“Members of the Orange County Fair Board have agreed to reconsider taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in concert tickets, catered dinners and fair admissions, but are holding onto hundreds of seats to this summer’s shows by Chris Isaak and other attractions — just in case,” according to the O.C. Register.
Apparently the general manager of the O.C. Fair has indicated that the Fair Board is going to reform its policy towards ripping us off by the time the next Fair starts in July. But the Board is STILL hanging on to 234 tickets per show! These people are SHAMELESS!
Upcoming concerts feature Chris Isaak, B.B. King, Alan Jackson, Seal, Matchbox Twenty and Pat Benatar.
The Board CAN decide to stop ripping us off and put their tickets up for sale to the general public. But I doubt they will.
If you think none of this matters, consider that this Board has ripped us off to the tune of $988,000 in free concert tickets, meals and fair admissions to themselves, family, friends, business associates, political allies and others over the last few years according to the Register.
State auditors say the board freebies, along with community promotions offering complimentary fair admissions, are excessive and could be viewed as an illegal gift of public funds.
The Register also discovered that the Fair Board got more than two dozen tickets EACH for every show, while the public was PROHIBITED by Ticketmaster from “buying more than six tickets per household for each show.”
And the Board members each was given “10 passes each night for dinner in the Memorial Gardens, 350 fair admissions and 68 pins that allow four people to enter the fair for free.”
This is ALL ILLEGAL. The O.C. Fair Board has “repeatedly surpassed the limit on giveaways set by the state Department of Food and Agriculture, which oversees the fairgrounds.”
And here is the kicker, “one former board member, Democratic Party leader Frank Barbaro, co-owns a ticket agency.” Apparently there is no proof that he resold the tickets he got for free, but this man clearly knew the value of the tickets he was hoarding and giving to his greedy Democratic friends.
“Besides the shows and food, board members handed out more than $25,000 a year in free fair admissions and more than $6,000 a year in special pins that allow fair entrance for up to four people.”
This story is really unbelievable! I knew that O.C. politicians, both red and blue, were mostly awful, but now we know how they really feel about us. We are just here to serve their whims. No wonder the other blogs in town are staying away from this story. In fact the blue blog in town took down our RSS feed not long after we started commenting on this story. Once we listed the names of those who took the free tickets, it became clear we were not going to join in the red and blue cover-up of this scandal.
The O.C. Fair Board members SHOULD RESIGN. And every politician who took free tickets should be listing them on their financial report forms. And they ought to pay back the taxpayers for this outrageous fraud. But they won’t. I hope the state shuts the fair down and pursues indictments of the Fair Board members.
Please don’t tell me that David Padilla, the once Race for Life guy, is now racing for Steak and Lobster and FREE concert tickets? Say it isn’t so!!! Doesn’t take these young GOP guys long to learn the old tricks from their mentors.
The value of all those freebee’s should be reported to the IRS on a W-2 as income paid to the board members – even the Fair says its compensation for their volunteer hours (pretty good hourly rate for a meeting once a month). The other claim that its advertising expense for the fair just doesn’t wash.
Art..we love you but you are very
wrong on this issue. Let us tell
you why: The OC Fair…used to be
three pigs and a rooster! Those
awful cotton candy dealers and sticky restroom floors! Try going
to that for 10 days!
The Fair Board to their credit are
attempting what we call “Gorilla
Marketing”. It’s sort of like getting two babes to sit in an
empty bar…they used to call them
“B” girls. Anyway, they give out
tickets to VIP’s to improve the
front row of the Concerts for people like Crystal Gayle and Ricky
Van Shelton…to inspire them..rather than the “civilian folks” with the six kids with the
poopy pants.
Are there excesses? Probably…and
that is why each Board Member is
restricted to a certain number of
tickets. Look at it this way…
the Fair has grown and the numbers
seem to either be up or increasing.
That means that the Fair is popular. We still believe they
need better food and maybe set up
something like the Food Fair in
Orange…but hey that’s just politics!
There are plenty of excesses to
beat up on in government…we just
think…we don’t have the evidence
to prove…this is one of the worst.
Every week it just gets worst.
I e-mailed the governor
R&A
Your answer makes me sad. I hope you weren’t serious when you said that putting high profile people up front is good for business.
By your own admission, the fair used to be pretty hokey. Now they get big-name performers, so why would they need to put politicians and their cronies where they can be best seen to try to impress people? They’re not already impressed by the talent? I don’t buy it.
These people are not ‘B-girls’ and the point of the latter was to get people to buy drinks. What purpose does it serve to put the ‘special people’ up front at concerts that people have already bought the tickets for?
And why would politicians having the best tickets make Joe Q. Public feel good about being forced to sit in row X exactly?
