... and Lautenberg

[novillero]

www.northjersey.com/news/bergenpolitics/25658624.html

Lautenberg has hungry heart for Boss show
By CHARLES STILE
COLUMNIST
Sunday, July 20, 2008

The CEO-Candidate has turned to The Boss for help.

U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg's campaign has planned a fund-raiser for the Bruce Springsteen concert at Giants Stadium next Sunday. Donors are being charged $1,500, which includes a ground-level ticket near the 40-yard line and a dinner reception in Secaucus before the show.

The campaign requested 40 "premium seats" from the ticket agent of choice for the politically connected - the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, Giants Stadium's landlord and formal promoter of Sunday's concert. The agency routinely sets aside tickets that it sells - at face value - to VIPs, politicians business people and just about anybody else who has enough clout to avoid all-night parking-lot vigils at the ticket window - or sitting at their computers all night, scouring the Web for tickets.

The Lautenberg campaign, which had not actually received the tickets as of late Friday, will be charged $108 per ticket. But sources say the sports authority officials are now concerned that permitting a candidate to dramatically mark up tickets to fill a political war chest would be unprecedented and could rekindle another round of unwanted attention to the ticket-dispensing practice. And officials want to make sure the fund-raiser doesn't violate state ticke-scalping laws.

The seats are not close enough for donors to catch Springsteen if he decides to make one of his patented, guitar-clenching leaps (at 58 years old, it's unlikely that will happen anyway). Oh, and the 84-year-old Lautenberg, co-founder of a data processing firm, is also planning to make the show - assuming that the fund-raiser goes off as planned.


Staff Writer John Reitmeyer contributed to this column. E-mail: [e-mail]

[novillero]

The APP reporting on the Bergen Record's report...


Report: Lautenberg gets Boss tix for fundraiser
By JEFFREY GOLD • ASSOCIATED PRESS • July 21, 2008

A newspaper is reporting that supporters of Sen. Frank Lautenberg can donate $1,500 to his campaign fund and hear Bruce Springsteen at Giants Stadium on Sunday.

The Record of Bergen County reports that the Democrat's campaign has requested 40 of the premium tickets to be set aside. Such tickets are normally sold at face value to VIPs.

However, The Record says the campaign will pay only $108 a ticket.

Ticket Web sites reviewed by The Associated Press show floor seats available for $1,000 to $2,600. Seats in the upper reaches of the stadium were available online for $112.

The Lautenberg campaign and the stadium operator did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

Election law and scalping officials had no immediate comment.

www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080721/NEWS/80721028

[novillero]

Lautenberg is born to run away from deal
Donors won't get Springsteen tickets
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
BY ROBERT SCHWANEBERG
Star-Ledger Staff
It was supposed to be a nice bonus for people who paid $1,500 to attend a fundraiser for U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) -- a ticket to the Bruce Springsteen concert Sunday at Giants Stadium.

But the Lautenberg campaign canceled its order for 40 tickets yesterday after it came under review by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which is promoting the concert, and drew fire from Republicans.

"On the basis of the Sports Authority's recent statements, and despite the fact that the Sports Authority agreed to sell us a block of tickets to Sunday's Bruce Springsteen concert, the Lautenberg for Senate campaign is rescinding its order for tickets to the upcoming concert," Julie Roginsky, a spokeswoman for the Lautenberg campaign, said yesterday.

"The campaign is also asking the Sports Authority to re-examine its practice of reserving tickets, in order to ensure that its tickets are available to all New Jersey residents, not just to VIPs," Roginsky added.

John Samerjan, a spokesman for the authority, said it will review how many tickets it reserves for VIPs and special customers.

"There will be a clear-cut policy that the authority has for these events that it promotes going forward so there will be no questions," Samerjan said. He said the practice of setting aside some seats for favored customers is widespread and long-standing.

"Every building in America -- every stadium, every Broadway theater -- has house seats. It's for VIPs, it's for people you do business with, it's for promotional purposes," Samerjan said. "That's been true since time immemorial."

Samerjan said that because the Sports Authority is directly promoting the Springsteen concert, it had "more than the normal amount of tickets available." He said the authority agreed to sell a block of 40 tickets to Lautenberg's campaign for $108 each, "which is the going rate -- $98 plus a $10 service charge." He described them as "good seats" on the lower level but not the best in the house.

The tickets had not yet been delivered when, late last week, "we started reviewing the request with the Lautenberg campaign," Samerjan said. "They took the action they did today, which we think was proper."

The ticket agreement was first reported by the Bergen Record on Sunday. Yesterday, Republican state chairman Tom Wilson denounced it as "an old-fashioned quid pro quo."

Roginsky said the Springsteen tickets were to be a free bonus to contributors who had already paid $1,500 to attend the senator's fundraiser, also on Sunday, which still will be held. Samerjan said part of the authority's concern was whether the Lautenberg campaign was going to resell the tickets at a huge markup.

"It's a moot point now," he said.

Former Rep. Dick Zimmer, Lautenberg's Republican opponent, had some fun issuing a statement that wove together the titles of some of the Boss' biggest hits.

"Outed by the Bergen Record for trying to raise funds by marking up Springsteen tickets over 1,000 percent, Lautenberg has apparently been "Blinded By the Light" and canceled his fundraiser. His fat-cat contributors will have to be "Dancing In the Dark" with "Sad Eyes" as they recall the "Glory Days" of free tickets and backroom deals," Zimmer said. "As for me ... 'No Surrender.'"

Robert Schwaneberg may be reached at [phone] or [e-mail].

