CHICAGO _ Chicago aldermen on Wednesday continued to press for further explanation of an ethics rule that would curtail their ability to get their hands on sought-after sports tickets, calling on City Hall's watchdog to clarify when exactly standards that were established in response to a playoff ticket offer from the Cubs would apply.
City Inspector General Joseph Ferguson urged aldermen to consider the public perception of them accepting face value playoff tickets from the Cubs.
But Ferguson declined to lend his interpretation to a recent Board of Ethics ruling that said aldermen cannot take tickets offered by the Cubs to World Series games at Wrigley Field unless they perform a ceremonial duty at the game. The ruling says taking tickets could violate a ban on elected officials accepting gifts worth more than $50.
"We do not interpret the law," Ferguson said repeatedly during his annual budget hearing as aldermen questioned him about the Ethics Board ruling.
He said aldermen should sit down with ethics board members after the World Series to figure out exactly what the standards mean.
After his hearing ended, Ferguson said aldermen ought to think more about how it looks for them to get tickets at face value that could cost constituents thousands of dollars.
"What was missing in the back-and-forth that occurred here was sort of consideration of the optics and the appearance, and the appearance of possible conflicts of interest," he said.
"Above and beyond, as a cultural matter, especially at this moment in the city's history, yes, we should be thinking about the appearance of conflict," he said.
Throughout Ferguson's hearing, aldermen kept circling back to voice their displeasure with the new rules.
"It's ridiculous that 49 other aldermen or state reps or whatever can't buy tickets at face value if the Cubs so choose to do that," said Ald. Proco "Joe" Moreno, 1st.
Ald. Milly Santiago, 31st, said the tickets the Cubs offered to aldermen for earlier playoff games weren't that great, and she doesn't have the money to pay the exorbitant mark-ups demanded by scalpers.
"First of all, those tickets were not front row tickets, they were all the way in the upper deck, and if I went like this I would touch the ceiling. That's how bad those tickets were," she said.
"So it's kind of embarrassing in my part. I don't know how the rest of my colleagues feel. I think this should be a matter of individual and personal choice, because those who are not Cubs fans should just say 'No, I'm not interested.' But those of us who would like to get a chance to go to one of those games and be part of history, we should have that choice."
"I'm a poor alderman, I cannot even afford to buy a $1,000 ticket. I cannot afford that," Santiago added.
The Cubs withdrew their long-standing playoff ticket offer to aldermen after the ethics board on Friday issued a memo last week explaining that if city officials, including Mayor Rahm Emanuel, buy the tickets at face value, they would have to perform some sort of "ceremonial duty or action" like throwing out the first pitch or standing on the field with other elected officials. That's because the tickets are worth far more on the secondary market.
The memo also stated there must be "a clear and direct connection between the official's attendance and the performance of such ceremonial duty or action and the nature and location of the event itself." It went on to cite as examples the mayor or alderman whose ward includes the venue _ which in the case of Wrigley Field is Ald. Tom Tunney, 44th.
