaw; Sen. Clay Scofield, R-Arab; Sen. Jabo Waggoner, R-Vestavia Hills; Sen. Gerald Dial, R-Lineville; Sen. Tom Whatley, R-Opelika; Rep. Daniel Boman, R-Sulligent; Rep. Mary Sue McClurkin, R-Indian Springs; Rep. Barry Moore, R-Enterprise; Rep. DuWayne Bridges, R-Valley; Rep. Chad Fincher, R-Semmes; Rep. Richard Lindsey, D-Centre; and Rep. Craig Ford, D-Gadsden.
Some other state officials also bought tickets, but because legislators control the amount of state money that flows to public universities it is especially problematic for them to seek special treatment.
Readers should note that as long as lawmakers pay face value for the tickets, they are not violating the state ethics law. (Of course, if they scalp those tickets for a profit they clearly would be in violation of the law. But no one has suggested that has happened.)
However, just because it’s legal doesn’t make it right.
It’s probably not worth it to change the ethics law to make this illegal, but the universities definitely need to revisit their policies. The practice of providing special access to highly prized tickets to elected officials is not only horrible public relations for the officials, but it is horrible for relations between the universities and their fans.
In the meantime, the news media has the best chance of keeping this practice in check by publicizing it every time an elected official gets special access to Iron Bowl or other highly sought tickets.