[novillero]

Stile: Dems have done the ticket thing before Friday,
July 25, 2008
Last updated: Friday July 25, 2008, EDT 11:11 AM
By CHARLES STILE
COLUMNIST

Frank Lautenberg's plan to convert coveted Bruce Springsteen tickets into campaign cash collapsed amid a political firestorm this week. But the Democratic State Committee staged a nearly identical Springsteen fund-raiser last October - and it went off without a hitch.

Democrats got the tickets at cost from the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, then gave them to loyalists who attended a $1,500-a-person pre-concert fund-raiser at Continental Arena with Governor Corzine, Bergen County Democratic leader Joe Ferriero, legislators and lobbyists, officials confirmed Thursday.

The committee's nosh-before-a-show fund-raiser was similar to Lautenberg's planned event, which he canceled after nervous authority officials refused to sell a promised block of 40 tickets to this Sunday's Springsteen concert.

The officials feared that the agency's long-held - and often criticized - tradition of selling precious tickets to VIPs was being used to subsidize Lautenberg's reelection campaign. Lautenberg had hoped to gross $60,000 by also charging donors $1,500 each for the tickets and reception.

But Democrats apparently had no such qualms last October, when the agency sold the state committee 50 tickets at $108 each, their face value plus a service charge. The authority also leased out the room for the fund-raiser, officials said.

George Zoffinger, who was sports authority chief at the time, said Thursday that the committee was charged a flat rate, but he did not know how the tickets were provided. "I have no idea," he said.

Richard McGrath, a spokesman for the committee, called the tickets the equivalent of a party favor given to donors who paid $1,500 for the reception - the fee charged by the group for most fund-raisers.

"We paid the full price for the tickets and we paid the full market value for renting the reception room," McGrath said. "We didn't resell the tickets and we didn't use them to increase the price for attending the fund-raising reception.

He added: "We shouldn't have to apologize for participating in a promotional practice that has been used so broadly by so many for so long.

"As always, we played by the rules and we did nothing wrong."

Republicans didn't buy the explanation and said the Springsteen tickets for political donation was an "abuse" of a taxpayer-funded agency.

"They were reselling Bruce Springsteen tickets to make money for Jon Corzine and the Democratic Party, plain and simple," said GOP state party Chairman Tom Wilson. "I can't think of anything that is more wrong. They used an agency of government to obtain something of value to raise money. ... It is the essence of pay-to-play."

John Samerjan, an NJSEA spokesman, said the board's chairman, Carl Goldberg, was not aware of the October event. He also said the agency does not keep records of ticket sales from that long ago. But, he added, the agency is reviewing its policies in the wake of the Lautenberg controversy.

The sports authority routinely dispenses tickets to insiders, but the practice of reselling the tickets or using them to help attract donors to a fund-raiser did not get particular attention until Lautenberg's plans were reported in The Record on Sunday. Critics say the practice is fraught with policy and ethical pitfalls.

Wilson, for example, said it could be seen as a quid pro quo, bestowing an advantage on Lautenberg, who has the power to reward the agency with federal aid for transportation work. The authority also depends on state appropriations, approved by lawmakers and Corzine.

Several party officials privately said they stayed away from the event, fearing such criticism. But others said they went primarily to boost the party's coffers. State Sen. Joe Vitale, a Middlesex County Democrat, said he and an aide attended the reception but gave their tickets to volunteers.

"I have enough of his CDs in my car. I went home," he said.

Ferriero also did not stay for the show, said Bill Maer, his spokesman.

E-mail: [e-mail]


www.northjersey.com/politics/Springsteen_tickets_for_donations_Dems_have_done_it_before.html

[adefonzo]

Jul 22, 2008 11:57:54 GMT -5 novillero said:

"On the basis of the Sports Authority's recent statements, and despite the fact that the Sports Authority agreed to sell us a block of tickets to Sunday's Bruce Springsteen concert, the Lautenberg for Senate campaign is rescinding its order for tickets to the upcoming concert," Julie Roginsky, a spokeswoman for the Lautenberg campaign, said yesterday.

"The campaign is also asking the Sports Authority to re-examine its practice of reserving tickets, in order to ensure that its tickets are available to all New Jersey residents, not just to VIPs," Roginsky added.

This story is a joke...on so many levels...

First of all, I love how all of a sudden the NJSEA got a conscience and wonders if it's ethical to sell tickets that the political party will then use as gifts for people attending a fund raiser...after years of themselves using their own tickets as "gifts" to VIP's, politicians, vendors, clients, etc etc, now they're concerned about the appearance of things.

Then you have the quote above...now that Lautenberg's campaign can't get the tickets, all of a sudden they want the NJSEA to look into their practice of holding back tickets for these VIP's and ensuring that these tickets are made available to all New Jersey residents...sure...you loved getting them for years, but now that you have been denied, you want to make it look as if you're looking out for us "regular folks"

Then you've got the Republican's chiming in with the "holier than thou" attitude that commonly comes when one side of the aisle is in a bit of a scandal...nevermind the fact that I am positive Republican's have gotten their fair share of freebies over the years as well.

This is the common circus that surrounds this type of story, the media loves to hype it up and get people complaining...and it's all GARBAGE!!! It's been happening for years, it's going to happen again after this incident...trust me.

There is one other quote that I did pick up on, by GOP Chairman Tom Wilson that is at the heart of the whole problem...and I would hope that he'll hold his party to the same ideals..."They used an agency of government to obtain something of value to raise money. ... It is the essence of pay-to-play"

On that point...I agree...but it ain't just the Democrat's doing it Tom...it's all of you.