Rotten Apples and CIAA Tickets
It might not be an exact apples-to-apples comparison, but Mecklenburg Commissioner Bill James raises the interesting question of how it is that the governor of New York comes under fire for violating state ethics laws by snagging five free tickets to last year’s World Series opener, “but the Democrats on the Mecklenburg County Commission get a pass on taking 12 skybox tickets” to the CIAA tourney in Charlotte.
Dunno. Maybe it’s because the county attorney said it was all hunkey-dorey fine.
James took issue last month with commissioners receiving upwards of $9,000 worth of “free” tickets and skybox seats to the CIAA tourney. The select tickets are annually provided to the county, which along with the City of Charlotte “donates” $200,000 a year to the CIAA. The council also receives an allotment of CIAA tickets for its largess with the taxpayers’ money.
James questioned the ethics of elected officials in effect receiving gifts in a de facto kickback from an entity that does business with the county. Along with his fellow GOP board members, James wanted to donate the tickets to a local charity, which could then sell them and make some coin for a good cause. Last we heard the county manager nixed that idea. Not sure which commissioners and councilmembers ended up luxuriating in the skyboxes, but we’re working to track it down.
Who knows, maybe the governor of NY dropped by; he apparently digs free tickets to sporting events and ethics be damned. If they ever run him out of the Big Apple, he could probably have a future in the Queen City.
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