Fiesta Bowl report: Lavish expenses, questionable activities
by Craig Harris and Dennis Wagner - Mar. 29, 2011 11:48 AM
The Arizona Republic
Fiesta Bowl investigators have found evidence of potentially illegal employee conduct and spending irregularities that could jeopardize its non-profit status and prestigious role in college football's national championship series.
As a result of the five-month internal probe released today, the Bowl fired its longtime public face, Chief Executive John Junker, and accepted the resignations of two other top bowl officers.
The 276-page report, commissioned by a special Bowl committee last October, details a culture of excessive spending on bowl employees, politicians and business associates despite rules barring it from using its money to benefit individuals; a system of campaign contributions that could run afoul of state and federal campaign laws; and accounts of efforts by bowl staffers to mislead government investigators.
Junker declined immediate comment. However, his lawyer said that the Fiesta Bowl had posted the report on its website before it had given a copy to Junker.
"The report will now be studied in detail," attorney Stephen Dichter said. "If Mr. Junker has any additional comments, they will be made after the review has been completed."
The independent, out-of-state investigators hired by the bowl found:
- Lavish expenses. A review by investigators showed Junker was reimbursed $4.85 million for expenses over the past decade, of which more than half could not be verified as legitimate. Items expensed by Junker and other executives, the report said, included a $1,200 night at a strip club, $13,000 in travel to an employee's wedding in Missouri, a $30,000-plus birthday party for Junker in Pebble Beach, Calif. and thousands of dollars in golf-club memberships.
- Questionable political activities. Employees told investigators that the bowl reimbursed 11 staffers for more than $40,000 in political donations under a system first described in a 2009 Arizona Republic report. If true, the reimbursements would be a violation of state and federal campaign finance laws as well as a potential violation of Internal Revenue Service regulations that bar non-profits from making political campaign contributions. The bowl's political activities, according to employees interviewed in the report, were directed toward public officials who could help the bowl maintain its position with favorable legislation and ward off unfriendly laws. Those activities extended to coordinating and hosting fundraisers for candidates, also a potential violation of IRS regulations for nonprofits, giving politicians free tickets and sending them on out-of-town football junkets with lobbyists.
- Contract irregularities. A half-dozen contracts with people or organizations, including several board members, also came under investigators' scrutiny for their cost or seeming lack of oversight.
Blue Steel Consulting, a security contractor run by a full time Maricopa County Sheriff's Office employee, was paid $182,000 for services that current bowl Chairman Duane Woods said are not needed. A past chairman called the expense "excessive." Investigators also uncovered a secret bowl contract with an unidentified individual who annually is given six free Fiesta Bowl tickets and paid 10 percent of the amount of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation's sponsorship contract for the Fiesta Bowl Parade - or an average of $40,000 a year - for undisclosed services. Fiesta Bowl employees told investigators it was a mystery even to employees who the person was or why the payment was made.
The Scottsdale-based Fiesta Bowl operates through four non-profit organizations that together held $22.3 million in net assets as of March 2010.
As a non-charitable non-profit, its stated mission is to sponsor football games and related events in a way that promotes the state's higher education and economy while serving as a "source of national pride for all Arizonans." Its articles of incorporation state, among other things, that no part of its earnings or assets shall "inure to benefit of any private shareholder or individual," and that the bowl shall not "engage in any business activity or transaction which would cause it to lose its status as a nonprofit corporation."
Two dozen board members, most drawn from Arizona business or political circles, oversee the bowl's four nonprofits. But its thousands of local volunteers are the heart of the bowl's operations during bowl season - volunteers the bowl can use because of its nonprofit status.
The report, which cost the organization more than $1 million, attributes numerous spending irregularities to Junker and some top staffers.
The bowl's special committee report supports the findings of a December 2009 story in The Arizona Republic in which current and former employees said they were reimbursed for making campaign contributions. Junker and bowl officials for months denied the practice occurred.
Concealment of donations is a felony, and the findings could result in criminal charges. A copy of the bowl report was handed over Monday to the Arizona Attorney General. , It also could jeopardize the bowl's non-profit status with the IRS, which is looking into the activities.
The Fiesta Bowl is a member of the lucrative Bowl Championship Series, which generates tens of millions of dollars in annual tourist revenue for greater Phoenix. It hosts one of the country's top four college football bowl games each January, and every four years hosts the national championship game.
The agreement that gives the Fiesta Bowl its spot in the system is renewable every three years. While no immediate effect on that contract is likely, negotiations on a new contract were expected to begin next year and the negative fallout from the report's findings will give rivals material to use against the Fiesta Bowl in a bid to replace it.
"I'm disappointed, disgusted and devastated by everything," said Fiesta Bowl Chairman Duane Woods, who requested the internal investigation last fall.
Along with noting Junker's firing, Woods said Chief Operating Officer Natalie Wisneski resigned on Friday, and Jay Fields, vice president of marketing, quit on Thursday. . Fields was one of the executives reimbursed for trips to a strip club.
Woods said the bowl currently is conducting a national search for a new executive director.
Wisneski and Fields could not immediately be reached for comment today.
Probe's Origins
The Republic first reported in December 2009 that five former and current employees said they had been directed to contribute to political candidates and then were reimbursed for those donations. The practice, which employees said dated back to 2000, could violate state and federal campaign laws making it a crime to circumvent prohibitions on direct corporate political donations.
It also could be circumvention of IRS regulations barring nonprofits from "directly or indirectly" being involved in political activities. Violation of the IRS code could result in revocation of the bowl's tax-exempt status, opening it up to taxation for past and future financial activities and jeopardizing the bowl's reliance on an army of volunteers to carry out the Valleywide effort surrounding the annual event.
Fiesta Bowl officials and their lobbyist vehemently denied The Republic's report. And while they launched a short, cursory investigation, the special committee's subsequent independent probe - launched 10 months later - revealed that the first investigation was considered by many - including employees and the bowl's own outside lawyers - to have been suspect. The Arizona Secretary of State pressed the bowl and its consultants for more detailed information, and the lack of satisfactory answers from the bowl about the campaign donations led the Secretary of State to turning the matter over to then-Attorney General Terry Goddard, who launched a criminal investigation based in part on The Republic's report. That criminal probe has never been closed.
The bowl eventually created a special committee and launched a second, independent internal investigation after Junker's assistant, Kelly Keogh, told Woods in September 2010 that a cover-up was underway and that some employees had, in fact, been reimbursed for campaign contributions.
"I personally believed he (Woods) really didn't have any idea that there was a cover-up or that he was being snowed," Keogh states in the subsequent report. "I felt that he should have the truth."
Lawyers conducting the new internal probe reviewed email and electronic payroll and financial records and roughly 10,000 documents, interviewing 52 individuals with ties to the bowl over a four-month period.
The findings were compiled in a report completed March 21, and Woods said the information was provided Monday to Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne and Jim Keppel, the state's criminal division chief.
'Bonuses' Paid
More than half of the report deals with the campaign donations reported by The Republic in December 2009 and the bowl group's response to the article. The special committee report corroborated earlier employee allegations that they had been reimbursed by the bowl for political donations, though the report also made clear that donation recipients ranging from U.S. Sen. John McCain to Gov. Jan Brewer were unaware of the reimbursements.
The report said employees told investigators the bowl tried to hide the reimbursements by repaying employees through "bonuses." The political contributions were sometimes delivered by lobbyists, including the bowl's former top lobbyist, Gary Husk.
Husk has repeatedly said he never delivered campaign contributions from the Fiesta Bowl.
The bowl's investigators identified 11 individuals, including Wisneski, who said the bowl repaid them and seven of their spouses for making political contributions. In total, at least $46,539 was reimbursed; most of the money went to Republicans.
The report also details how Junker and Husk repeatedly tried to discredit The Republic's initial story, and how efforts were made to keep the activities under wraps. For example, the report says Wisneski told investigators that Husk told her to delete records and not to disclose that reimbursements had occurred. Wisneski told investigators she told another employee to alter records, but that employee refused. Husk in the report denies those accusations.
"I absolutely did not ask or instruct Ms. Wisneski or any others at the Fiesta Bowl to not keep, to delete, to destroy or otherwise dispose of documents," Husk wrote to the special committee.
Today, Husk added, "I am proud of my outstanding reputation that has been built over 28 years as a prosecutor, private attorney and businessman. In my entire career, I have never been accused of engaging in any impropriety and I am deeply honored that numerous people from all walks of life can attest to my unquestionable ethics. Although I have not seen a copy of the report, I am certain that it reflects my full cooperation in this investigation and that I provided documentation and information that assisted the investigators. I have also provided evidence that clearly demonstrates that the accusations that have been made against me are not credible. Given these circumstances, it is regrettable that the Fiesta Bowl Board of Directors would decide to recklessly publish these allegations. My integrity is extremely important to me and I would never do anything to jeopardize it."
In addition to the campaign contributions, Arizona politicians received free tickets to the Fiesta Bowl, were taken on out-of-state trips to football games, and were assisted in coordinated fundraising efforts by bowl employees, the report alleges. Politicians are not barred from accepting those gifts, but are required to disclose them in personal financial disclosure statements.
The Special Committee's investigation describes several bowl-sponsored political fundraisers, even though such events appear to violate the bowl's tax-exempt status.
The bowl also used its money to purchase more than $12,000 in tickets to professional and college football games from 2007 to 2009 for current Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, and state Rep. Ben Arredondo, a Democrat and former Tempe city councilman.
Pearce has sponsored legislation to help the Fiesta Bowl host the BCS championship and to help the bowl in legal tussles with the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority. Arredondo, as a resident of the bowl's original home in Tempe, has been a longtime supporter.
Pearce and Arredondo could not be reached immediately today.
Lavish Spending
Politicians were not the only recipients of generous spending by the bowl, according to the investigators' report. The findings detail extravagant spending on bowl staffers, colleagues and sports figures close to the organization, despite IRS prohibitions on personal enrichment.
The bowl group maintains close ties with the Big 12 Conference, which typically sends its champion to the Fiesta Bowl. According to the report, the bowl paid the conference's former commissioner an annual $48,000 retainer fee and created a $16,000 college savings accounts for his grandchildren.
College football coaches, athletic directors and conference commissioners from around the country also were regularly provided gifts from the Fiesta Bowl, which relies on their support to stay in the BCS.
According to the report, Fiesta Bowl employees received gifts paid for by the bowl's four non-profit organizations. For example, when Junker turned 50 in 2005, it says, the Fiesta Bowl paid for his birthday party in Pebble Beach, Calif. Total tab: $33,188.96.
The report says the bowl also spent at least $13,000 in 2007 for the wedding and honeymoon of Junker's assistant, and Wisneski took a trip to Paris in 2009 at the bowl's expense.
It also says Junker gave employees gifts and bonuses totaling more than $97,000 since 2000. Examples listed include a $1,000 "wedding bonus" to one employee, a $2,000 bonus to another for her daughter's wedding, and a $5,000 bonus when one employee's husband was in an accident.
Junker also had the bowl reimburse him for tens of thousands of dollars for what investigators believe were personal expenses, and the bowl paid thousands for Junker's four memberships to expensive private golf clubs - including two out of state.
Since 2000, Junker took at least 27 trips where one or more members of his family travelled with him at Fiesta Bowl expense without any specific authorization from the bowl. One in 2008 to Santa Barbara and San Diego spanned 16 days and included his entire family, the report said. Junker told investigators there was no written policy allowing it, the report states, but he considered it "standard practice" as understood by senior board members over the years. However, the past nine board chairmen told investigators they did not recall ever having such an understanding, the report said.
Woods said Junker and other executives hid most of the excessive spending from board members and that much of the inner workings were not publicly revealed until a Special Committee was created in October 2010 to conduct an investigation with outside lawyers and investigators.
Strip club
The report also describes expense reimbursements for staffers even in cases where there was little plausible explanation for their legitimacy.
On Sept. 12, 2008, for example, Junker, former bowl executive Shawn Schoeffler and Lt. Aaron Brown of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office spent more than $1,200 of Fiesta Bowl money at Phoenix's Bourbon Street. The report indicates the money was spent on dances by strippers, food and drinks at the self-proclaimed "World Famous Strip Club."
The $1,241 charge on Junker's credit card included a hand-written note of explanation: "security site planning."
Asked about that expense, Junker told investigators he visited the strip joint with Brown, whose private company provided security for the bowl, and Schoeffler to check out a venue that might appeal to college football players.
"We are in the business where big strong athletes are known to attend these types of establishments," he noted. "It was important for us to visit and we certainly conducted business."
According to investigators, Junker acknowledged that some of the bill "in all likelihood" covered payment for private dances by the strippers.
Schoeffler, the former vice president of media relations, resigned in September 2009. Investigators said in the report that Schoeffler was reimbursed for six other trips to the strip club, while Fields, who the report said recently quit, was reimbursed for two charges at the club.
A bowl employee manual says the nonprofit organization "will not reimburse expenses incurred in ladies or gentlemen's clubs."
Brown and Schoeffler both declined comment when contacted today.
Contracts
In addition to lavish parties, questionable gifts and political contributions, spending issues at the Fiesta Bowl include half a dozen notably costly contracts.
According to the Special Committee report, those contracts cover security work, public relations, lobbying and other services.
Among the contractors is Brown, a Maricopa County Sheriff's Office lieutenant who receives $182,000 a year to moonlight as security consultant for the Fiesta Bowl. Although Brown is a full time sheriff's employee, he also works year-round for the bowl.
Brown started his company, Blue Steel Consulting, in 2005, a year after he began working for the Fiesta Bowl.
When asked by investigators about his contract, Brown initially claimed he was paid only $50 per hour, but later acknowledged the higher compensation.
Besides arranging motorcycle escorts for football teams and handling security functions for events, the report says Brown supplied an off-duty deputy to chauffeur Junker's daughter to her prom and its after-party. Brown denied to investigators that he had billed the service to the Fiesta Bowl.
Junker was questioned about that, but was uncertain if the bowl picked up the expense. His explanation, according to the report: "I don't think anybody would have a problem with someone doing that for my daughter as a measure of my daughter's security."
In 2009, the report says, Junker agreed to pay Blue Steel $351,000 in advance "deposits" because Brown needed up-front capital to provide security for the national championship game, which was played in January. Junker told investigators the arrangement resulted in a "substantial savings" for the Fiesta Bowl. The total payment for fiscal 2010 was $508,776.
Maricopa County Sheriff's policy forbids conducting personal business with department resources while on the county's time. In February, sheriff's officials announced they were investigating whether Brown used county resources to conduct private business.
Because the Attorney General's Office continues its probe, a copy of the Fiesta Bowl's investigative report has been turned over for its use. Duane Woods said the bowl also is cooperating with the IRS investigation in a bid to save its tax-exempt status. Retaining that status would allow the bowl to avoid paying taxes, potentially retroactively, on its income.
Woods said the bowl also would seek reimbursement from employees who received improper benefits.
The bowl's board also is hoping the recent high-level of transparency and the departure of executives engaged in the alleged corruption will convince college football officials to keep the Fiesta Bowl in the exclusive BCS rotation.
Fiesta Bowl report: CEO Junker fired amid multiple probes
by Dennis Wagner and Craig Harris - Mar. 29, 2011 12:35 PM
The Arizona Republic
John Junker, chief executive officer for Arizona's Fiesta Bowl , was fired Tuesday amid multiple investigations of alleged political campaign-finance violations and other financial misconduct, according to bowl officials.
Junker was not immediately available for comment.
Bill Hancock, executive director of the Bowl Championship Series, said the Fiesta Bowl could be removed from the elite group that hosts a national championship game every four years.
"The BCS group takes this matter very seriously and will consider whether they keep a BCS bowl game, and we will consider other appropriate sanctions," Hancock told The Arizona Republic. "If the bowl does remain a BCS bowl its handling of thing will be closely monitored going forward."
In a prepared statement, the Fiesta Bowl on Tuesday called Junker's activities "improper and inappropriate" and said it was adopting reforms to restore public trust in the bowl. Among the reforms:
• The board will use a search firm to find a new executive director, chief financial officer and a general counsel/compliance officer to oversee the bowl's business affairs "and ensure that strict new policies and procedures are followed."
• A new general counsel/compliance officer will report directly to the board and the Audit and Compliance and Executive committees.