You could be right that this case is overstated, but it does seem to send the wrong message to the rest of us.
SMS
I see the Winsaps have provided us with another Sominex moment. At least this time they refer to a local OC situation rather than the usual economic lecture or some other psycho-babble I would have expected from the late William F. Buckley.
Not surprisingly their point is so far up in the clouds I can’t help but wonder what planet they live on. Well on my planet I have a small problem with people who can buy and sell me without opening a checkbook taking upwards to nearly a million dollars in freebies for a county fair.
Fairs were started as a rural recreation event for regular people to go and enjoy. What has happened to the OC fair is typical of a county run by the political elite with a desire to show that the OC is a powerful and political force to be reckoned with.
That is all well and good but it is a sad commentary on the OC especially after recent events with Corona and other political hacks. It is not surprising that the Carona name is part of this OC fair scandal but it is surprising that the Sominex twins find nothing wrong with it.
Ok people …see if you understand
if you can understand basic Marketing 101: You have a birthday
party….where do you put Grandma
and Grandpa at the table? Have you
ever been to a Professional Baseball, Football or Basketball game? How much are the seats up
front? Do you get sit next to
Jack Nicholson or Paris Hilton?
Get a grip!
Sitting at a OC Fair concert in
100 degree heat is not exactly like going to the Hollywood Bowl for an “Eagles – Hell Freezes Over” reunion! Perks? Give the
entertainers a break…do they have
to smell the poop from the Horses
to make them “regular cowboys”?
And they ought to pay back the taxpayers for this outrageous fraud.
Art:
I know you’re not big on being factual, but there is nothing to pay taxpayers for, because the taxpayers don’t pay for the OC Fair. It generates its own revenues. It’s basically a a governmental enterprise. The state approves its budget, but doesn’t appropriate taxpayer money for the fair.
But don’t let things like facts get in the way of your playing demagogue.
I hope the state shuts the fair down and pursues indictments of the Fair Board members.
Are you nuts, Art? You would shut down the ENTIRE FAIR because you think too many free tickets were handed out last year?
And what law has been violated, Elliott Ness?
To the Sominex twins.
Thanks for the lecture on basic marketing 101. Don’t you tire of talking down to us little folks?
According to a close friend who is in a well known group that performs countrywide both from fairs to concert halls, they get a flat fee for their performance. They choose where they will and will not perform and they know exactly what type of venue and crowd they are performing to. They also have an interesting attitude that they work for the people who PAY for the tickets to see them.
They don’t care who is in the front row unless the people are personal friends. They don’t care if the front row is full of freebie political hacks or poopy kid families. They get paid no matter who is there. The only concern they have is if they fill the house.
If the house is full of a bunch of freebies, the performers still get their contracted money while the fair gets screwed. That is not the performers problem. They just move on to the next venue. If you seriously believe it is just fine to cheat the fair out of whatever amount it is then you two are the most condescending people I have ever had the misfortune to read.
Jubal. I have to submit to your knowledge of how the fair political system works. If it is basically a governmental enterprise doesn’t the government get a cut of the profits some way? After all the board is politically appointed. If they have laws limiting give-a-ways that would seem to me that the government expects some form of cut from the profits. If nearly a million dollars in freebies are given away then whatever cut the state or county should have received they didn’t get. Please enlighten me further if I am wrong.
Matt/Jubal,
Did you miss this sentence in my post: “State auditors say the board freebies, along with community promotions offering complimentary fair admissions, are excessive and could be viewed as an illegal gift of public funds.”?
Does that serve to answer your question about the legality of what you and your crooked friends on the OC Fair Board did?
BTW, isn’t the Fair a public event? And aren’t the proceeds supposed to go to the State? If so, when you and your greedy friends pilfer tickets and eat food at our expense you are doing so with money that should have gone to the State. So yes, you are RIPPING OFF the taxpayers.
Art:
Maybe you missed the phrase “COULD be viewed.”
Again, how does “could be viewed” constitute a violation of the law?
And free tickets are not at “our” expense, Art. Only in your convoluted fantasy land where the rules of logic and reason are suspended can one call it a “rip off of taxpayers.”
Keep ranting.
The point that some are missing is that the “expense” to taxpayers is not a direct tax but it is still an expense. If Lobby guy/gal A gets to give away free tickets to sweetheart contractors and elected officials who then give pay too much for Gov services then we do pay a tax. That’s how these tickets are used. To grease the palms of elected officials and contractors. And it’s always done with the “we work so hard for so little pay” excuse. If it’s all private dollars then why don’t they dump the State’s involvement and run it as a private business.
