Posted: Monday, 12 January 2009 11:05AM
Who's Got A Ticket To Ride?
Steve Corbett Reporting
Monday, January 12, 2009
Who got the damn tickets?
It’s as simple as that.
U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, my congressman, said through a spokeswoman that he resorted to a lottery to distribute all the inaugural tickets he received. He did that because of the overwhelming demand, the spokeswoman said.
That appears to mean that Kanjorski did no favors and was fair in the distribution process.
If that’s true, Kanjorski needs to prove it.
Nowadays in America many people no longer take members of Congress at their word. We need evidence. That’s why Kanjorski must show us the names of the lucky ones and tell us who received the tickets.
But Kanjorski refuses to identify the people who received inaugural tickets through his office.
Spokeswoman Abigail McDonough said in an email response to my request last week that to identify ticket-holders would violate their privacy.
Larry Smar, the communications director for U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, said he has to check the 393 names of the lucky ones to whom Casey’s office granted tickets out of the approximately 20,000 requests received. But Smar hasn’t yet turned me down on privacy grounds.
Smar also said that he has to check to see how many requests Casey received for tickets to any of the official inaugural balls. I also want the names of the people who received invitations to buy tickets to the inaugural balls – galas to which you must first be invited before handing over your cash.
Many of those requests also went through Congressional offices.
I want 10th Congressional District Chris Carney to release the names of the people he anointed to go to inaugural events as well.
I’ll let Philly watchdogs of good government handle Republican U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, who might not even get tickets for being a bad boy and supporting John McCain.
Why does the information matter?
Tickets to the swearing-in and related events surrounding Barack Obama’s inauguration are rewards. Tickets are favors. Receiving tickets means you have access to the powerful that many people who lack political connections do not have. Tickets are a nice political favor to campaign contributors, family and friends.
I believe the lists are public information and want a written explanation from Kanjorski and any other elected official who believes they are not.
Any member of Congress who hands out tickets to any and all inaugural-related events is operating from a publicly-funded congressional office. They are using publicly-funded phones and computers and staff.
But we’re not supposed to ask them to bother with telling the people who pay the bills who got the inside track and how.
If Kanjorski put every request in a big box and randomly pulled the winners, I still want to know who they are. But I have a feeling that some people from Northeastern Pennsylvania and elsewhere will find themselves taken care of while many people without connections find themselves on the outside looking in.
Kanjorski plans to have a reception for losers, by the way. Anybody who asked for tickets and did not get them is welcomed to his office on Inauguration Day for a historic gathering.
That’s nice.
But I want to know who is headed to the fancy balls and who has seats at the swearing-in ceremony courtesy of Kanjorski, Casey and Carney – Democrats all who now view the upcoming Obama presidency as one big gravy train.
Even the names of visitors to the White House are public record – although a federal judge only recently ruled on the case after George Bush refused to release them. So if the release of those names doesn’t violate the privacy of those visitors, how does the release of the names of people who received inaugural tickets violate privacy?
Kanjorski is playing us for fools.
I’ll ask again today for the names.
And I’ll ask Smar when he can deliver Casey’s list.
Same goes for Carney.
When I know, you’ll know.
Until then, we’re powerless. And nobody in this land of the free should ever want to be that weak. Such helplessness is downright un-American.
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