• The board will review and approve all compensation for senior level staff. Expense reimbursements to the executive director and any director will be approved by the board's Executive Committee.
• The board has adopted a whistleblower policy, including a hotline monitored by an independent company, so complaints can be filed anonymously.
• The board's Audit Committee has been restructured to oversee compliance issues and will overesee the compliance officer's enforcement of ethics codes, policies and legal and regulatory issues.
In December 2009, The Arizona Republic reported on political contributions by Fiesta Bowl employees who said they were reimbursed by the organization, a potential legal violation as well as a violation of the organization's tax-exempt status. The article also described bowl lobbying efforts and spending practices, both of which could breach federal rules for nonprofits.
Junker and representatives of the Fiesta Bowl's board initially denounced The Republic's report, despite the fact that it listed campaign donations that appeared to coincide with bonuses paid to bowl staffers.
The Fiesta Bowl hired former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods to conduct what was described as an independent investigation. Woods, who had political and professional ties to key figures in the controversy, reported within days that he found "no credible evidence" of wrongdoing.
But state elections officials launched a separate probe and referred their findings to the Arizona Attorney General's Office for possible prosecution. The Internal Revenue Service initiated a parallel inquiry that is ongoing.
Late last year, the Fiesta Bowl board announced that new information had prompted the formation of a special committee to hire outside investigators.
In February, the Fiesta Bowl said Junker had been placed on leave based on allegations involving the campaign contributions and questionable expenses.
Junker became the executive director in 1990 and was named the president and chief executive officer in 2000. He served three years as chairman of the College Football Bowl Association. In 2003, Sports Illustrated named him seventh most powerful person in college football. The Fiesta Bowl grew from a minor post-season football event into one of the nation's premiere bowl enterprises during two decades under Junker's leadership.
The Fiesta Bowl, based in Scottsdale, involves four nonprofit sponsorship organizations directed by a 24-member board of community and business leaders.
They oversee the Fiesta Bowl, the Insight Bowl and a prestigious National Championship college football game on a rotating basis. Annual festivities include a parade, a giant block party and other events.
The bowl's economic impact in Arizona is estimated at over $230 million per year. Its mission is to promote college football and education. Some proceeds are donated to charities.
The Republic has been a longtime sponsor of the bowl, and Republic CEO and Publisher John Zidich is on the bowl's executive committee.
Reach the reporter at dennis.wagner@arizonarepublic.com.
Fiesta Bowl report: Major players
Mar. 29, 2011 01:41 PM
Craig Harris and Dennis Wagner
Here are some of the major players in the Fiesta Bowl, and the investigation that led to the firing of Chief Executive John Junker, the public face of the bowl for two decades.
John Junker
Junker was fired today amid allegations that he misused bowl funds and was behind a scheme to reimburse employees for making political contributions, which, if true, could be illegal. Junker, who declined to comment, became the bowl's executive director in 1990 and was named president and chief executive in January 2000. Sports Illustrated named him the seventh-most-powerful person in college football in 2003. The 55-year-old started working for the bowl in 1980 and was responsible for the bowl's marketing development. His total compensation in fiscal 2010 was $673,888
Natalie Wisneski
Wisneski, the bowl's chief operating officer, resigned Friday because of reported involvement in improper reimbursements to bowl employees, including Junker. Wisneski, 46, who declined to comment today, began working at the Fiesta Bowl in 1989 in the accounting department. Although she does not have a college degree, she became assistant controller in 1991 and controller in 1994. In 1999, she was named vice president of finance; in 2006, she was promoted to chief operating officer. Her total compensation in fiscal 2010 was $391,824.
Jay Fields
Fields, who became vice president of marketing for the bowl in 2006, resigned Thursday after a report said he accepted reimbursement for political contributions he had made. The 47-year-old, who denies the allegation, previously was vice president and general manager of Cingular in Arizona and New Mexico. His fiscal 2010 compensation at the bowl was $219,019.
Gary Husk
Husk, 54, formerly a prosecutor for 12 years, was the top lobbyist for the bowl until earlier this year. In an independent investigation commissioned by the bowl, bowl employees accused Husk of trying to cover up a campaign-contribution scandal. Husk said he has done nothing wrong. In a statement today, he said that evidence he provided investigators "clearly demonstrates that the accusations that have been made against me are not credible." Since 2005, he and his firm, Husk Partners, collected $1.25 million in fees from the bowl. Husk was a deputy Pinal County attorney from 1982 to 1986, when he left to become an assistant U.S. attorney. He was chief counsel to then-Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods from 1991 to 1994.
J. Grant Woods
Woods, 56, Arizona attorney general from 1991 to '99, was retained by the Fiesta Bowl in late 2009 to investigate allegations of internal wrongdoing. His probe, which he said was conducted with Husk, lasted less than a week and found "no credible evidence" of criminal or ethical violations. Woods' background includes stints as a defense attorney, special prosecutor, judge pro tem, talk-show host, campaign chairman and chief of staff to then-Rep. John McCain, R-Ariz. Woods is considering a run for U.S. Senate.
The Fiesta Bowl spent $18,454 on a weekend trip to Chicago for state Sen. Russell Pearce.
Tempe City Councilman Ben Arredondo received tickets worth $6,240, including $4,000 worth of tickets for the 2009 Super Bowl.
Fiesta Bowl executives lavished gifts on politicians
by Dennis Wagner and Craig Harris - Mar. 29, 2011 11:41 PM
The Arizona Republic
While Fiesta Bowl executives were spending generously on themselves, a probe launched by the organization's Special Committee found they also lavished gifts on elected officials.
Over the past eight years, investigators say, the bowl sponsored candidate fundraisers, flew politicians on football junkets and provided game tickets worth thousands of dollars. In some cases, the benefits may violate regulations governing tax-exempt non-profit organizations. In others, the gifts and services may create conflicts or statutory violations if elected officials failed to declare them.
For at least five years, the report says, the Fiesta Bowl has whisked "dignitaries" to out-of-state football games.
Chief Executive John Junker and Fiesta Bowl board members said the idea was to educate elected leaders on the economic significance of the bowl games in an extremely competitive sports market.
In October 2005, for example, the bowl spent $18,454 on a weekend trip to Chicago for state Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, and several other lawmakers, including Democrats, some of whom brought family members or friends as guests. They attended a University of Michigan football game.
The report says the business agenda for that trip consisted of a one-hour presentation by Big Ten Conference officials on Arizona's bowl impact.
Pearce, other lawmakers and lobbyists were joined by family members on a similar trip to Boston in October 2008 at a cost of more than $65,000. According to the report, they attended a dinner presentation on "BCS Football: An Economic Engine for Arizona." They also saw Boston College play Virginia Tech.
Fiesta Bowl records contain no evidence that any lawmaker reimbursed the airfare, hotel costs or other expenses from those junkets.
Elected officials also sought free tickets to college and pro games.
A chart in the report shows Fiesta Bowl reimbursements totaling $6,486 for football tickets purchased on behalf of Pearce to games like the Navy-Air Force matchup. Then-Tempe City Councilman Ben Arredondo received tickets worth $6,240, including $4,000 worth of tickets for the 2009 Super Bowl, the report says.
Arredondo could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Pearce declined comment but said as he walked away from TV reporters that he "never took anything they didn't offer everybody."
Pearce's financial-disclosure statements for a four-year period, from 2008 through 2011, show Pearce disclosed a gift from the Insight Bowl on his 2008 disclosure, covering a period from May 2007 through May 2008, and listed the recipients as "me and my wife." The same entry appears on Pearce's disclosure forms from 2009 through 2011, but the item is scratched out. There is no other detailed accounting of the tickets or trips, and the Secretary of State's Office could not immediately provide Pearce's disclosure forms before 2008.
Arredondo, meanwhile, disclosed no such gifts in financial-disclosure reports filed with Tempe.
The Special Committee's investigation describes bowl sponsorship of several political fundraisers, even though such events appear to violate the bowl's tax-exempt status.
In 2007, an event was held at the Fiesta Bowl Museum for House Speaker Jim Weiers, a Republican. Mike Allen, a former bowl director, said the purpose was "to raise money for Mr. Weiers" while also showing him around the offices.
Another fundraiser was scheduled in 2006 on behalf of former U.S. Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz.
Kelly Keogh, a Fiesta Bowl administrative aide, provided investigators with a planning e-mail sent to her by Junker. Under the subject, "Hayworth Fundraiser," Junker allegedly instructed: "DO NOT send any emails frm (sic) office. U and I will discuss shortly."
Keogh said board members rather than bowl employees were asked to send invitations to the Hayworth event. As volunteers, board members could do so without violating IRS requirements for non-profits. Similar arrangements were made for a fundraiser for Scottsdale Mayor Jim Lane to get around IRS rules, according to employees in the report.
The Special Committee report says Fiesta Bowl charitable contributions were directed to organizations "that appear to be aligned with Junker's political views."
In 2007 and 2008, the report says Junker expensed a donation totaling $7,825 to the Bio-Ethics Defense Fund, an anti-abortion public-interest law firm.
Reporter JJ Hensley contributed to this article.
Fiesta Bowl report: Tribe launches inquiry
by Dennis Wagner - Mar. 30, 2011 12:41 PM
The Arizona Republic
The Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation has launched an inquiry into a secret contract with the Fiesta Bowl that paid about $40,000 per year to an associate of the tribal president.
The funds represented 10 percent of an annual donation made by the Fort McDowell tribe for the annual Fiesta Parade.
Former bowl Chief Executive John Junker has said the contractor, Billy C. Taylor of Bronson and Brandon Investments Inc., acted as a liaison with the Indian nation. However, when questioned about the contract by investigators for the bowl's special committee, Junker provided only a sketchy description of Taylor's services and could not explain why the contract included a confidentiality clause.
Phillip Dorchester, general manager of the community near Fountain Hills, said he was not aware that the agreement existed and did not believe the Tribal Council was aware of it. He said a tribal attorney is seeking more information from the Fiesta Bowl.
According to a report by the bowl's special committee, Taylor has received payments of $34,000 to $47,500 every year since 2003, plus six prime game tickets for the Fiesta Bowl. It said Taylor continued to receive payment even after the contract expired in 2008. In his interview with special committee investigators, Junker said he believed Taylor was a former chief of staff to Clinton Pattea, the tribal president, who also is a member of the Fiesta Bowl's board of directors.
Dorchester corrected that, saying Taylor never worked for the tribe but is "a close friend of the president."
According to a report issued by the bowl's special committee, Junker reacted strangely when he was asked if Fort McDowell tribal leaders were aware of the contract: He purportedly was "observed placing both of his hands over his lips before responding, 'I'm not aware, but it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't (know) because I've heard they don't like him (Taylor).'"
When asked if Pattea knew about the contract, the report said, Junker again placed both hands to his face and said, "That would be my estimation that he did. At one time they seemed pretty close."
Pattea did not respond to interview requests.
Taylor could not be reached for comment. State records show his corporation's license was revoked in 1993 for failure to file annual reports.
Fiesta Bowl employees have told special committee investigators they have no idea what services were provided by Taylor.
During an interview with those investigators this January, Junker acknowledged that he had communicated with Taylor only a few times in the prior year. However, he added, "I should also tell you I sent him a text message today, from this room, because he texted me asking for Super Bowl tickets, which I noted to him I could not provide."
Pattea serves on the Fiesta Bowl board as part of the tribe's sponsorship agreement. According to the public report, special committee investigators did not interview the tribal president about his relationship with Taylor, or about the service contract.
Will these government rulers be charged with crimes for accepting illegal Fiesta Bowl gifts? I doubt it. Sadly that's how the system works. If you or me commit a crime we go to jail. If the government rulers commit the same crime they usually get a slap on the wrist at most!
Fiesta Bowl report: Trouble may lurk for Arizona officials
by Ginger Rough - Mar. 31, 2011 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Arizona lawmakers who accepted tickets from Fiesta Bowl lobbyists to attend football games in Chicago, Boston, Pasadena and other cities may have violated state law.
Since 2000, state statutes have included an "entertainment ban" that prohibits state employees and elected officials from accepting tickets or "admission to any sporting or cultural event" for free.
The law includes an exception allowing lawmakers to attend "special events" if broad categories of lawmakers, such as the entire Arizona Senate, or a committee, were invited. However, a 276-page investigative report into the Fiesta Bowl's financial, political and lobbying activities, and interviews with lawmakers themselves, suggest that that loophole may not apply to out-of-state games attended by legislators in recent years.
The report says Fiesta Bowl employees went on at least seven trips with politicians in recent years and lists more than a dozen former and current state lawmakers, including Sen. President Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, who joined lobbyists and bowl representatives for football weekends in Chicago and Boston.
The Fiesta Bowl spent $18,454 on the October 2005 Chicago trip and more than $65,000 on the October 2008 Boston trip.
Many lawmakers who went also took spouses, children or other family members on the junkets, which included stays at the Ritz-Carlton or other pricey hotels.
It is unclear from the Fiesta Bowl's internal investigative report whether lawmakers received free game tickets as part of those excursions. Fiesta Bowl records contain no evidence that any lawmaker reimbursed the airfare, hotel costs or other expenses from those junkets. If they did get free tickets, that would seem to violate state statutes.
The Fiesta Bowl investigative report clearly states, however, that Fiesta Bowl employees paid for and were reimbursed for non-Fiesta Bowl tickets given to Pearce in 2007 and 2008.
The September 2007 tickets for the Navy/Air Force matchup were valued at $2,140. The September 2008 tickets to the University of Southern California/Ohio State matchup were valued at $4,060, the report said.
Lawmakers are required to report any single gift or accumulated gifts in excess of $500 or more in personal financial-disclosure statements. However, in many cases they did not appear to properly follow those reporting rules.
Pearce, for example, stated on a financial-disclosure statement covering May 2007 through May 2008 that he received a gift from the Insight Bowl. But more recent reports do not list any such line items. Pearce's older reports were not immediately available for inspection, according to the Secretary of State's Office.
Pearce did not respond to multiple requests for comment Wednesday.
In another example cited in the bowl report, state Rep. Ben Arredondo, a Democrat and former Tempe City Council member, received Super Bowl tickets in January 2009 valued at more than $4,000 and attended an Air Force/University of Minnesota game at the Fiesta Bowl's expense in summer 2009. Arredondo was serving on the Tempe council at the time he accepted the gifts; he was elected to the House in November.
Arredondo did not disclose the gifts on his financial-disclosure statements.
He also declined to comment.
State Sen. Rich Crandall, R-Mesa, who joined the Fiesta Bowl's 2008 Boston junket with his daughter, on Wednesday called himself a "moron" for participating.
Crandall said he was approached about it by Fiesta Bowl lobbyists as a freshman lawmaker. He said he was told that junkets were "tradition" and that the bowl annually asked a select group of lawmakers to participate. Crandall said he asked "if it was legal" and was told that it was because the organization took "several" lawmakers and that it was "not an individual gift to anyone."
"Looking back now, what a naive, first-term lawmaker move," Crandall said of his decision to attend.
However, state Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Tucson, who went on both the 2005 and 2008 trips defended her participation, saying Wednesday that she felt it was important to show support for the bowl.
"The Fiesta Bowl is a huge economic engine for this community and for the state of Arizona," said Lopez, who added that she was told she would have to pay for her game-day ticket.
But Lopez added that had she known about the other Fiesta Bowl activities detailed in the recently released report, she "probably would not have gone."
Other trip attendees, among them state Sen. Robert Meza, D-Phoenix, declined to comment. But Meza did stop by the Secretary of State's Office on Wednesday afternoon to amend his personal financial-disclosure reports, said Matt Roberts, a secretary-of-state spokesman.
Chuck Coughlin, whose firm HighGround lobbied on behalf of the Fiesta Bowl, said trip participants from both political parties were selected based on their support of the Fiesta Bowl and the bowl's legislative priorities and plans, among other criteria.
"The bowl has always received tremendous bipartisan support because of all the great works they do throughout the state," Coughlin said. "We were always conscientious of making sure that Republicans and Democrats who had expressed support for the bowl were acknowledged, either with thank-you notes, personal thank-yous and briefings, or, in the case where there were competitive campaigns, with contributions."
The Fiesta Bowl report documented a scheme to improperly reimburse Fiesta Bowl employees for more than $46,000 in campaign donations to 23 candidates since 2002. However, there was no indication that politicians who received the donations knew of the reimbursements, the report said.
