Breaking News: Council Gets Tickets
Just in. Attorney General Peter Nickles personally delivered baseball tickets for the rest of the season to Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray.
More to come.
UPDATED:
The council received tickets to Suite 61 at the new Nationals Park, ending the standoff with Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D).
The suite has 19 seats. With 13 council members, the chairman will create a "fair rotation," said Dawn Slonneger, Gray's chief of staff.
The chairman would like to have nine more seats in the lower section so that the council has 28 tickets, the number it had to RFK stadium where the Washington Nationals played before the
new stadium opened this spring, she said. Under the old system, Gray received four tickets to each game while the other 12 members got two each.
Last month, baseball tickets became a symbol of the relationship the mayor has with the council. Hours before the games the week of April 7, Fenty's office delivered two tickets each to eight council members and three tickets to Council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2).
Four council members -- Yvette M. Alexander (D-Ward 7), Kwame Brown (D-At Large), Phil Mendelson (D-At Large) and Carol Schwartz -- received none.
In a show of solidarity, the council members who received tickets sent them back to Fenty's office to protest what they saw as a last-minute and unfair delivery of the tickets.
Some council members said they give the tickets away to constituents so getting the tickets hours before the game made them impossible to distribute. Others said it was petty to single out four council members.
The issue was similar to a standoff between the mayor and the council over tickets at the Verizon Center. In that case, Fenty gave the council no tickets at all. Washington Wizards owner Abe Pollin solved the dilemma by giving the city another suite to be used by the council.
At about 10:30 a.m., Nickles delivered the tickets, Slonneger said.
There is a game on Monday.
By Nikita R Stewart |
May 16, 2008; 2:08 PM ET
| Category:
D.C. Council
Previous: Judge Rejects Proposal Over Disabled Care |
Next: Jack Evans Switches to Obama, Opens Own Campaign
Posted by: 611? | May 16, 2008 2:41 PM
Is this news? Especially "breaking news?"
Posted by: Tim | May 16, 2008 5:05 PM
Violent crime is escalating, DCPS is failing, the economy is shot, but, by God, this Administration MUST have their baseball tickets.
Posted by: | May 16, 2008 8:42 PM
Keep those pigs in slop, boys!!
Posted by: LongTimeRez | May 16, 2008 10:46 PM
As a new home owner in D.C. with a child on the way, I would daresay that reforming DCPS would be a more pressing concern. What petty b.s. and typical of why DC government has been a joke for all of my 31 years. I am hoping for a turnaround and do believe in Mr. Fenty and Ms. Rhee. However, this graduate of Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School knows what excellent schooling is all about and expects and demands more from the DC Council! If not, I am taking my substantial and taxable income back to MoCo!
Posted by: mjwies 11, Washington, D.C. | May 16, 2008 11:19 PM
This must mean Nickles wants to drop the "interim" tag.
Posted by: 611? | May 16, 2008 2:41 PM
_________________________________________________
Fine by me so long as he ADDS a DC Home Address.
Posted by: | May 17, 2008 8:35 AM
So the inept City Council has its baseball tickets. Meanwhile, my next door neighbor with three children informs me today that the family is moving out West. The reason: the rising DC crime rate and the bad public schools. But the Council has its baseball tickets. I guess that is what is important!
Posted by: Ward 6 Resident | May 17, 2008 5:52 PM
Perhaps the members of Council should just open up their change purses and buy tickets like everyone else does if they wish to attend. This bickering back and forth is 1) a waste of time,2) a waste of tax payer money. After all aren't they being paid to LEGISLATE?
What is it with these people anyway. They have school reform, gasoline nearly $4.00 a gallon, and food cost rising everyday in our grocery stores and all they can find to make the news with is a struggle to get baseball tickets.
If you look at the attendance, they could all buy themselves a couple of tickets 10 minutes before the game startes and still get a good seat.
Now, get with the program there Councilmembers................
Posted by: Keith Jarrell | May 18, 2008 2:31 AM
The comments to this entry are closed.
This must mean Nickles wants to drop the "interim" tag.