Art, plain and simple, Jubal is nothing more than a political hack, who got concert tickets for his little “jubalettes” for this very reason. He didn’t get the free meal in the fair garden because he was mediocre consultant Matt Cunningham either. He got it because he hacked his way into an appointment as an “unqualified” member of the OC Parks Commission. Orange Juice fans wonder why you waste your time with Jubal’s personal attacks that he routinely deletes from his blog when they’re aimed at him.
Kudos to Art for continuing to point to wrongdoing by board members. Are the Or. Co. fairgrounds not public property? I’ll bet a whole lot more is used in the way of public dollars and “free” public services — we’re just seeing the tip of the iceberg.
As for the Sominex twins, why would anyone read beyond seeing the names?
Guess they need to book Michael Moore, Al Franken and Janine
Garofalo…this year. You guys can
then call the Code Pink group to fill in the front seats..and take their complimentary Cotton Candy and Bratwurst out the back door!
County Fairs’ require oversight for
two reasons: (1) Being sure that the Carnival Operators don’t rip
off the citizens. and (2) That the
money collected from every days entry..doesn’t get misappropriated.
Also..making sure the Event Insurance is paid up!
The Fair Board members get a say in the talent and events. We don’t
like all these Fair members either,
but as long as the Auditors buy off every year….and the party continues….”What the hay?”
#15
You probably are right but I think when the loss approaches the million dollar mark we can safely say that the tip of the iceburg is enough to start with. As to the Sominex twins, I give them 1 paragraph to make some kind of point and normally move on. Today they climbed down from their mountain and rarified air so they could bestow a few words of wisdom even I understood. I didn’t agree with it, but I understood it.
My favorite part was their last entry where the board oversees the carnies so they don’t rip off the fair. That must be so the board can rip off the fair instead, but “What the Hay”
R&A
I’m sorry but the Nicholson/Hilton analogy doesn’t hold water. These people get to sit up front because they pay a ton of money for the seats.
That being said, where do the proceeds from the fair go? Where are they supposed to go? Enlighten me, because if the money goes into the general fund, then Art is 100% correct!
SMS
Art, plain and simple, Jubal is nothing more than a political hack, who got concert tickets for his little “jubalettes” for this very reason. He didn’t get the free meal in the fair garden because he was mediocre consultant Matt Cunningham either. He got it because he hacked his way into an appointment as an “unqualified” member of the OC Parks Commission.
Excellent! The classic OJ anonymous commenter, tin foil hat snugly in place lest the winds of reason and intellect dislodge it.
Not that you care about them, but let us speak of facts.
My Jubalettes didn’t get any tickets.
As for your lunatic assertion that I got tickets because I’m on the OC Parks Commission, I can only ask: are you that much of an idiot?
Oh yes, the favors that fall my way because I sit on the enormously powerful and hugely influential OC Parks Commission.
Yep, you fit in perfectly here at Orange Juice.
Matt/Jubal,
So you dumped the kids so you could go out for a night on the town at the taxpayer’s expense? Nice. Hope you’re proud of yourself.
I took my family out to see Iron Man tonight. And I paid for everything unlike you, you damn moocher.
You ought to be ashamed of yourself. You are utterly disgusting.
And what a fraud you are. I thought Republicans were all about fiscal conservatism? Yet you are perfectly fine stealing concert tickets and food from the taxpayers. What a hypocrite. I am very glad I dumped your party. I look forward to voting against McCain in November.
Damn enjoyable and funny thread.
Sominex twins? lol
Ron and Anna – UCI has a free Alzheimer’s screening clinic you might be interested in checking out.
What is the middle part…again?
Cracks us up….just goes to show
you that you can’t mix politics and entertainment…unless you are
FOX News! CNN, MSNBC, NBC, ABC,
CBS and of course….The County of
Orange!
So you dumped the kids so you could go out for a night on the town at the taxpayer’s expense? Nice. Hope you’re proud of yourself.
Am I to assume you never take your wife out without the kids?
I took my family out to see Iron Man tonight. And I paid for everything unlike you, you damn moocher.
Good for you Art. Maybe somebody will nominate you for Father of the Year for the unprecedented act of taking one’s kids to the movies.
You ought to be ashamed of yourself. You are utterly disgusting.
This is the same Art Pedroza who always insists his attacks are never personal?
Get a life, Art.
Either everyone missed my question about exactly who it is that profits from the fair, or everyone’s dodging it.
SMS
Right you are Sara Girl…yes, in
most cases…like in San Francisco
at the Cow Palace and Fresno and
Riverside….they all have County
Fairs to show off the livestock and
have some fun. We need a Fair Specialist….like the Tellers that
run the OC Swap Meet….they probably know everything. Or we
could just call the County and ask
one of our Supervisors. They might
know!