Coughlin said he also was unaware of the practice. "I had no knowledge of that," he said. "I never knew about it."
In recent years, the Arizona Legislature has considered more than half a dozen pieces of legislation that have or could have affected the Fiesta Bowl. The most significant was House Bill 2035, a 2005 measure amended the Fiesta Bowl's use agreement at what is now University of Phoenix Stadium, essentially carving out a spot for a national-championship game.
Senate Ethics Committee Chairman Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu City, said Wednesday that no one had filed a complaint regarding lawmakers' relationships with the Fiesta Bowl and that there are no plans to investigate.
"We probably need to let it shake out a bit more and see if someone files a complaint," Gould said.
Reporter Mary Jo Pitzl contributed to this article.
A look at perks received by Fiesta Bowl officials
Posted: Wednesday, March 30, 2011 5:02 pm
The Associated Press East Valley Tribune
An investigative report outlines several perks and expenditures by Fiesta Bowl officials, including ousted CEO John Junker:
—COUNTRY CLUB MEMBERSHIPS: The Fiesta Bowl paid for Junker's memberships at four high-end golf courses: Whisper Rock Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.; Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in North Plains, Ore.; Biltmore Golf Club in Phoenix; and Karsten Creek in Stillwater, Okla. The bowl also paid for a golf course membership at Chaparral Pines in Payson, Ariz., for Chief Operating Officer Natalie Wisneski.
—STRIP CLUB: The bowl was charged more than $1,200 in 2008 for a trip to the Bourbon Street strip club in Phoenix by Junker and two others. The report shows expenses included food, drinks and dances from strippers.
—AUTO STIPENDS: Junker, his wife and other Fiesta Bowl executives received General Motors cars while GMC was a bowl sponsor. Junker received $8,500 from the bowl for a new car. Other executives received lesser amounts for new cars. Junker continued to receive money for cars, including $27,000 in 2009. Wisneski received an annual car allowance of $16,800
—NICKLAUS GOLF: Junker was reimbursed for $110,000 in credit-card charges for attending a Celebrity Fight Night and bidding on a golf date with Jack Nicklaus. Junker later billed his travel and expenses for the golf date to the bowl.
—BIRTHDAY PARTY: The bowl spent $33,188.96 on Junker's 50th birthday party in 2005, held over four days in Pebble Beach, Calif.
—VACATIONS: The bowl paid for at least 27 trips Junker took with his family, including a 16-day trip to Santa Barbara, Calif. and San Diego with his entire family in 2008. Other trips included $2,600 for Junker and his wife in San Francisco, and a trip to Florida for a space-shuttle launch.
—RELIGIOUS CAUSES: The donation of an executive suite at a bowl game valued at $25,000 went to a local convent for a fundraiser. Junker was also reimbursed for "frequent meals" with an executive with St. Vincent de Paul's Phoenix chapter, and more than $5,000 in membership dues for Legatus, an organization for Catholic business leaders.
—FLOWERS: The bowl paid for $75 in flowers sent to an admissions official at the University of Texas-Austin in March 2010. Junker's daughter was accepted to an honors program at the school.
—AIDE'S WEDDING: The bowl was billed more than $13,000 for the wedding and honeymoon for Junker's aide Kelly Keogh.
—GOLD COINS: Thousands of dollars on gold and silver coins gifted to employees over the years, including about $24,000 in 2008.
—PARIS TRIP: The bowl paid for Wisneski's trip to Paris in 2009 for a Hispanic businesswomen's retreat.
— GOLF EQUIPMENT: Junker was reimbursed $2,285.96 for Nike golf equipment at a tournament sponsored by the company. Another Fiesta Bowl employee charged the Fiesta Bowl more than $12,000 for Titleist golf balls at an exclusive country club.
—BRIAN WILSON CONCERT: The bowl paid almost $1,952 to send two staffers to see Brian Wilson, a former member of the Beach Boys, perform in New York.
I call them pigs, but alleged Libertarian Mike Renzulli says that pigs stands for "Pride Integrity and Guts"
Fiesta Bowl report: Inquiry into sheriff's deputy under way
by JJ Hensley - Mar. 31, 2011 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
A Maricopa County sheriff's deputy who oversaw security for the Fiesta Bowl remains the subject of an internal Sheriff's Office investigation to determine whether he performed bowl work while on county time.
The sheriff's inquiry into Aaron Brown began late last year after separate inquiries into other high-ranking sheriff's officials raised questions about Brown's security company, Blue Steel Consulting. A Fiesta Bowl investigative report released Tuesday, which found evidence of potentially illegal employee conduct and spending irregularities that could jeopardize the bowl's non-profit status, includes statements from then-bowl CEO John Junker claiming that Brown worked year-round for the bowl.
Brown cannot comment on anything related to the sheriff's investigation at the risk of losing his Sheriff's Office job, according to department policy. His attorney declined comment on the Fiesta Bowl report.
Brown has worked for the Sheriff's Office for 15 years, starting in 1996 as a detention officer.
Junker told investigators for the Fiesta Bowl that he met Brown years earlier.
"At some point, he became a Maricopa County sheriff's deputy," Junker told bowl investigators.
When it came time for the Fiesta Bowl to sign a new contract with a security provider, Junker told investigators, he realized he had a "liaison" with the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, and the professional relationship with Brown began.
Fiesta Bowl records show payments to Blue Steel Consulting started with $62,000 in fiscal 2005.
Those payments increased to about $140,000 the following two years before climbing to $250,000 in fiscal 2008 and peaking at more than $500,000 in the most recent year. The bowl terminated its contract with Blue Steel earlier this year as its investigation was under way.
Junker told bowl investigators the payments to Blue Steel were in line with the Bowl Championship Series schedule, established with a contract that extended for a four- to five-year period.
While Junker told bowl investigators that Brown and Blue Steel were available to the Fiesta Bowl throughout the year, Brown told them he typically took time off from the Sheriff's Office from mid-December through mid-January to work with the bowl.
Sheriff's personnel records indicate Brown took extensive time off during periods surrounding January's Fiesta Bowl. Records from 2005 to 2010 show he took 60 to 120 hours of vacation or personal time every year during that period.
As Brown's payments from the Fiesta Bowl rose, so did his position in the Sheriff's Office. Brown began working as executive assistant to Chief Deputy David Hendershott in 2005.
Investigations into alleged misconduct involving Hendershott and two other top sheriff's officials led to Brown becoming the subject of an internal investigation examining the possible use of taxpayer resources in his security job.
Sheriff's Office policy forbids conducting personal business using county resources or while on county time.
E-mail records for Brown's account with the Sheriff's Office show that Brown regularly used his account to communicate with Fiesta Bowl employees, including Junker, since at least August 2007. The e-mails show bowl employees and Brown discussed security for officials from universities playing in bowl games. They also indicated that security would be provided around the clock at Fiesta Bowl headquarters for weeks leading up to the bowl game.
In another e-mail exchange, a Fiesta Bowl employee and Brown discussed whether he would attend a bowl staff meeting, and they discussed an evacuation manual Brown prepared for the Fiesta Bowl.
Brown listed the Fiesta Bowl's headquarters in Tempe as Blue Steel's headquarters starting in 2005. He listed that same address until last December in Arizona Corporation Commission filings, even though the Fiesta Bowl moved its headquarters to Scottsdale in 2006.
Experts: Fiesta Bowl misconduct could bring felony charges
by Dennis Wagner - Mar. 31, 2011 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Political and financial misconduct at the Fiesta Bowl could produce a plethora of criminal prosecutions, not to mention lawsuits and regulatory actions, according to experts who analyzed the bowl's internal report.
"This is more than good ol' boys having fun," said John Coffee, a Columbia University law professor who specializes in white-collar crimes.
"Holy cow!" remarked Judy Nadler, a senior fellow at Santa Clara University's Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. "Just when I think I've seen it all, something like this comes up. It's striking the number of things that are wrong with this scenario."
At least two law-enforcement agencies - the Arizona Attorney General's Office and Internal Revenue Service - have acknowledged investigations of the Fiesta Bowl for alleged violations of laws governing political-campaign contributions and tax-exempt organizations. According to the bowl's report, FBI agents also have conducted at least one interview of a bowl employee regarding federal-campaign donations.
Representatives of those agencies declined public comment.
But experts said misconduct described in a 276-page investigation for the bowl's special committee could bring serious felony charges from federal, state and tribal prosecutors.
Depending on what evidence and testimony are produced, they said, the list of possible offenses might include: conspiracy, wire and mail fraud, obstruction of justice, unlawful political donations, tax evasion, kickbacks, money-laundering, and bribery of public officials.
In the special-committee report, investigators did not spell out laws they believed had been broken, or make any recommendations. However, their findings were submitted to the Attorney General's Office on Tuesday.
Much of the probe focused on allegations that Fiesta Bowl executives encouraged staff members to make political donations that were reimbursed with bonus checks. After an Arizona Republic report exposed that practice in late 2009, the report alleges that documents were altered and deleted as part of a cover-up.
Other portions of the probe focused on possible misuse of bowl funds for personal expenses, vacations, gifts to public officials and questionable service contracts.
William Black, a former federal regulator who teaches at the University of Missouri-Kansas City about white-collar crime, said the bowl's report describes an organization where people in control appear to prey on its resources.
"This is what we call 'control fraud,' " he said.
Black was a witness in the savings-and-loan corruption case involving Phoenix financier Charles H Keating Jr., and sees parallels in the alleged campaign contributions, influence peddling, lavish spending and cover-up efforts.
Ted Sampsell-Jones, a professor at the William Mitchell College of Law in Minnesota, said conspiracy is the overarching charge wherever two or more people have agreed to violate a law. He added that mail- and wire-fraud charges are "the bread and butter" of federal white-collar prosecutions because statutes are extremely broad.
Black agreed, noting that Fiesta Bowl credit-card statements, tax records and campaign-donation records are usually filed electronically, so false statements within them could lead to wire-fraud charges.
Black and Coffee said they also see potential for obstruction-of-justice charges, especially in relation to a brief probe conducted for the bowl last year by former state Attorney General Grant Woods.
Woods was retained on the recommendation of Fiesta Bowl attorney-lobbyist Gary Husk. The report outlined a number of conflicts for both men. Investigators for the special committee quoted bowl employees alleging that expenses and campaign records were altered or deleted at Husk's request. They accused Husk of manipulating the probe by Woods, who uncovered "no credible evidence" of wrongdoing. Afterward, the report says, Woods paid a portion of his legal fee to Husk.
In communications with special-committee investigators, Husk denied any role in campaign violations or a cover-up. He declined comment when contacted by The Republic.
Woods issued a statement last week, saying that bowl employees had lied to him. He was not available this week to address allegations in the report.
Aside from criminal violations, experts said they can envision the IRS and other government regulatory agencies cracking down. The Fiesta Bowl could lose its non-profit status. Employees, contractors and politicians might face back taxes and penalties if they failed to declare bonuses, gifts and personal expenses charged to the bowl. Politicians may be fined for failing to declare benefits in financial-disclosure statements.
Meanwhile, the scandal almost guarantees a slew of civil actions. The Fiesta Bowl could sue employees or contractors who unlawfully benefited, or who failed to fulfill fiduciary duties. The attorney general could sue bowl directors for a breach of duty.
Nadler, a former city council member in Santa Clara, Calif., who specializes in ethics, said prosecutions and litigation likely will target only the Fiesta Bowl's most egregious conduct, failing to address a culture of depravity so engrained that it was accepted or overlooked by board members.
"This is actually the worst I've seen," Nadler added. "It really destroys the public trust. And it just has to have people reeling - the greed, the corruption, the hubris, whatever you want to call it."
3 resign from lobbying firm
At least three key employees of a lobbying firm that represented the Fiesta Bowl have resigned amid a political and financial scandal at the non-profit organization.
John McDonald, a 10-year lobbyist with Husk Partners, said he submitted a letter of resignation to firm President Gary Husk on Wednesday. McDonald said two other employees, Dana Paschke and Dean S. Miller, also quit after the bowl released an investigative report with allegations that implicate Husk in improper political contributions and an attempted cover-up. Husk denied the allegations and declined to be interviewed by The Republic.
"I was shocked and disappointed - deeply disappointed," said McDonald, referring to contents of the investigation. "I just felt that it was best to separate myself from the firm."
Paschke and Miller could not be reached for comment.
Husk represented Fiesta as legal counsel and a public-affairs consultant under contracts that paid out more than $1.25 million since 2004.
When politicians take about "honesty" it means returning the money after you got caught receiving illegal campaign donations! - "three state lawmakers ... wrote checks to reimburse the bowl for free football game tickets, while others hustled to the Secretary of State's Office to amend their financial disclosure reports"
Fiesta Bowl scandal prompts Senate ethics inquiry
State Senate's ethics chief probing possible misconduct by legislators
by Ginger Rough - Apr. 1, 2011 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Fallout from the Fiesta Bowl scandal continued at the Arizona Capitol on Thursday as the chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee launched an inquiry into certain lobbying activities and campaign donations.
Meanwhile, The Arizona Republic has learned that three state lawmakers over the past 48 hours wrote checks to reimburse the bowl for free football game tickets, while others hustled to the Secretary of State's Office to amend their financial disclosure reports to list freebies from the bowl as gifts, as required by law. [I guess they would have refused the gifts if they had know they were going to get caught accepting illegal campaign contributions!]
The Fiesta Bowl and its activities also were topics of conversation during a lengthy closed-door Republican caucus meeting Thursday afternoon. Lawmakers were advised during that meeting to amend their financial-disclosure statements, if they had not already done so, to reflect gifts received from the bowl. It also was suggested that members who took trips on the bowl's dime and had concerns about their involvement should seek legal counsel.
Thursday's developments came in the wake of the release of a 276-page investigative report into the Fiesta Bowl's financial, political and lobbying activities.
The report documented a scheme to improperly reimburse Fiesta Bowl employees for more than $46,000 in campaign donations to 23 candidates since 2002, though there was no indication that politicians who received the donations knew of the reimbursements.
The report also said that Fiesta Bowl employees went on at least seven trips with politicians in recent years, and it listed a bipartisan array of more than a dozen former and current state lawmakers who joined lobbyists and bowl representatives for football weekends in Chicago, Boston, Atlanta and Dallas, among other cities. [What the hell do football games in Chicago, Boston, Atlanta and Dallas have to do with government in Arizona?]
Senate Ethics Committee Chairman Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu City, said Thursday that he was looking through members' financial-disclosure reports and campaign-finance statements and hopes to determine in the coming days whether there are improprieties or inconsistencies meriting an ethics complaint that could trigger a formal inquiry. He said he did not know how long the probe would take.
Gould said it was possible someone could file a complaint, possibly before he finishes his inquiry.
"In the end, it probably won't be my initiation. It will probably be somebody else who makes a complaint," Gould said.
The football junkets, which included some lawmakers' family members, included pricey dinners, stays in high-dollar hotels and invites to marquee football games.
The trips were legal because the state's lobbying laws contain exceptions that allow lobbyists to pay for airfare, lodging and meals. However, lawmakers are obligated to disclose such gifts - which many failed to do. [I guess they don't want to look like they are accepting bribes for passing laws. So they only disclose the bribes when they get caught accepting them!]
In addition, some lawmakers who attended the trips appear to have run afoul of state laws prohibiting state employees and elected officials from accepting free football game tickets. Since 2000, state statutes have included an "entertainment ban" barring state employees and elected officials from accepting tickets or "admission to any sporting or cultural event" for free.
The law includes an exception allowing lawmakers to attend "special events" if broad categories of lawmakers, such as the entire Arizona Senate, or a full committee, were invited.
On Thursday, the Fiesta Bowl confirmed that three lawmakers - Sen. Paula Aboud, D-Tucson, Sen. Robert Meza, D-Phoenix, and Sen. Michele Reagan, R-Scottsdale - wrote checks to retroactively pay for free tickets they received while on the out-of-state trips, which were billed as "educational" events designed to show support for the Fiesta Bowl, given the competitive nature of college football.
Aboud wrote a check for $55 to cover the cost of one ticket she received during a 2009 trip to Dallas. Meza wrote a check for $320 to cover free tickets he received to two separate football games. Reagan wrote a check for $160 to cover tickets to a Boston College game.
