Greedy O.C. Fair Board forced to cut their “free” concert ticket allocation again!

Kudos to Jim Porterfield, our friend from “Stop Government Greed.”  You may recall that Porterfield filed a complaint with O.C. District Attorney Tony Rackauckas after the O.C. Fair Board refused to let him speak before they voted to allow themselves to take ten O.C. Fair concert tickets each.  Prior to being outed by the O.C. Register, the greedy pigs on the O.C. Fair Board used to give themselves up to 26 “free” O.C. Fair concert tickets – to each show!

The O.C. Register found that the greedy board members had given themselves almost a million dollars in “free” concert tickets and “free” gourmet meals – this is money that SHOULD have gone into the public till.  Remember that these very same board members just raised prices, again, for next year’s Fair!

So on Thursday, at the Board meeting, the board members finally allowed Porterfield to speak, then they did what their own staff had recommended at their last meeting – they cut their concert ticket allocation to six tickets each.  That’s better.  But they are STILL going to be eating gourmet meals at public expense.  That’s not good – particularly when the public is paying more than ever for THEIR Fair food!

So here’s what Porterfield told the greedy Fair board members, according to the O.C. Register:

“It’s unfathomable to the public how this board could take in excess of 50,000 tickets every July,” Porterfield told the board members. “How not one of you could question the morals and ethics of that decision? If it were my decision, the board would get no tickets in the future because of the abuse of the past.”

And Westminster resident Darrel Nolta had this to say to the board:

“I believe that the freebies should be zero….Premium tickets to your buddies? I’m opposed to that. That’s not a symbol of good government to the public.”

Why is it important to hear from the public BEFORE you vote?  “Board member Gary Hayakawa said he changed his mind after hearing from the public,” according to the O.C. Register.

But hackish OC GOP Central Committee member Mary Young was not happy, as she said, “We’re all charitable people,” Young said. “It’s very insulting for me and my fellow board members to be called all these names.”

Gee Mary – maybe you should stop being a greedy pig?

But the board members did not apologize for their greed.  Instead, check out these priceless quotes from the O.C. Register:

“I’ve been on the board for three years and never had a situation where anyone had wanted to comment on a public vote,” board member David Padilla told the public. “What happened was an anomaly and we weren’t prepared to handle it.”

Wow!  What a complete hack Padilla is!  And yes he too is a red-faced OC GOP activist.

So why do these greedy board members take the concert tickets in the first place, when the ought to be selling them?  “Fair officials say the tickets are needed to promote the fair throughout the community, among public officials and with people who could do business with the fair in the future,” according to the O.C. Register.

What a load of bull!  The board members should NOT be using these tickets to bribe folks and to enrich their already rich country club amigos.  In fact, “an Orange County Register examination of the freebies in April found that many of the tickets went to relatives, political allies, business associates and friends of board members, who got the best tickets in the house to sold-out acts such as Bob Dylan and Matchbox Twenty.”

And check this out, “In recent years, each member also has received 350 single-day fair admissions. The board reaffirmed its decision in June to limit free admission to board members and their immediate family, and allow board members to buy additional tickets for $1 apiece. The public next year will pay $10, an increase of $1.”

The greed never ends!  They raise OUR prices to an astonishing $10 and in the meantime they can buy tickets for $1.  That is just plain disgusting!

Is change in the air at the O.C. Fair Board?  Sadly no.  Their clueless new Chair, Republican activist Julie Vandermost, said that “board members need tickets to entice people who might not have come to the fair otherwise.”  No Julie – that is a LIE!

But perhaps the State of California might end the greed soon.  The state Fair Political Practices Commission “is expected to consider whether to require the OC fair board as well as government officials statewide to disclose such freebies as gifts, which carry a $390 per year limit from a single source.”  It’s about time!