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www.politico.com

Ticketmaster’s troubled handling of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour prompted California lawmakers to spend months cracking down on the ticketing industry — while they enjoyed thousands of dollars worth of free tickets themselves from interest groups, a POLITICO analysis shows.

One assemblymember even appears to have accepted concert tickets to that very Swift tour, which prompted the effort to dismantle ticketing monopolies following backlash over Ticketmaster’s glitch-riddled sales rollout. She was later involved in legislative efforts to regulate the industry that ultimately stalled.

The findings are part of a wider POLITICO analysis of all 120 state lawmakers’ financial disclosures last year that found 66 state assemblymembers and senators received more than $30,000 total worth of tickets. The giveaways included entrance to Disneyland with mouse ears included, a music festival pass to see country music stars like Eric Church, and San Francisco 49ers seats. One of the biggest recipients of tickets to college sporting events also chairs the higher education committee.

  • @thesporkeffect
    56•4 months ago

    I love how carefully the article steps around the central issue of who was doing the bribing. In context it seems likely it was Ticketmaster lobbyists, but the article would have you presume the tickets materialized from the ether and landed gently on a series of legislator desks.

    • @[email protected]English
      5•4 months ago

      Does “accepting” a gift/ticket mean they used that ticket? What if someone accepted a ticket, put it on the form as a gift, but didn’t use it? Or are they one and the same.

      • FuglyDuckEnglish
        7•4 months ago

        Prove that it wasn’t used.

        They should never have been accepted in the first place.

        • @[email protected]English
          -2•4 months ago

          I mean, yeah that’s what I’m saying. Do they check to see if they were used? verything is electronic. There are no paper tickmaster tickets.

          • FuglyDuckEnglish
            3•4 months ago

            What’s your point?

            Prove the tickets weren’t used. Prove that there is no corruption.

            Once you receive those tickets, or whatever the bribe is, it’s a hook. Any amount of “yeah but” here only allows more corruption.

            • @[email protected]English
              -2•4 months ago

              I’m asking if they check to see if the tickets were used. I don’t know why that’s difficult for you to understand.

              • FuglyDuckEnglish
                2•4 months ago

                ticketmaster can check.

                But oversight committees or whatever? Good luck with that.

                It’s almost impossible to verify those tickets weren’t used. Even if they can demonstrate they were someplace else the entire night- those tickets could have been given to friends or family. Or scalped, or any other sort of thing.

                Even if they didn’t use them, they’re still a hook because of how it appears. Once somebody receives free stuff, in what is obviously a quid pro quo, any moral integrity is lost.

                How is that so difficult for you to understand?

                • @[email protected]English
                  -1•4 months ago

                  Nice edit after the fact.
                  You’re obviously emotional about this, and I could care less, I’m just asking about the process.

                  Chill out homie.

                • @[email protected]English
                  -1•4 months ago

                  If they used in anyway then the bribe was successful. If they only accepted it as a “whatever thanks”, filed it in the books, and then never used it then they were not successful bribed.

                  That’s my point of view on it. Obviously flat out not accepting it would be key though.
                  I’m not well versed in the area of accepting bribes. But Im willing to learn first-hand. Wink wink

  • @[email protected]
    2•4 months ago

    Considering how much the tickets cost the few times I was interested in seeing something live, $30,000 worth of tickets isn’t that many tickets. This feels like manufactured outrage to me.

    • @[email protected]OP
      3•4 months ago

      The article goes into that, if you’d bothered to read it.

      A freebie worth $590 is well below the $5,500 maximum campaign donation from an individual or business. But gifts like tickets can make a much greater impact, said Daniel Schnur, a government ethics expert and former chair of the Fair Political Practices Commission.

      “If I send money to a legislator’s campaign account, I get a thank you note. If I attend a reception, I get a handshake. If I take them out to lunch or dinner, I get a conversation,” Schnur said. “But if I get them tickets for a concert or a basketball game, I now have a friend who takes my phone calls.”