None of the lawmakers repaid other expenses covered by the bowl.
"Airfare and hotel and all of that stuff is fine," Reagan said when asked about the level of reimbursement. "But it's questionable whether tickets were, so I thought I would just be safe."
Reagan added that she was "disappointed" that the Fiesta Bowl never indicated whether accepting such tickets was legal. [Us serfs are expected to know the law and obey it. These politicians are using a lame excuse that they didn't know about the law, so breaking it was OK. Something us serfs would not be allowed to use!]
"If there was a question about that, I think the Fiesta Bowl should have told us that," Reagan said. "I am so honest, I would have done it (paid for it) then." [So this government nanny is saying it was the Fiesta Bowls fault that he didn't understand and obey the law? I guess so.]
A bowl spokesman said Thursday that the Fiesta Bowl continues to examine its records to determine whether other lawmakers were also the recipients of free tickets during the trips.
Sens. Steve Gallardo, D-Phoenix, and John McComish, R-Phoenix, told The Republic they have contacted the Fiesta Bowl about paying for some or all of their expenses.
Gallardo said he was awaiting an invoice from the Fiesta Bowl detailing how much he owed from a 2007 trip to Pasadena. Gallardo said he intended to reimburse the bowl not only for his game ticket but his other expenses as well. [Hey, I am honest! I always return bribes when I get caught with my hand in the cookie jar!]
"Now that we know all the shenanigans (that were going on), I definitely would have thought twice about going," he said Thursday. [Translation - If we knew we were going to get caught breaking the law we could not have accepted the money!]
Gallardo, Aboud, Meza and McComish have filed amended financial disclosure reports in the wake of the bowl investigation's revelations. Their reports now include line items indicating they accepted gifts in excess of $500 from the Fiesta Bowl.
McComish said he forgot to include a reference to a fall 2009 trip to Dallas, and he decided to check his reports after news of the scandal broke. [Politicians ALWAYS claim to forget about bribes they receive] He said he intends to pay the bowl back for a ticket to a University of Texas football game that he attended during that trip. [And they always return bribes they receive - when they get caught!]
Senate President Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, who the Fiesta Bowl report says accepted tickets and took several trips including the Dallas trip at bowl expense, continued to dodge media requests for comment Thursday, appearing only briefly on the Senate floor. He did not return calls or answer e-mails seeking an interview. [This is ex-cop Russell Pearce who thinks all criminals should be sent to prison?]
According to the Fiesta Bowl report, Pearce also was among those who took an October 2005 trip to Chicago that cost the bowl more than $18,000, and an October 2008 trip to Boston that cost the bowl more than $65,000. [I am sure Russell Pearce will tell you the $83,000 in gifts didn't influence his votes! Honest!]
In addition, the investigative report clearly states that Fiesta Bowl employees paid for and were reimbursed for non-Fiesta Bowl tickets given to Pearce in 2007 and 2008.
The September 2007 tickets for the Navy-Air Force matchup were valued at $2,140. The September 2008 tickets to the University of Southern California-Ohio State game were valued at $4,060, the report said.
Feeding off the Fiesta Bowl (and leaving Arizona with heartburn)
So now we know. The vaunted yellow jacket is just an empty suit.
The business executives who were supposed to be overseeing the Fiesta Bowl were just a bunch of overgrown frat boys, craving the parties and social status that board membership allowed without having to do any actual work.
John Junker has morphed from bowl god to strip club king.
Gary Husk needs to quit talking so much about his “unquestionable ethics” and Grant Woods? Well, I think he can kiss any hopes of ever being a U.S. senator goodbye. He gave Junker and the Junketeers just the cover they craved with his 10-minute “independent” investigation. As one prominent local attorney told me, “Inspector Clouseau would have done a better job.”
So many things to say about the many ways these people have let this community down, as outlined in a 276-page investigative report issued Tuesday.
Where do I start…
With the mystery contracts? With the various lobbyists funneled money because they had ins with a particular governor or a certain political party? With the various former college sports officials who fed off the Fiesta Bowl – even to the point of one scoring contributions to his granddaughter's college savings fund?
No, we'll start with the strippers, naturally, and with Junker's explanation that it was his obligation to check out Bourbon Street Circus.
“We are in the business where big strong athletes area known to attend these types of establishments,” he explained to investigators. “It was important for us to visit and we certainly conducted business.”
They certainly did. One night alone cost the bowl $1,242 – not including dinner and drinks at a nearby restaurant and bar. Tell me Mr. Junker, what is the going price these days for a lap dance?
“Security site planning” was indeed such a heavy obligation that the Fiesta Bowl's vice president for media relations was forced to hang out at the strip club no fewer than seven times on the Fiesta Bowl's dime, getting things ready for the cream of America's college athletes.
Money's no object, after all. Especially when it isn't yours.
Like, say, the money spent on Junker's 50th birthday party -- more than $33,000 for a bash at Pebble Beach. Nearly $18,000 a year for his memberships at four country clubs – including Whisper Rock Golf Club in Scottsdale and the Biltmore Country Club. There was money to pay an off-duty sheriff's deputy to chauffeur his daughter to the prom and money to send flowers to the admissions office of the college she wanted to attend.
Then there are perks for employees. Trips, iPads, gold coins, gift cards. Bonus for weddings and childbirth and of course, for acting as unsuspecting cover so that the Fiesta Bowl could launder its campaign contributions.
But those were nothing compared to perks for some of our leading lights. In October 2008, for example, the Fiesta Bowl spent more than $65,000 wooshing nine legislators -- Michele Reagan, Robert Blendu, David Bradley, Rich Crandall, Linda Lopez, David Lujan, Robert Meza, Russell Pearce and Thayer Verschoor -- and their various relatives to Boston for a college football game and a weekend stay at the Copley Plaza Hotel.
Along for the ride were lobbyists Gary Husk, John MacDonald, Doug Cole and Chuck Coughlin, Gov. Brewer's consultant who collected $557,000 in consulting fees from the Fiesta Bowl from 2005 to 2010. This particular business trip involved a dinner featuring a welcome speech from the athletic director of Boston College.
Brutal work trip, that.
When they weren't jetting off on junkets, our leaders were bellying up to the freebie bar. There was Ed Pastor, asking for eight tickets to the 2006 National Championship Game. There were Russell Pearce and Ben Arredondo, whose appetites for football junkets were seemingly insatiable. Arredondo even managed to get the bowl to pony up tickets for the 2009 Super Bowl. Cost: $4,000. J.D. Hayworth and Jim Lane, meanwhile, each scored fundraisers off of the Fiesta Bowl -- a no-no that could endanger the bowl's non-profit status.
And who can forget the 10-minute investigation in late 2009 when Grant Woods was paid $55,000 to check out reports that the Fiesta Bowl was making illegal campaign contributions through its employees?
Woods paid $20,000 of that to Husk – the Fiesta Bowl lobbyist/attorney who had made more than $1.25 million off the bowl in just four years.
According to the investigative report, Husk then selected who Woods would interview and what he should ask and he even prepared (some might say coached) the witnesses – steering clear of those who acknowledged being reimbursed for their campaign contributions. Husk denies any wrongdoing and released a statement touting his “unquestioned integrity.”
Woods, meanwhile, took no notes during his self-described “seat of the pants” investigation and didn't even bother to compare employees' “contributions” with “bonuses” paid by the bowl. Within two weeks, he announced that there was “no credible evidence” of wrongdoing by the Fiesta Bowl.
He was actually right about that. The evidence, as it turns out, was incredible – a wholesale looting that just may lose Arizona its BCS game.
The word outrage doesn't even begin to cover it.
Fiesta Bowl fallout: when lawmakers become lawbreakers
" 'We the people' must hold elected officials accountable if they refuse to enforce our laws."
Russell Pearce
September 2010
I never thought I'd say this, but our esteemed Senate president is right – or half right anyway. We must hold elected officials accountable when they refuse to enforce our laws and especially when they refuse to obey them.
Which brings me, of course, to the Fiesta Bowl.
There are so many vile stories oozing out of that fiasco. There is John Junker, bowl god turned strip joint connoisseur, a man whose extravagant expense account is only exceeded by his extravagant sense of entitlement.
There is a long line of Fiesta Bowl Board of Directors, the empty suits in yellow jackets whose heavy lifting consisted solely of cocktail-hour toasts.
There is Gary Husk, the Fiesta Bowl lobbyist who really needs to quit talking about his “unquestionable ethics” given the sizable number of questions about his ethics. And Grant Woods, the former attorney general who is apparently shocked to learn that people lied during his 10-minute probe into Fiesta Bowl corruption.
Then there are Junker's Junketeers -- the men and women who asked us to confer upon them the honor of leading our state. Holy Bundgaard, our Legislature is packed with liars and lawbreakers.
At least 14 current and former legislators have thus far been outed for taking free football tickets and fabulous getaways.
Pearce along with Linda Aguirre, Robert Blendu, Linda Lopez, Michele Reagan, John McComish, Paula Aboud, Steve Gallardo, David Bradley, Rich Crandall, David Lujan, Ben Arredondo, Robert Meza and Thayer Verschoor jetted off on the Fiesta Bowl's dime, to places like the Chicago Ritz or the Copley Plaza Hotel in Boston.
According to the investigator report released Tuesday, few if any of these characters appears to have reimbursed the bowl so much as a dime – until this week, that is.
As an investigator wrote, quoting the Fiesta Bowl staffer who has managed tickets for nearly 15 years: “it would be unusual for a politician to pay for tickets.”
The problem is, it would be illegal for them not to under most circumstances. Unbelievably, the law allows junkets – but not tickets.
Yet Pearce alone got $6,486 worth, not counting the game tickets doled out on the Chicago, Dallas and Boston junkets. On Friday, Pearce insisted that he paid for his tickets. This, apparently, was news to the Fiesta Bowl.
Arredondo, meanwhile, got at least $6,240 worth while a Tempe city councilman, including $4,000 Super Bowl tickets.
Speaking of illegal, it's also against the law for legislators not to disclose gifts over $500 but precious few of this crew did. Several were rushing to disclose years-old trips this week, but it's a little late for that and ditto for those who are now whipping out their checkbooks (though notably, not to pay for the junkets, just the tickets).
Reagan, to her credit, properly disclosed her Boston junket and some Cardinals tickets. But she blew it on Thursday, blaming bowl officials for not warning her about no-free-tickets law. “If there was a question about that,” she said, “I think the Fiesta Bowl should have told us,”
And I think somebody who makes the laws ought to know the laws – especially the laws that apply directly to her as a legislator.
Still, I won't be holding my breath waiting for Attorney General Tom Horne to prosecute any of our resident junketeers. Fiesta Bowl lobbyists Chuck Coughlin and Doug Cole, along with that intrepid Fiesta Bowl investigator, Grant Woods, helped host a Horne fundraiser just this week.
So we will await the Legislature's response which, at a minimum should be to immediately outlaw all freebies – with a hefty penalty for those who can't help themselves.
Good rule of thumb for our leaders: If you want to eat, pay for it yourself. If you want a weekend getaway, buy your own plane ticket and room at the Ritz.
There's only one reason you're getting all these goodies and it's not because of your winning personality.
Really, it's not so much that I care what you're getting.
It's how you're returning the favors that worries me.
Grant Woods Fiesta Bowl Referee?
Politicians, lobbyists with WV ties part of Fiesta Bowl inquiry
by Rebekah L. Sanders - Apr. 4, 2011 02:14 PM
The Arizona Republic
An investigation into the Fiesta Bowl names several current and former politicians and lobbyists tied to the West Valley.
West Valley people named in the report ranged from Congressman Ed Pastor to Gary Husk, a lobbyist for Glendale.
It's possible that lawmakers who went on trips or accepted tickets violated state law.
Since 2000, state statutes have included an "entertainment ban" that prohibits state employees and elected officials from accepting tickets or "admission to any sporting or cultural event" for free, unless broad categories of lawmakers, such as the entire Arizona Senate, or a committee, were invited.
However, the 276-page Fiesta Bowl report and interviews with lawmakers suggest that the trips and tickets provided to legislators in recent years may not have met the requirements of the loophole.
The Fiesta Bowl spent $18,454 for legislators to visit Chicago in 2005 and $65,000 to visit Boston in 2008.
Legislators and their guests sat through an hourlong educational meeting, were provided tickets to a game and stayed at hotels such as the Ritz-Carlton, according to the report.
Former state Sen. Robert Blendu, R-Litchfield Park, brought his son to Chicago and grandsons to Boston. Sen. Robert Meza, D-Phoenix, took the trip to Boston with a guest.
They did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.
The report indicates Fiesta Bowl officials hand-picked the list of invited legislators and intended the trips to be "educational, to expose legislators to college football and the importance of the Bowl to Arizona and various cities."
It is unclear from the Fiesta Bowl's internal investigative report whether lawmakers received free game tickets as part of those excursions. Fiesta Bowl records contain no evidence that any lawmaker reimbursed the airfare, hotel costs or other expenses from those junkets. If they did get free tickets, that would seem to violate state statutes.
The report also states that two state legislators - Rep. Jim Weiers, R-Phoenix, and Sen. Scott Bundgaard, R-Peoria - were among more than 20 candidates who received campaign contributions from Fiesta Bowl employees who were later reimbursed or may have been reimbursed by the college football organization. Such reimbursements are a potential violation of the organization's non-profit status.
Weiers received a $3,404 in contributions from several employees between 2001 and 2007, and Bundgaard received $356 from two employees in 2000.
The report said there was no indication that politicians who received donations knew of the reimbursements.
Bundgaard said contributions to him took place 11 years ago and "there was zero indication that anything inappropriate may have been occurring."
He added that the Fiesta Bowl should "undertake the reforms necessary to preserve the economic impact that is important to Arizona."
Weiers did not return requests for comment.
The Fiesta Bowl also spent $960 in 2007 to throw Weiers, then the Arizona House of Representatives speaker, a fundraiser at the Fiesta Bowl Museum in Scottsdale and provided tickets and parking passes worth $1,001 for the 2009 Fiesta Bowl.
The report cites a request by Rep. Ed Pastor, a Democratic congressman who represents parts of Glendale and Phoenix, as an example of the Fiesta Bowl providing tickets and parking passes at politicians' requests.
According to the report, Fiesta Bowl lobbyist Gary Husk e-mailed then-bowl CEO John Junker in 2006 that Pastor "(j)ust called to see if you could help him with 8 tix for the (National Championship Game) for some of his friends in Florida and Ohio." Junker wrote, "Looks like we should help."
The report does not make clear whether tickets were provided to Pastor and if so, whether they were free.
Pastor told The Republic that members of Congress from states whose teams were playing asked him once or twice how to get tickets from the Fiesta Bowl.
Pastor knew Husk from working on other matters and was aware Husk lobbied for the bowl, he said.
"I would ask Gary, 'What do I do? These people are telling me what can they do about tickets," Pastor said. "Usually the instruction I was given was whoever the person was looking for them, either they could call the Fiesta Bowl office or call Gary direct."
"Once they contacted each other, I was out of the loop," Pastor said. He said he did not remember which congressional members requested tickets.
Besides being the Fiesta Bowl's top lobbyist, Husk's firm has lobbied for Glendale since 2005 on a annual $120,000 contract.
Husk has worked for Glendale during the Phoenix Coyotes bankruptcy, the fight over a proposed Tohono O'odham casino and other issues.
Husk was also a key player in the bowl investigation.
The Fiesta Bowl report said Husk sometimes delivered employee's campaign checks, tried to discredit The Republic's initial story that raised questions about donations and sought to keep the bowl's activities under wraps.
Husk has denied the allegations and said "numerous people from all walks of life can attest to my unquestionable ethics." Husk said he provided evidence that shows the accusations are not credible.
Glendale spokeswoman Julie Frisoni said the city would keep Husk on board.
"We have dealt with Gary for years on numerous projects, and his reputation is obviously outstanding," she said. "He's done incredible work for the city of Glendale."
Others named in the investigation have loose ties to Glendale matters.
Former Attorney General Grant Woods conducted an initial investigation of the Fiesta Bowl. Woods last year represented the group Ice Edge Holdings, which now is a minority partner with team buyer Matthew Hulsizer. Ice Edge also received public-relations help from HighGround, a Phoenix firm whose President Chuck Coughlin is close to Woods and Husk and consulted for the Fiesta Bowl.
In addition, the Fiesta Bowl offered game tickets or suite accommodations to Glendale Mayor Elaine Scruggs and council members from 2006 to 2010.
The Republic found half the council reported their 2006 tickets as gifts in annual financial disclosures, while others did not. Two council members called the failure to report an oversight.
In 2008, the council approved a code of ethics that affirmed its members should follow state law and weighed in on when it is unacceptable for council members to accept gifts.
Reporters Ginger Rough and Craig Harris contributed to this story.
Fiesta Bowl report adds to Pearce's woes
by Gary Nelson - Apr. 5, 2011 09:37 AM
The Arizona Republic
Opponents of state Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, are using his involvement in the Fiesta Bowl scandal as fodder in their drive to remove him from office.
The report issued last week by a special committee investigating Fiesta Bowl finances was the latest in a series of recent setbacks for Mesa's most famous politician. Only a year ago Pearce was riding high, basking in national news coverage as Senate Bill 1070 became the capstone in his years-long war on illegal immigration.
Pearce used momentum from that triumph to win election as Senate president after the Republican landslide in last fall's elections.
Since then, however, he has faced stiff headwinds:
- He had to fight a home-turf political battle in legislative District 18, winning election as a state Republican committeeman by the barest of margins.
- Two groups launched petition drives to force Pearce into a recall election.
- Five Pearce-backed immigration bills died in the Senate, with most Republican senators voting against at least one of them.
- Pearce has been hammered for supporting state Sen. Scott Bundgaard, R-Peoria, who is under investigation for a February domestic-violence incident involving his then-girlfriend.
- Last week, Pearce was mentioned prominently in a report detailing financial abuses and possible illegal activities by executives and employees of the Fiesta Bowl, the Valley's home-grown college football powerhouse.
Of all Pearce's setbacks, the Fiesta Bowl report may have the greatest potential for raising eyebrows among his die-hard, "tea party"-leaning supporters. The senator has made fiscal conservatism, personal responsibility and obedience to law his lifelong mantras, but appears to have benefited handsomely from bowl executives' free-spending ways.
He is among several politicians listed as having received campaign contributions from Fiesta Bowl employees. According to the report, the bowl then illegally reimbursed employees for those donations.
No one has suggested Pearce was aware of that arrangement, however. The report lists three contributions totaling $1,025 made to Pearce by top Fiesta Bowl officials in 2009.
Pearce also participated in several football trips paid for by the bowl. For example, he and his wife, LuAnn, were among a party that went to Chicago in October 2005, staying at the Ritz-Carlton hotel and attending a presentation called "Arizona's College Bowl Impact Forum."
That meeting and similar ones on other trips were designed to fulfill requirements that the trip be "educational" in nature, according to the report.
Exact dollar amounts spent on individuals for these trips are not listed, nor are all the football trips discussed in detail.
The overall tab for the Chicago trip was $18,000 and another one, to Boston in 2008, cost the Fiesta Bowl $65,000, according to the report.
Pearce has supported the Fiesta Bowl as a legislator, sponsoring a successful bill in 2005 that helped secure the bowl's sponsorship of a national championship game once every four years.
In an interview last week with The Arizona Republic, Pearce admitted going on the bowl-paid trips but denied accepting game tickets on those trips. It would be against Arizona law for a state employee or elected official to receive "admission to any sporting or cultural event" unless a larger group, such as the entire Legislature, is offered the tickets en masse.
"I paid face value or whatever" for the tickets, Pearce said. "Whatever they told me the cost was, that was what I paid." Pearce said he intended to find canceled checks to show he had reimbursed the group for his tickets.
Geoff Esposito, field director for Citizens for a Better Arizona, said his group will use Pearce's Fiesta Bowl involvement as fodder for its recall drive.
"It's important that people know about it," he said. "It's important that people know he took those thousands of dollars" for airfare, hotel rooms and meals.
Esposito said his group is more than halfway to collecting the signatures it needs by May 31 to force a recall election.
"We're very pleased with the pace," he said.
The group is nosing around for potential candidates to challenge Pearce in a recall election, he said, but that effort will take a back seat until signatures are gathered.
Pearce did not respond to a request for comment for this article.
Reporters Ginger Rough and Alia Beard Rau contributed to this story.
John Zidich, CEO and publisher of The Arizona Republic, has been on the Fiesta Bowl's 25-member board of directors since 2005. He joined the bowl's five-member executive committee in 2010. The Arizona Republic is a Fiesta Bowl sponsor.
Opinion: Politicians failed to question Fiesta Bowl largesse
by Southeast Valley editorial board
Apr. 5, 2011 10:26 AM
Our View
The revelations coming out of the Fiesta Bowl are nothing short of disgusting. The greed and sense of entitlement revealed in the special committee's investigation turn the stomach.
Just as revolting is the way bowl CEO John Junker and his staff spread their disease throughout the community. They handed out so many favors that politicians failed to question the appropriateness of any largesse that came their way. Consider that:
- Senate President Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, was one of four lawmakers who traveled with family members in tow to Chicago in 2005.
Fiesta Bowl employees called the weekend trip "educational," though lawmakers stayed at the Ritz-Carlton and only listened to a one-hour presentation on the economic impact of college football - a presentation that could have easily been made at home. The trip cost the bowl more than $18,000.
- It was the same drill for a 2008 trip to Boston that cost the bowl more than $65,000. Pearce, former Sen. Thayer Verschoor, R-Gilbert, and then-Rep. Rich Crandall, R-Mesa, were among the guests. They stayed in a fancy hotel and brought family with them, all on the bowl's dime.
Pearce said Friday that he has paid for all of his tickets, though investigators found no evidence that lawmakers had reimbursed the bowl for these trips.
In an interview last week with The Republic, Crandall, now a state senator, said he was a "moron" for participating. He said he was told the trips were legal because it wasn't "an individual gift to anyone."
"Looking back now, what a naive, first-term lawmaker move," Crandall said of his decision to attend. At least he had the good sense to include the trip in his financial-disclosure forms.
- Unfortunately, Rep. Ben Arredondo, D-Tempe, did not. In 2009, while still a Tempe City Councilman, Arredondo received Super Bowl tickets valued at more than $4,000. Arredondo also allegedly asked for tickets that year to attend a University of Minnesota game that, unlike the Chicago and Boston junkets, included no hour-long "educational" spiel.
Neither trip appears on his disclosure forms, and Arredondo is now the subject of a House ethics complaint.
- State Sen. John McComish, R-Ahwatukee, was not cited in the 276-page investigation, but he has since amended his financial-disclosure report to indicate that he accepted more than $500 in gifts from the Fiesta Bowl. McComish said he forgot to include a reference to a 2009 Dallas trip, which according to investigators, Pearce also attended.
McComish said he intends to pay the bowl back for a ticket to a University of Texas football game he attended during that trip.
It's the right move, one that other elected officials should follow.
It would have been an even better move years ago, when it was simply the right thing to do, not a politically necessary action.
Fiesta Bowl operating licensing at stake
by Craig Harris - Apr. 5, 2011 01:41 PM
The Arizona Republic
The Fiesta Bowl will meet April 28 in New Orleans with an NCAA subcommittee that will determine whether the bowl keeps its operating license, an NCAA official said Tuesday.
Dennis Poppe, NCAA vice president of baseball and football, said the Fiesta Bowl has been invited to meet with the 11-member group that licenses college football bowl games.
Options facing the committee include allowing the Fiesta Bowl to keep its license, postponing a decision to a later date or revoking the license, which would stop the bowl game, Poppe said.
A decision also could be made on the future of the Insight Bowl, which the Fiesta Bowl operates, Poppe said.
The meeting is in response to a 276-report, commissioned by a Fiesta Bowl Special Committee and released last week, that details a culture of excessive spending on bowl employees, politicians and business associates despite rules and laws barring the bowl from using its money to benefit individuals. The report has become a major embarrassment to the Fiesta Bowl and college football.
Poppe said the Fiesta Bowl, along with all other bowls, last year received a four-year operating license from the NCAA. He said the NCAA has revoked licenses in the past for the Seattle Bowl and Silicon Valley Football Classic because of poor attendance and financial problems.
Neither the Fiesta Bowl nor the Insight Bowl has those problems, and Poppe said there is no "morals or conduct code" that could allow the NCAA to revoke a bowl operating license.
However, he said a license can be revoked "in the best interest of college athletics."
Andy Bagnato, a Fiesta Bowl spokesman, said the bowl welcomes the meeting with the NCAA.
"We look forward to meeting with the NCAA to answer any questions about the Special Committee report, and to discuss the new bylaws, policies and controls that the board of directors has put in place to prevent the activities described in the report from occurring again," Bagnato said.
Along with the NCAA meeting, the Fiesta Bowl likely will be meeting with a seven-member Bowl Championship Series task force regarding the alleged misconduct and possible illegal activity disclosed in the special report. That task force will review the Fiesta Bowl's internal investigative report and make a recommendation on the bowl's future to conference commissioners. The commissioners will then make a recommendation to an oversight committee of university presidents.
The Fiesta Bowl is part of the BCS, which includes the Orange, Rose and Sugar bowls. Being in that exclusive club allows each bowl to host a national championship game every four years, and a top-level bowl game annually.
Fiesta Bowl executives and board members also plan to meet with conference commissioners and college football officials during BCS meetings in New Orleans later this month.
John Zidich, CEO and publisher of The Arizona Republic, has been on the Fiesta Bowl's 25-member board of directors since 2005. He joined the bowl's five-member executive committee in 2010. The Arizona Republic is a Fiesta Bowl sponsor.
Fiesta Bowl gift-filing concerns rise
As lawmakers amend disclosures, system oversight still lax
by Ginger Rough - Apr. 6, 2011 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
The Fiesta Bowl scandal has exposed what good-government groups say is a key weakness in Arizona's financial-disclosure laws: The state is one of only 10 nationwide that doesn't have an independent agency tasked with reviewing or policing the reports filed annually by lawmakers.
In the past week, eight state lawmakers have filed amended reports with the Secretary of State's Office or other local agencies, acknowledging that they accepted gifts in excess of $500 from the Fiesta Bowl and its representatives.
In some cases, the modifications reflect gifts received years ago.
Their urgency to alter the reports comes after the release of a 276-page investigative report commissioned by the Special Committee of the Fiesta Bowl. The report on the bowl's financial, political and lobbying activities states that Fiesta Bowl employees went on at least seven trips with politicians in recent years and listed more than a dozen former and current state lawmakers who joined them for football weekends in cities including Chicago; Boston; Pasadena, Calif.; and Dallas.
The report also detailed a scheme to improperly reimburse Fiesta Bowl employees for more than $46,000 in campaign donations to 23 candidates since 2000.
The campaign contributions are now the subject of a complaint filed Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission, alleging that the bowl violated the Federal Election Campaign Act. The complaint, filed by the non-profit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, urges the FEC to impose sanctions or fines against the Fiesta Bowl.
"There's a lot of evidence of wrongdoing here," said Melanie Sloan, the group's executive director. "It's pretty blatant." The group's complaint focuses exclusively on campaign contributions made over the past five years to federal candidates, because those are the donations that fall under the FEC's jurisdiction, Sloan said. The candidates include Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl and former Republican Reps. J.D. Hayworth and John Shadegg.
The complaint lists 13 Fiesta Bowl employees who were reimbursed $28,500 for their contributions. There has been no indication that the recipients of those donations knew of any wrongdoing.
Although the FEC can examine some campaign contributions, the legislators' disclosure of gifts is a separate issue. It's unclear whether state legislators will face penalties for failing to properly fill out their financial-disclosure reports, as required under Arizona's law, to reflect Fiesta Bowl gifts.
The Fiesta Bowl-sponsored trips they took are legal because state lobbying laws allow lawmakers to accept free lodging and travel. However, those who accept such gifts are required to acknowledge them in their financial-disclosure reports, which many failed to do. And some lawmakers who went on the trips also may have run afoul of a separate "entertainment ban" statute that prohibits state officials or employees from accepting free game tickets. So far, at least half a dozen legislators have reimbursed the Fiesta Bowl for game tickets they improperly accepted while on the cross-country junkets.
The state Attorney General's Office will say only that it continues to investigate the Fiesta Bowl and associated allegations of misconduct. The state law
Since 1974, state law has required elected or appointed state officers, legislators and judges to file a financial-disclosure statement each year that includes information about employers, debts, gifts from non-family members, involvement in non-profit organizations, businesses and investments.
The statements are public record.
But they are not very telling. Under the "Gifts over $500" section, for example, lawmakers have to include only cursory information about what they received. Most have simply included one line that says "Fiesta Bowl" or "Fiesta Bowl committee."
There is a $50-per-day penalty for not submitting the form by the January deadline, but there are no penalties for amending the forms, Assistant Secretary of State Jim Drake said.
"The public policy behind that is that you always want to err on the side of disclosure," Drake said. "If you were to penalize (individuals) for updating their forms, it would have a chilling effect."
State statutes do say, however, that individuals who knowingly file falsified information on their forms or knowingly fail to disclose a gift could be charged with a misdemeanor. Lax oversight
The problem with Arizona's laws, watchdog groups say, is that no one routinely checks the financial-disclosure reports for accuracy.
The Secretary of State's Office merely serves as a "filing cabinet" for the reports, Drake said.
Most other states have an independent commission or agency charged with reviewing the forms and ensuring compliance with state law, said Peggy Kerns, a former Colorado lawmaker and director of the Ethics Center at the National Council of State Legislatures.
Arizona also has much more permissive state lobbying laws, Kerns said. Here, lobbyists are allowed to pay for lawmakers' airfare and hotel rooms. By comparison, states such as Florida, Vermont and Wisconsin don't even permit their lawmakers to accept a free cup of coffee.
"The trend is to be fairly restrictive on the dollar amount of gifts," Kerns said. "The reason is really to put a strong line of demarcation between the making of public policy and the influencing of public policy."
In Arizona, it is the jurisdiction of the Attorney General's Office to pursue enforcement action against officeholders who improperly fill out their financial-disclosure reports. But typically, the attorney general won't initiate an investigation unless someone lodges a complaint. That happens so infrequently that when the Secretary of State and the Attorney General's offices were asked how such a process would typically work, neither agency could immediately answer the question.
"I don't think there have been any complaints against lawmakers for (improperly) filling out forms," Attorney General Tom Horne said Tuesday. "None in recent memory, anyway."
However, Horne and his predecessor, Terry Goddard, said it would be inaccurate to suggest that the state's laws don't have enforcement power behind them.
Both recalled instances in which politicians have been investigated or penalized for violating Arizona's financial-disclosure rules.
For example, in 2008, Maricopa County Supervisor Don Stapley was indicted by a grand jury on allegations of omissions and misstatements on his financial-disclosure forms. The counts were thrown out after a judge determined the county never established its own disclosure rules for county officers. The county had been using the state form, but the state statute does not apply to county or municipal officials.
Goddard cited the case of former state Treasurer David Petersen, who pleaded guilty to failing to list $4,200 in commissions in his financial-disclosure forms. He was fined an equal amount of money and sentenced to three years of probation.
"I don't think you can say the laws don't have teeth," Goddard said.
John Zidich, CEO and publisher of The Arizona Republic, has been on the Fiesta Bowl's 25-member board of directors since 2005. He joined the bowl's five-member executive committee in 2010. The Arizona Republic is a Fiesta Bowl sponsor.
Tom Horne's Fiesta Bowl ties called into question
Some say AG too close to key players to lead probe
by Ginger Rough - Apr. 7, 2011 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne's ties to key players in the Fiesta Bowl scandal have prompted some political opponents to suggest he recuse himself from his office's ongoing investigation of the bowl and its activities.
Horne, a Republican who was elected in November, inherited the investigation from his predecessor, Terry Goddard, a Democrat. Now, the chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party is accusing Horne of being too cozy with lobbyists at the center of the probe.
"The people implicated are the top Republican movers and shakers in state government," Andrei Cherny said Wednesday, referring to Husk Partners and HighGround, Fiesta Bowl lobbyists that also have represented dozens of other clients at the state Capitol. "There is, at the very least, a very strong appearance of conflict of interest."
Horne calls charges of any conflict of interest "idiotic" and said he has no intention of recusing himself.
A 276-page report released last week by the Special Committee of the Fiesta Bowl detailed a culture of excessive spending on bowl employees, politicians and business associates despite rules barring the bowl from using its money to benefit individuals; a system of campaign contributions that could run afoul of state and federal campaign laws; and accounts of efforts by bowl staffers to mislead government investigators. Some activities described in the report could jeopardize the bowl's non-profit status.
Much of the bowl's internal inquiry focused on allegations that Fiesta Bowl executives encouraged staff members to make political donations for which they were later reimbursed. The committee's report says employees told investigators that the bowl tried to hide the reimbursements by repaying employees through "bonuses."
The employees told investigators that political contributions were sometimes delivered by lobbyists, including the bowl's former top lobbyist, Gary Husk, the report said.
Husk has repeatedly said he never delivered campaign contributions from the Fiesta Bowl.
His firm made more than $1.25 million in lobbying fees from the bowl from 2005 to 2010. HighGround made $557,000 during the same time period, records show.
The Fiesta Bowl's business with both firms was suspended last fall.
By then, Goddard's investigation of the campaign-finance allegations was under way, and a grand jury had been impaneled.
That attorney general's probe began in summer 2010 at the request of the Arizona Secretary of State's Office, which had determined there were possible campaign-finance irregularities.
The secretary of state had begun examining the issue after a December 2009 Arizona Republic story detailed the potentially illegal campaign-finance scheme.
The bowl, through Husk, hired former Attorney General Grant Woods after The Republic's story appeared to review the allegations. Woods' brief investigation lasted less than a week and found "no credible evidence" of criminal or ethical violations.
It was subsequently discredited by the bowl's deeper internal investigation, which did not begin until October 2010, after an employee went to the board chairman repeating the campaign-finance charges. The results of that probe were turned over to Horne on March 28. The direction the state investigation will now take is unclear.
That same night, Horne held a large fundraiser at the Valley home of his press secretary. The host committee for the event included Woods and HighGround principals Chuck Coughlin and Doug Cole.
Cole and Coughlin were among the contributors to Horne's campaign last fall, donating a combined $500 in October 2010.
Both have said they were unaware of any suspected wrongdoing by the bowl and its representatives.
In the bowl's investigative report, Woods and the bowl's lobbyists all had some connection to the political activities described by investigators.
The report alleged that Husk helped carry out the campaign-finance scheme and that Woods conducted an investigation that purposefully did not reveal it. Coughlin and Cole, meanwhile, were subcontractors to Husk and accompanied him and various legislators on out-of-state trips paid for by the bowl during the past five years.
Some were not reported by lawmakers as gifts, as required by state law.
"People . . . won't have confidence that a fair investigation is being done," Cherny said of Horne's connections to the men.
In addition, The Republic reported that Husk served as a member of Horne's transition team in late 2002, when Horne was first elected superintendent of public instruction.
Horne dismisses the conflict-of-interest charges, pointing out that he had more than 1,000 people contribute to his campaign last year. He said campaign contributions do not "have anything to do with investigating criminal activity."
"I am going to enforce the laws fully, fairly and impartially," Horne said Wednesday, adding that it is his intention to "investigate and, if appropriate, prosecute" those who may have violated state statutes.
Horne also said that he does not have any personal connection to Husk.
"I have no memory of him being on the transition team," Horne said, adding that his campaign manager and legislative liaison appointed team members. Of Husk, he added: "He is absolutely somebody I do not know."
Gov. Jan Brewer, who is putting together a panel to help the bowl repair its image, said she had confidence in Horne. She accused critics like Cherny of playing partisan politics.
"He has a code of ethics to live by, and I've never seen him perform otherwise," Brewer said.
But James Svara, a professor of public affairs at Arizona State University, disagrees with Horne's stance.
He said the ties do raise questions about Horne's ability to be impartial.
"When it comes to recusal, you want to err on the side of avoiding the appearance of conflict of interest," Svara said, adding that by removing himself from the investigation, Horne would be eliminating a potential distraction to his office. "There is the potential that these questions will keep getting raised."
Goddard agrees.
"It's the question of how the general public sees this," Goddard said.
John Zidich, CEO and publisher of The Arizona Republic, has been on the Fiesta Bowl's 25-member board of directors since 2005. He joined the bowl's five-member executive committee in 2010. The Arizona Republic is a Fiesta Bowl sponsor.
Reporter Craig Harris contributed to this article.
Arizona House speaker to repay bowl trip
by Craig Harris and Ginger Rough - Apr. 7, 2011 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Arizona House Speaker Kirk Adams is the latest politician to be swept into the Fiesta Bowl scandal, saying Wednesday that he would reimburse the bowl more than $1,000 for a 2007 bowl-sponsored trip he took with other lawmakers to Pasadena, Calif.
The speaker also said he has amended his financial-disclosure statements for 2007 and 2008 to show he took the Fiesta Bowl trip and others that were not related to the college football game.
"I'm doing this because upon learning my financial reports were in error, I have been mortified," Adams said in an interview. "But look, I don't think this is a magnanimous gesture."
Adams, R-Mesa, is the seventh state lawmaker to reimburse the bowl after the bowl's release last week of a 276-page report disclosing evidence of potentially illegal employee conduct and spending irregularities. The report also detailed expensive out-of-state trips, which occurred at least seven times in the past five years, for politicians who watched marquee college football games and stayed in upscale hotels at the bowl's expense.
In the wake of the scandal, many legislators have admitted they improperly accepted gifts while participating in the trips that were billed as "educational" weekends designed to showcase the competitive nature of college football. Many legislators, including Adams, brought spouses or family members.
The trips also included lobbyists, among them Doug Cole and Chuck Coughlin, key advisers to Gov. Jan Brewer.
Adams said his $1,064 check to the Fiesta Bowl covers the cost of airfare, hotel, meals and game tickets for him and his wife, JaNae. He said the amount was based on what it would cost today to make a similar trip.
State law permits lawmakers to accept free lodging, travel and meals from lobbyists as long as they are disclosed, but statutes include an "entertainment ban" prohibiting them from accepting free game tickets.
Adams said that while state law does not require him to reimburse the bowl for travel or lodging, he was bothered by what has reputedly gone on at the bowl and he wanted to "return those dollars." Adams said he was paying for his tickets, which he estimated to cost $80 each, even though he recalls no conversation from Fiesta Bowl officials that lawmakers were supposed to pay for tickets. He also said the bowl never sent him an invoice for the tickets.
That statement appears to contradict that of Senate President Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, who went on numerous Fiesta Bowl trips, including the Pasadena trip that Adams attended at which UCLA faced Brigham Young University. Pearce has said he paid face value for all tickets he obtained from the Fiesta Bowl, and that he received invoices from bowl officials for tickets.
The Fiesta Bowl report makes no mention of lawmakers ever paying the Fiesta Bowl for tickets. The bowl has provided no additional details on whether or not Pearce or other lawmakers paid for tickets.
Pearce did not return calls Wednesday.
Mike Philipsen, a spokesman for Pearce, said Pearce asked for invoices from the bowl because he knew he was supposed to pay for the tickets.
"I don't believe they complied with every invoice (request), but he still paid for it," Philipsen said.
In the past week, both Republicans and Democrats have written checks to the bowl for football game tickets. Others have amended their financial disclosure reports to reflect gifts they received from the bowl.
However, Adams is only the second lawmaker to reimburse the bowl for travel and lodging expenses. The other is Sen. Robert Meza, D-Phoenix, who last week wrote a check for $2,000.
Meza said he paid for his airfare and hotels and related costs, even though he was not required to do so, because he wanted to avoid any perception of impropriety.
Senate Ethics Committee Chairman Ron Gould said Wednesday that staffers were continuing to gather information about the Fiesta Bowl and its activities.
If Gould decides to pursue an investigation, he will send letters to those senators who did not report gifts from the Fiesta Bowl, "asking them to justify their actions." He said that he could seek documentation, including canceled checks.
"But I don't know what we'll do if some of the stuff turns out to be criminal," Gould said.
Republic reporter Alia Beard Rau contributed to this article.
Scottsdale mayor pays back Fiesta Bowl
He reimburses bowl for fundraiser, will amend finance report
by Beth Duckett - Apr. 10, 2011 08:57 PM
The Arizona Republic
Scottsdale Mayor Jim Lane has reimbursed the Fiesta Bowl for costs related to a 2009 fundraiser it held on his behalf, bowl officials confirmed.
In addition, Lane's campaign committee intends to submit an amended campaign-finance report to reflect the expenditure, which the campaign failed to include at the time. Lane confirmed the plans on Friday.
Lane previously told The Republic his campaign never received a bill from the bowl for the fundraiser but that he intended to repay the bowl.
The 2009 fundraiser was one of many questionable and possibly illegal actions by the Fiesta Bowl detailed in an investigate report that muddied the bowl's image amid allegations of improper spending and campaign-finance violations.
The cost for Lane's event was $1,436, which covered a museum-rental fee and catering costs. Lane said last week that he made the payment, which bowl officials confirmed.
"The only time we've ever seen those numbers was in the (Fiesta Bowl) report," Lane said. "We paid on the basis of that."
The fundraiser was mentioned only briefly in the 276-page report, which cited a credit-card statement showing a $1,186 charge reimbursed to Fiesta Bowl CEO John Junker to cater the Lane fundraiser at the Fiesta Bowl Museum in Scottsdale.
Junker was fired after the report's release last month.
Also, the bowl never paid a $250-per-night fee to rent the museum space for the fundraiser or any political events, based on a review of a museum rental-income general-ledger account, the report said.
There is no cost to file an amended campaign-finance report, which is the appropriate method for reporting overlooked contributions, expenditures or other errors in accordance with state law, Scottsdale City Clerk Carolyn Jagger said. It is not unusual for political committees to file amended reports from time to time, Jagger said.
Some state elected officials have reimbursed the bowl for various gifts since the release of the report last month.
Many have rushed to file amended financial-disclosure statements to disclose bowl-sponsored trips and other gifts in excess of $500, as required by state law.
The report detailed lavish spending and a scheme to improperly reimburse the bowl's current and former employees and others at least $46,539 for campaign contributions since 2000. There is no indication that candidates had any knowledge of the violations, the report said.
John Zidich, CEO and publisher of The Arizona Republic, has been on the Fiesta Bowl's 25-member board of directors since 2005. He joined the bowl's five-member executive committee in 2010. The Arizona Republic is a Fiesta Bowl sponsor.
We are not crooks! Honest!
Husk conducted preliminary interviews, coached some employees on how to answer Woods' questions and steered other employees who had been reimbursed away from Woods.
After a three-day inquiry, Woods concluded there had been no credible evidence with regard to campaign contributions being reimbursed. He was paid $55,000, and he said he gave $20,000 to Husk.
Former AG, ex-Fiesta Bowl lawyer under inquiry by state Bar
by Craig Harris - Apr. 12, 2011 05:37 PM
The Arizona Republic
The State Bar of Arizona said Tuesday it has opened an investigation into Gary Husk and Grant Woods, the former Arizona attorney general, for their work at the Fiesta Bowl.
Husk, the bowl's former lawyer and chief lobbyist, recommended the hiring of his friend, Woods, in late 2009 to investigate allegations made by former and current employees who said they were reimbursed for making political-campaign contributions, a felony.
The bowl's special committee report, released last month, includes statements from bowl employees claiming Husk conducted preliminary interviews, coached some employees on how to answer Woods' questions and steered other employees who had been reimbursed away from Woods.
After a three-day inquiry, Woods concluded there had been no credible evidence with regard to campaign contributions being reimbursed. He was paid $55,000, and he said he gave $20,000 to Husk.
Rick DeBruhl, a Bar spokesman, said it's too early to know what sanctions, if any, could be imposed.
"Since witnesses have alleged that a lawyer deliberately deceived me and my efforts to uncover the truth, I certainly welcome the involvement of the State Bar," Woods said in an e-mail.
Husk, in an e-mail, said he's been advised the Bar has initiated a "screening investigation" and intends to fully cooperate.
The Fiesta Bowl had no comment.
John Zidich, CEO and publisher of The Arizona Republic, is a former member of the Fiesta Bowl's board of directors and was on the bowl's five-member executive committee from January 2010 to April 2011. The Arizona Republic is a Fiesta Bowl advertising sponsor.
Fiesta Bowl scandal exposes weakness in disclosure laws
by Ginger Rough - Apr. 6, 2011 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
The Fiesta Bowl scandal has exposed what good-government groups say is a key weakness in Arizona's financial-disclosure laws: The state is one of only 10 nationwide that doesn't have an independent agency tasked with reviewing or policing the reports filed annually by lawmakers.
In the past week, eight state lawmakers have filed amended reports with the Secretary of State's Office or other local agencies, acknowledging that they accepted gifts in excess of $500 from the Fiesta Bowl and its representatives.
In some cases, the modifications reflect gifts received years ago.
Their urgency to alter the reports comes after the release of a 276-page investigative report commissioned by the Special Committee of the Fiesta Bowl. The report on the bowl's financial, political and lobbying activities states that Fiesta Bowl employees went on at least seven trips with politicians in recent years and listed more than a dozen former and current state lawmakers who joined them for football weekends in cities including Chicago; Boston; Pasadena, Calif.; and Dallas.
The report also detailed a scheme to improperly reimburse Fiesta Bowl employees for more than $46,000 in campaign donations to 23 candidates since 2000.
The campaign contributions are now the subject of a complaint filed Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission, alleging that the bowl violated the Federal Election Campaign Act. The complaint, filed by the non-profit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, urges the FEC to impose sanctions or fines against the Fiesta Bowl.
"There's a lot of evidence of wrongdoing here," said Melanie Sloan, the group's executive director. "It's pretty blatant." The group's complaint focuses exclusively on campaign contributions made over the past five years to federal candidates, because those are the donations that fall under the FEC's jurisdiction, Sloan said. The candidates include Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl and former Republican Reps. J.D. Hayworth and John Shadegg.
The complaint lists 13 Fiesta Bowl employees who were reimbursed $28,500 for their contributions. There has been no indication that the recipients of those donations knew of any wrongdoing.
Although the FEC can examine some campaign contributions, the legislators' disclosure of gifts is a separate issue. It's unclear whether state legislators will face penalties for failing to properly fill out their financial-disclosure reports, as required under Arizona's law, to reflect Fiesta Bowl gifts.
The Fiesta Bowl-sponsored trips they took are legal because state lobbying laws allow lawmakers to accept free lodging and travel. However, those who accept such gifts are required to acknowledge them in their financial-disclosure reports, which many failed to do. And some lawmakers who went on the trips also may have run afoul of a separate "entertainment ban" statute that prohibits state officials or employees from accepting free game tickets. So far, at least half a dozen legislators have reimbursed the Fiesta Bowl for game tickets they improperly accepted while on the cross-country junkets.
The state Attorney General's Office will say only that it continues to investigate the Fiesta Bowl and associated allegations of misconduct.
The state law
Since 1974, state law has required elected or appointed state officers, legislators and judges to file a financial-disclosure statement each year that includes information about employers, debts, gifts from non-family members, involvement in non-profit organizations, businesses and investments.
The statements are public record.
But they are not very telling. Under the "Gifts over $500" section, for example, lawmakers have to include only cursory information about what they received. Most have simply included one line that says "Fiesta Bowl" or "Fiesta Bowl committee."
There is a $50-per-day penalty for not submitting the form by the January deadline, but there are no penalties for amending the forms, Assistant Secretary of State Jim Drake said.
"The public policy behind that is that you always want to err on the side of disclosure," Drake said. "If you were to penalize (individuals) for updating their forms, it would have a chilling effect."
State statutes do say, however, that individuals who knowingly file falsified information on their forms or knowingly fail to disclose a gift could be charged with a misdemeanor.
Lax oversight
The problem with Arizona's laws, watchdog groups say, is that no one routinely checks the financial-disclosure reports for accuracy.
The Secretary of State's Office merely serves as a "filing cabinet" for the reports, Drake said.
Most other states have an independent commission or agency charged with reviewing the forms and ensuring compliance with state law, said Peggy Kerns, a former Colorado lawmaker and director of the Ethics Center at the National Council of State Legislatures.
Arizona also has much more permissive state lobbying laws, Kerns said. Here, lobbyists are allowed to pay for lawmakers' airfare and hotel rooms. By comparison, states such as Florida, Vermont and Wisconsin don't even permit their lawmakers to accept a free cup of coffee.
"The trend is to be fairly restrictive on the dollar amount of gifts," Kerns said. "The reason is really to put a strong line of demarcation between the making of public policy and the influencing of public policy."
In Arizona, it is the jurisdiction of the Attorney General's Office to pursue enforcement action against officeholders who improperly fill out their financial-disclosure reports. But typically, the attorney general won't initiate an investigation unless someone lodges a complaint. That happens so infrequently that when the Secretary of State and the Attorney General's offices were asked how such a process would typically work, neither agency could immediately answer the question.
"I don't think there have been any complaints against lawmakers for (improperly) filling out forms," Attorney General Tom Horne said Tuesday. "None in recent memory, anyway."
However, Horne and his predecessor, Terry Goddard, said it would be inaccurate to suggest that the state's laws don't have enforcement power behind them.
Both recalled instances in which politicians have been investigated or penalized for violating Arizona's financial-disclosure rules.
For example, in 2008, Maricopa County Supervisor Don Stapley was indicted by a grand jury on allegations of omissions and misstatements on his financial-disclosure forms. The counts were thrown out after a judge determined the county never established its own disclosure rules for county officers. The county had been using the state form, but the state statute does not apply to county or municipal officials.
Goddard cited the case of former state Treasurer David Petersen, who pleaded guilty to failing to list $4,200 in commissions in his financial-disclosure forms. He was fined an equal amount of money and sentenced to three years of probation.
"I don't think you can say the laws don't have teeth," Goddard said.
Week 3 of Fiesta Fiasco: where are we?
The Fiesta freebie fest became a full-blown Fiesta frenzy this week as the bowl cleanup crew announced plans to bill every junketeering politician for their weekend jaunts.
That's going to leave a mark.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Ken Bennett, the junketeer now in charge of financial disclosure reports, finally disclosed his own Fiesta getaways – the ones he took in 2003 and 2004 while Senate president.
And Russell Pearce continued his search for those elusive cancelled checks.
So let's review where we are as Week Three of the Fiesta Fiasco comes to a close, shall we?
Number of indictments thus far of those who laundered campaign contributions, plundered a non profit and covered up illegal activity: zero.
Number of politicians facing fines for breaking disclosure and no-free-ticket laws: zero.
Number of bills outlawing future freebies: zero. There is, we are told, simply no time to consider this “complex” issue so late in the session.
Meanwhile, the Senate had time this week to pass a birther bill.
Speaking of bills, the most interesting one of the week came from Team Fiesta, which announced that it is sending invoices to all of our elected junketeers -- presumably from Congress all the way down to city councils.
We don't yet know how many of our leading lights will get them or how much they'll be asked to pay, but I'm guessing it'll be enough to fund a small country.
Pearce is, of course, the headline, both because of his stature and records that suggest if there was a freebie to be had, he was all over it – wife in tow. His bill should soar well beyond $10,000.
But Democrats as well as Republicans have been snagged by this scandal. Rep. Ben Arredondo not only took $6,240 worth of football tickets while on the Tempe City Council -- including $4,000 Super Bowl tickets -- he even called up Fiesta Bowl officials and asked to be taken on a junket in 2009. He and the wife were treated to a fun-filled weekend in Minnesota, for opening day of the University of Minnesota's new stadium.
“We paid for everything, the game, the hotel, meals and the airfare,” a bowl employee told investigators.
Ask and ye shall receive, I suppose. We'll see how that works out for the Fiesta Bowl and their invoices. I'm not clear on why our leaders would pony up – other than due to shame (not likely for some these characters) or fear of public ridicule (too late).
In this state, legislators and their various relatives can legally be wined and dined and put up at the Ritz by any special interest that needs their vote. They just have to disclose it. (Uh-oh).
The only thing they can't take is free tickets to sporting or cultural events and even that's allowed if the right mix of your colleagues get an invite, too.
Bennett says he was entitled to take free game tickets during his junkets because his fellow Rules Committee members got the same offer.
I'm still not clear on why Bennett didn't simply disclose his trips when he was supposed to. The only explanation I could get out of his office is that there are conflicting laws.
“The same activity is a violation and not a violation at the exact same time,” spokesman Matt Roberts said. “That's what's creating all the confusion.”
It doesn't seem all that confusing to me.
ARS 41-1231 and 1232.08, governing regulation of lobbyists, say legislators can accept all junkets as well as tickets to a “special event” as long as the tickets are offered to all legislators or an entire committee.
ARS 38-541 and 542, governing financial disclosure, say legislators have to disclose gifts over $500 – specifically “any gratuity, special discount, favor, hospitality, service, economic opportunity, loan or other benefit received without equivalent consideration and not provided to members of the public at large.”
I don't know about you but the Fiesta has yet to put me up at the Ritz or give me so much as a foam finger.
Ipso facto, disclose-o.
Failure to do so is a misdemeanor, subject to a $500 fine. Naturally, there is that weasel word in the law – that you have to “knowingly” fail to disclose, which basically means this crew can just claim ignorance and avoid a penalty.
Until election time, that is.
Week 3 of Fiesta Fiasco: where are we?
The Fiesta freebie fest became a full-blown Fiesta frenzy this week as the bowl cleanup crew announced plans to bill every junketeering politician for their weekend jaunts.
That's going to leave a mark.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Ken Bennett, the junketeer now in charge of financial disclosure reports, finally disclosed his own Fiesta getaways – the ones he took in 2003 and 2004 while Senate president.
And Russell Pearce continued his search for those elusive cancelled checks.
So let's review where we are as Week Three of the Fiesta Fiasco comes to a close, shall we?
Number of indictments thus far of those who laundered campaign contributions, plundered a non profit and covered up illegal activity: zero.
Number of politicians facing fines for breaking disclosure and no-free-ticket laws: zero.
Number of bills outlawing future freebies: zero. There is, we are told, simply no time to consider this “complex” issue so late in the session.
Meanwhile, the Senate had time this week to pass a birther bill.
Speaking of bills, the most interesting one of the week came from Team Fiesta, which announced that it is sending invoices to all of our elected junketeers -- presumably from Congress all the way down to city councils.
We don't yet know how many of our leading lights will get them or how much they'll be asked to pay, but I'm guessing it'll be enough to fund a small country.
Pearce is, of course, the headline, both because of his stature and records that suggest if there was a freebie to be had, he was all over it – wife in tow. His bill should soar well beyond $10,000.
But Democrats as well as Republicans have been snagged by this scandal. Rep. Ben Arredondo not only took $6,240 worth of football tickets while on the Tempe City Council -- including $4,000 Super Bowl tickets -- he even called up Fiesta Bowl officials and asked to be taken on a junket in 2009. He and the wife were treated to a fun-filled weekend in Minnesota, for opening day of the University of Minnesota's new stadium.
“We paid for everything, the game, the hotel, meals and the airfare,” a bowl employee told investigators.
Ask and ye shall receive, I suppose. We'll see how that works out for the Fiesta Bowl and their invoices. I'm not clear on why our leaders would pony up – other than due to shame (not likely for some these characters) or fear of public ridicule (too late).
In this state, legislators and their various relatives can legally be wined and dined and put up at the Ritz by any special interest that needs their vote. They just have to disclose it. (Uh-oh).
The only thing they can't take is free tickets to sporting or cultural events and even that's allowed if the right mix of your colleagues get an invite, too.
Bennett says he was entitled to take free game tickets during his junkets because his fellow Rules Committee members got the same offer.
I'm still not clear on why Bennett didn't simply disclose his trips when he was supposed to. The only explanation I could get out of his office is that there are conflicting laws.
“The same activity is a violation and not a violation at the exact same time,” spokesman Matt Roberts said. “That's what's creating all the confusion.”
It doesn't seem all that confusing to me.
ARS 41-1231 and 1232.08, governing regulation of lobbyists, say legislators can accept all junkets as well as tickets to a “special event” as long as the tickets are offered to all legislators or an entire committee.
ARS 38-541 and 542, governing financial disclosure, say legislators have to disclose gifts over $500 – specifically “any gratuity, special discount, favor, hospitality, service, economic opportunity, loan or other benefit received without equivalent consideration and not provided to members of the public at large.”
I don't know about you but the Fiesta has yet to put me up at the Ritz or give me so much as a foam finger.
Ipso facto, disclose-o.
Failure to do so is a misdemeanor, subject to a $500 fine. Naturally, there is that weasel word in the law – that you have to “knowingly” fail to disclose, which basically means this crew can just claim ignorance and avoid a penalty.
Until election time, that is.
Ben Arredondo takes the 5th when questioned about Fiesta Bowl pork he received!
2 officials stand out in Fiesta Bowl gifts scandal
Pearce, Arredondo had close Fiesta Bowl ties
by Craig Harris and Ginger Rough - May. 13, 2011 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
When the Fiesta Bowl wanted public subsidies from the state and the city of Tempe in 2005, the college football organization turned to a pair of friendly politicians: Russell Pearce and Ben Arredondo.
Interviews and examinations of public records show that Pearce, a Republican, was influential in passing legislation that gave the bowl a state subsidy worth $263,000 and additional money to run a national championship game at Glendale's University of Phoenix Stadium.
Arredondo, a Democrat, was closely involved in negotiations that led Tempe to give the Fiesta Bowl a $6.45 million subsidy to shift the Insight Bowl from Phoenix to Tempe.
Those findings may help explain why, according to an investigative report released in late March by the Fiesta Bowl, both men appear high on the list of those plied with bowl gifts.
Pearce, a powerful budget writer in the Legislature, and Arredondo, a longtime Tempe city councilman who is now a state lawmaker, have been identified in the Fiesta Bowl's investigative report as recipients of gifts. The report is also full of details about other spending irregularities and possibly illegal campaign donations by the bowl.
While numerous elected officials received Fiesta Bowl gifts over the past decade, those given to Pearce and Arredondo stood out in the bowl's investigation because of the large amount of money spent.
After the report was released, Pearce and Arredondo amended their financial disclosure forms to report gifts previously received from the bowl. By state law, elected officials are supposed to report gifts to them annually; the gifts Pearce and Arredondo reported were made years earlier.
A state conflict-of-interest law prohibits public officials from using their positions to obtain anything of value if that benefit is to "manifest a substantial and improper influence." Penalties for violating the law range from a high-level misdemeanor to a low-level felony.
Pearce said there was nothing improper about what he accepted from the bowl.
"I accepted nothing that was not legally offered to every other member of the Legislature," Pearce, now the state Senate president, wrote in response to questions posed to him by The Arizona Republic. "I never asked for anything from Fiesta Bowl employees or board members - never."
Arredondo, a minority member in the House, did not return calls seeking comment.
Pearce and Arredondo also were among at least 21 local, state and federal candidates who received campaign contributions from Fiesta Bowl employees during the past decade, according to campaign-finance records compiled by The Republic.
Fiesta Bowl employees have admitted to being reimbursed for most of the campaign contributions, a potential felony. There is no indication, however, that any politicians who received the campaign contributions knew of the scheme.
'The blessing of legislators'
The bowl, a non-profit organization, sought public subsidies in 2005 despite having $12.8 million in net assets at the time, according to its publicly filed tax returns. In the most recent fiscal year, the bowl had $22.3 million in net assets.
The bowl provided game tickets and out-of-state trips to elected officials to curry favor with them, as the bowl relied on them to pass laws and contracts favorable to its interests. That practice, which could hurt the bowl's non-profit status with the Internal Revenue Service, has stopped.
The bowl is now combing through records to determine how much was spent on gifts, and the bowl plans to ask politicians to reimburse the organization.
The Fiesta Bowl report said it was common for people to come to John Junker, who was fired March 29 as the bowl's chief executive, to ask for game tickets. He would obtain them at a price above market value from various ticketing brokers, and the bowl would reimburse him.
Though Junker declined to comment for this story, he told bowl investigators during an interview that the "only place" the bowl could find support was from legislators. When asked why the bowl wanted support from lawmakers, Junker said: "It was a lesson in learning that it is always best to have the blessing of legislators."
Attorney General Tom Horne is now investigating potential wrongdoing exposed during the bowl's probe. Citing a conflict of interest, however, Horne turned over to Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery that portion of the investigation relating to elected officials who took gifts from the Fiesta Bowl.
Neither Montgomery nor Horne has identified specific politicians as targets.
David Schindler, a former federal attorney who prosecuted ex-Gov. Fife Symington in the 1990s on charges of filing false financial statements, said elected officials would keep out of trouble by not accepting gifts.
"Any time a public official receives a gift or other money in the context of being in a position to vote on some kind of benefit for a third party, a prosecutor will want to understand the circumstances of that gift and whether the gift was intended to secure a vote that ultimately would have benefitted a third party," said Schindler, now in private practice in Los Angeles and specializing in defending suspects accused of white-collar crimes. "A good elected official worries about the appearance of a conflict as well as an actual conflict. When public officials take gifts, it raises substantial questions." Pearce and gifts
Pearce entered the Legislature in 2001 and was named a member of the powerful Appropriations Committee. He has since become one of the most influential politicians in Arizona. After stints as the budget writer in both the House and Senate, Pearce became Senate president this year.
On April 1, a few days after the Fiesta Bowl report was released, Pearce told The Republic he had never accepted free tickets to football games from Fiesta Bowl representatives, and that he paid for all his tickets "immediately, at the time" he received them.
Yet three weeks later, Pearce amended eight years of financial disclosure forms - 2002 to 2010 -to reflect gifts from the "Fiesta Bowl Committee." He also said he paid $272 to the bowl because he did not have "physical proof of payment" for tickets he received.
His relationship with the bowl dates at least to the year after he was elected to the Legislature, when he took a trip to Denver at bowl expense to watch a college football game. In 2004, he and his wife joined other legislators on a bowl-sponsored trip to Berkeley, Calif., to catch a college football game.
In 2005, Pearce pushed through legislation giving the Fiesta Bowl a public subsidy worth $263,000, as well as more control over operations during the 2007 national championship game at University of Phoenix Stadium.
Pearce, in a written response to questions from The Republic, said the 2005 legislation passed with overwhelming support. There was just one "no" vote, and it was signed into law by then-Gov. Janet Napolitano.
The bill "was not in my control," Pearce wrote. "I did not sponsor the bill."
However, legislative records show Pearce was the sponsor of the bill. While the bill was amended by another lawmaker, it was done so with Pearce's knowledge, and he has publicly taken credit for helping the Fiesta Bowl.
In 2007, the bowl said, it paid $2,140 for tickets for Pearce for a Navy football game.
Pearce, however, said he did not have to pay for those tickets because the Fiesta Bowl asked him to attend a speaking engagement at the game in Annapolis, Md. At the event, he said, he presented a check from the Fiesta Bowl. He said he was not required to reimburse the bowl because state law allows a legislator to accept gifts when performing a "ceremonial function."
A Navy spokesman said he was unable to determine if Pearce attended a speaking engagement. Terry Fahn, a Fiesta Bowl spokesman, said to the best of his knowledge there was no record of the bowl asking Pearce to make a presentation at the Navy game.
In 2008, the bowl said it paid $4,060 to provide Pearce tickets for a Los Angeles game between Ohio State and the University of Southern California. Pearce, however, said the tickets went to a family member.
Pearce wrote that his adult son, Justin, "contacted his personal friend Gary Husk (who also was Justin's attorney) about purchasing tickets to this game." The bowl said it was never paid for the tickets.
Husk is the bowl's former lobbyist, now facing a State Bar of Arizona investigation after Fiesta Bowl employees accused him of being involved in a scheme to reimburse employees for campaign contributions. Husk could not be reached to discuss Pearce's explanation. But he previously denied any wrongdoing.
Justin Pearce also could not be reached for comment.
In 2009, the bowl said it made available for Russell Pearce $923 worth of Fiesta Bowl tickets. Pearce later that year got involved in concessions-contract discussions involving University of Phoenix Stadium. The senator questioned the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority, which ran the stadium, about why it awarded a deal to the Arizona Cardinals, which for years had numerous stadium-related disputes with the Fiesta Bowl.
Last year, after taking $1,025 in campaign contributions in November 2009 from Junker and two other Fiesta Bowl executives, Pearce sponsored legislation calling for an audit of the sports authority. At the time, the sports authority was embroiled in a lawsuit with the Fiesta Bowl, and had just come off a state audit in 2009 that found no significant violations. Gifts to Arredondo
Arredondo, a former teacher and coach, was running for Tempe City Council in 2001 when seven Fiesta Bowl employees made $875 in contributions to his campaign. Three years later, four employees made another $1,200 in contributions.
At that time, the Fiesta Bowl was headquartered in Tempe and played its game in ASU's Sun Devil Stadium.
In 2005, the Fiesta Bowl was looking to move its sister game, the Insight Bowl, out of downtown Phoenix. Negotiations began with Tempe, which was looking to replace the Fiesta Bowl at Sun Devil Stadium since the Fiesta was moving to Glendale. One of the key negotiators was Arredondo, according to Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman.
"It's fair to say Ben Arredondo was intimately involved with ASU, Insight and the Fiesta Bowl," Hallman said. "Ben Arredondo was continually involved in negotiations."
Hallman said Arredondo also was close to Husk, who, in addition to lobbying for the Fiesta Bowl, had been a paid consultant for Tempe.
After reaching a memorandum of understanding in July 2005, the city the following year agreed to give the Fiesta Bowl a $6.45 million subsidy to host the Insight Bowl through 2013. The subsidy for each of the next two years is $850,000, while the final year's payment is $900,000, according to the contract.
In 2007, 2008 and 2009, the Fiesta Bowl said it provided Arredondo with expensive National Football League tickets, including 2009 Super Bowl tickets worth $4,000. In summer 2009, the bowl said, he called saying he wanted to go on a trip. The bowl paid all expenses for Arredondo and his wife, Ruthann, to travel to Minnesota to watch a college football game.
"We paid for everything: the game, the hotel, the meals and the airfare," Anthony Aguilar, the bowl's director of community and corporate relations, told Fiesta Bowl investigators.
Arredondo did not return calls to his house, where messages were left with his wife. Ruthann Arredondo declined to answer questions.
On April 1, after the Fiesta Bowl investigative report had been released, Arredondo amended his financial disclosure forms for 2007, 2008 and 2009 to show he received a gift worth more than $500 from the Fiesta Bowl. The amended 2009 form indicates his wife also received a gift. The nature of the gifts was not disclosed.
John Zidich, CEO and publisher of The Arizona Republic, is a former member of the Fiesta Bowl's board of directors and was on the bowl's five-member executive committee from January 2010 to April 2011. The Arizona Republic is a Fiesta Bowl advertising sponsor.
Fiesta Bowl investigation: Russell Pearce's comments disputed by Navy
Senator then revises ticket explanation
by Craig Harris and Ginger Rough - May. 17, 2011 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce changed his explanation Monday about how he acquired expensive tickets to a sold-out Navy football game in 2007 after the service academy contradicted statements he made last week to The Arizona Republic.
In a written response May 11 explaining numerous gifts he received from the Fiesta Bowl, Pearce said he did not have to reimburse the bowl for $2,140 spent in 2007 on Navy tickets for him because he had traveled to Annapolis, Md., to present a charitable donation on the bowl's behalf.
Pearce, a Mesa Republican, cited a state law that said legislators performing "a ceremonial function" could accept gifts for a speaking engagement.
The Navy on Monday said it had no record of Pearce delivering a donation check on behalf of the Fiesta Bowl in 2007, when Navy played Air Force. The bowl also said it had no record of asking Pearce to deliver a check.
After being told of those responses, Mike Philipsen, a spokesman for Pearce, late Monday afternoon sent an e-mail to The Republic saying Pearce was mistaken in his earlier comments. Philipsen wrote that Pearce actually attended a 2005 game between Navy and Air Force to present a Fiesta Bowl check in connection with the Navy's stadium renovation.
The Fiesta Bowl's publicly available tax returns confirm that the organization gave the Naval Academy Athletic Association a $50,000 check in November 2005.
However, a bowl spokesman said that, to the best of his knowledge, the organization did not ask Pearce to deliver a check that year.
Pearce's correction leaves open the question of the possible impropriety of his 2007 trip to Annapolis. Neither Pearce nor his spokesman would answer questions about the 2007 game tickets, which the Fiesta Bowl had said it paid for.
Pearce is one of 16 politicians to amend their annual financial-disclosure forms to reflect gifts received from the Fiesta Bowl and other organizations after the bowl on March 29 publicly released findings from its internal investigation. The document detailed spending irregularities, gifts to politicians and possibly illegal campaign donations by bowl employees.
The bowl, a public charity trying to protect its non-profit status with the Internal Revenue Service, plans to ask politicians to reimburse it for gifts they improperly received.
Pearce confirmed in a written statement last week that he had gone on two separate trips to Navy games but that he had allowed the Fiesta Bowl to pay for the 2007 trip because he was performing a ceremonial function.
"As a matter of self-disclosure, I went on a personal trip to another Air Force vs. Navy game in November 2005. This was a personal trip that had nothing to do with the Fiesta Bowl," Pearce wrote.
His office's disclosure Monday that it was, in fact, the 2005 trip at which the Fiesta Bowl offered funds to the Naval Academy leaves unclear whether Pearce will have to reimburse the bowl for his 2007 tickets because he did not perform any official function at that game.
Philipsen did not respond to calls or e-mails from The Republic to clarify Pearce's earlier statement.
A state conflict-of-interest law prohibits public officials from using their positions to obtain anything of value if that benefit is to "manifest a substantial and improper influence."
During the past decade, Pearce took numerous out-of-state trips to attend college-football games at Fiesta Bowl expense. He also took family members on some trips; and, as an influential legislator, he helped push through legislation in 2005 that gave the Fiesta Bowl a $263,000 subsidy.
The trips are legal under Arizona's lobbying laws, although state statutes generally bar lawmakers from accepting free game tickets unless the entire Legislature, a legislative chamber or committee is invited. The statutes also provide for certain other exceptions, such as the one Pearce cited regarding ceremonial functions.
The Navy trips are the latest example in which Pearce has contradicted himself regarding his involvement with the Fiesta Bowl.
Pearce told The Republic three days after the bowl released its report that he always paid for his game tickets. When asked when he paid for those tickets, Pearce said, "Immediately, at the time."
But since making those statements, Pearce has written checks to reimburse the bowl for tickets he did not have "physical proof of payment for."
On April 20, he wrote a check to the bowl for taking tickets to out-of-state games dating to 2002. In his written statement last week, he disclosed a new reimbursement: a check to attend the Big 12 Championship Game in Dallas in December 2009.
The bowl could not confirm receipt of that check on Monday.
Pearce, in last week's written statement, blamed the bowl for shoddy record-keeping and said he repeatedly asked the bowl for invoices but never received them.
He provided the newspaper with some canceled checks, which he said showed compliance with the law. It was unclear from the canceled receipts and check registers how many of the expenses were related to trips as opposed to game tickets.
A Jan. 1, 2006, check for $208 written by Pearce's wife is referred to as payment for tickets for the Insight Bowl, a sister game of the Fiesta Bowl.
A $140 check written on Dec. 3, 2007, to Gary Husk, a lobbyist for the bowl at the time, was for tickets to a game between Arizona State University and UCLA, according to a reference line on the check.
Pearce also has disputed claims by the Fiesta Bowl that the bowl spent $4,060 for tickets to see the University of Southern California play Ohio State in Los Angeles in 2008.
Pearce said his son, Justin, and his son's friends attended that game. Pearce said Justin received the tickets from the Fiesta Bowl's lobbyist.
State statutes do not prohibit businesses or lobbyists from giving gifts to politicians' spouses or family members. But that doesn't mean accepting freebies is ethically advisable or appropriate, said Judy Nadler, a senior fellow at Santa Clara University's Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. She called the gift an example of the bowl's "influence peddling" at the Legislature.
"It's exactly the same as if you received the gift yourself," she said.
"You will feel warm and fuzzy because your son and his friends will be talking about what was, no doubt, a great experience for a long time thereafter. The public simply sees it as a way to claim innocence, when, in fact, all you've done is accept something of considerable value for your family member."
Nadler added: "It doesn't matter whether a statute prohibits it. It shouldn't be done."
John Zidich, CEO and publisher of The Arizona Republic, is a former member of the Fiesta Bowl's board of directors and was on the bowl's five-member executive committee from January 2010 to April 2011. The Arizona Republic is a Fiesta Bowl advertising sponsor.
Another day, another Arizona leader caught in a lie
The liar du jour: Senate President Russell Pearce.
Last week, he told
The Republic’s
Craig Harris that he was legally entitled to accept freebie football tickets (worth $2,140) to a sold-out Navy game in 2007 because he was performing a charitable donation on behalf of the Fiesta Bowl. Pearce cited a state law that allows legislators performing a “ceremonial function” to accept gifts for a speaking engagement.
In what has almost become predictable, the Navy on Monday said it had no record of Pearce delivering a donation from the Fiesta Bowl in 2007.
Told of the Navy’s comments, Pearce’s spokesman, Mike, Philipsen, late Monday e-mailed Harris to say that Pearce was mistaken in his earlier e-mailed comments. Pearce presented the check at a 2005 Navy game, not during his 2007 trip to Annapolis.
Except that the Fiesta Bowl has no record of asking Pearce to present a check in 2005.
So, now it appears that Pearce accepted free tickets to the 2007 Navy game – among others – when state law generally bars legislators from accepting free tickets.
I’ve lost track of how many different stories Pearce has told about his various junkets on the Fiesta Bowl dime…that he paid for the tickets “immediately” … that he was waiting for Fiesta Bowl to send him invoices so he could pay for his tickets … that one of the Navy junkets (2005) was a personal trip he paid for himself … and finally, that the Fiesta Bowl was allowed to pay for the 2005 Navy junket because he was performing a “ceremonial function” – a ceremonial function that the Fiesta Bowl has no record of asking him to perform.
Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery has set up a special task force to investigate legislators who either took free tickets or failed to disclose their junkets. Montgomery seems like a straight shooter so it’ll be fascinating to see whether he will bring charges against one of the most powerful politicians in Arizona.
At least, Pearce used to be powerful. It’s difficult to see how he could possibly hang onto his leadership post or his position of supposed moral authority. (Allowing your son to accept $4,060 worth of tickets to a USC-Ohio State game may be legal, given the many loopholes in our joke of a gift ban law/ But I'm pretty sure it's clear cut under the rules of morality.)
Pearce loves to tell his critics “What part of illegal don’t you understand?”
Well?
Hmmm ... Kind of sounds like a man going to a hooker 10 years later demanding his money back. Don't get me wrong, hookers are honest ethical people who do hard work for the money they earn compared to politicians who steal every cent of the money they get.
Fiesta Bowl wants campaign cash back
Posted: Tuesday, May 17, 2011 3:48 pm
Associated Press
PHOENIX (AP) — The Fiesta Bowl is seeking the return of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions made to U.S. Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl and other Arizona politicians, according to documents obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.
The contributions were made by bowl employees and their families that the bowl then reimbursed between 2000 and 2009. In all, the bowl wants $48,225.17 returned.
The documents from the bowl showed that the money was given to nearly two dozen other Arizona politicians. McCain received, by far, the most cash: $19,500 was given to three of his campaign accounts.
McCain's office said in a statement that neither he nor his staff was aware of any alleged reimbursements. It said the money would be donated to Arizona charities.
In a letter sent to Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett, Fiesta Bowl attorney Nathan Hochman said the tax-exempt organization was required to try to recover the money under state and federal laws.
The letter also said recovered money would be donated to youth or education in Arizona.
Hochman acknowledged to the AP that it may be difficult to get the money back because some campaigns may not have the funds. Also, at least one of the politicians, former state lawmaker Jake Flake, has since died.
"If we don't succeed, we don't succeed, but it won't be for a lack of effort," Hochman said.
A recent internal report by the Fiesta Bowl detailed reimbursements to employees for political donations in apparent violation of federal and state laws, plus thousands of dollars in inappropriate spending. The bowl fired longtime president and CEO John Junker.
It put the bowl's NCAA license and status in the national championship rotation in jeopardy. But it has emerged with its role as host every four years apparently intact.
The Bowl Championship Series fined the Fiesta Bowl $1 million last week, and on Tuesday, the NCAA placed it on probation for a year.
The Fiesta Bowl also was preparing to send bills to lawmakers who accepted free trips and football game tickets.
Legislators can accept gifts of travel from lobbyists and their employers, and, in limited circumstances, tickets to entertainment events. They must report trips as gifts.
Gov. Jan Brewer said earlier Tuesday that Arizona lawmakers should clarify state laws governing gifts to public officials in light of the Fiesta Bowl scandal, but added there are legitimate grounds for officials to accept gifts of travel and token items of appreciation.
Sponsored travel is appropriate when officials are representing the state and "sometimes bringing business back," Brewer said.
The Republican governor has been sent a letter seeking $560 for campaign contributions she received from Fiesta Bowl employees in 2009.
Remember Senate President Russell Pearce is an ex-cop and cops love to give us this line of BS that it is impossible for cops to commit crimes or lie. But it sure looks like Russell Pearce isn't different then any other crook elected to office in Arizona.
Pearce entangled in web of evasions
May. 18, 2011 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Maybe he'd have better luck trying to peddle the Brooklyn Bridge.
Because Senate President Russell Pearce sure can't sell his story about the thousands of dollars in football tickets he procured from the Fiesta Bowl.
Pearce's pitch just gets more contorted. First, he declared that he paid "immediately, at the time" for any tickets he received from Fiesta Bowl representatives.
Then, he wrote two reimbursement checks, saying he didn't have "physical proof of payment" for those tickets.
He blamed the Fiesta Bowl's bookkeeping.
Next, he claimed he did not have to reimburse the bowl for $2,140 in tickets to a sold-out Navy game in 2007 because he was making a donation there on behalf of the Fiesta Bowl. Except Navy records didn't show it. Then, Pearce said he goofed on the year and had presented the check at a 2005 Navy game.
Then, there's $4,060 the Fiesta Bowl spent on tickets to a University of Southern California game in 2008. Pearce says that wasn't a gift to him - the tickets were for his son and friends.
Oh.
Legislators from across the political spectrum are caught up in the Fiesta Bowl mess. They're scrambling to pay for tickets that violated legislative gift rules - without going through acrobatics to show they really didn't do anything questionable.
Other lawmakers quietly amended their disclosure forms. Pearce spun an elaborate web of evasions and excuses, a web in which he is still, all these weeks later, haplessly stuck.
Of course Jan Brewer refuses to address the real meat of the question which is that we should ban government rulers from receiving ANY gifts from people they help out.
The current laws are so simple that any moron politician should be able to figure them out and obey them. Of course the problem is that the politicians are crooks who refuse to obey the laws. Because that is what government is all about - trading gif
Gov. Jan Brewer: Review needed on gifts
Financial-disclosure laws are 'ambiguous'
by Ginger Rough - May. 18, 2011 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Gov. Jan Brewer said Tuesday the state's financial-disclosure laws are "very ambiguous" and need to be reworked, but she stopped short of recommending any kind of prohibition on elected officials accepting gifts from lobbyists and organizations they represent.
Brewer's comments come in the wake of the Fiesta Bowl scandal. An investigative report detailed a longstanding tradition of the bowl paying for lawmakers to attend educational trips to watch college football games.
State lobbying laws allow elected officials to accept free lodging and travel, but rules require them to report receipt of such gifts. Many failed to do so.
"I think we probably do need to go in and probably do need to address the issue," Brewer said. "I've always been a proponent of full disclosure. I think it's really, really important we have that for the public."
Some lawmakers, including Sen. Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu City, chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee, have suggested the state overhaul and tighten its lobbying laws, including banning all gifts. But Brewer doesn't think that's feasible. She said such a strict prohibition would mean that elected officials couldn't accept flowers or other small "tokens."
"There are people in the community that like to give their elected officials little tokens of appreciation, and then you (would be) forced to return them," Brewer said. "Most of us are raised with the idea of being gracious and saying 'thank you' for that type of sentiment."
She also believes free travel is acceptable in certain circumstances, including when an elected official is working to lure business to Arizona.
Arizona Cardinals gave lawmakers tickets
Goal was to curry favor, team says
by Craig Harris and Ginger Rough - Jun. 26, 2011 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
It's not often that the Arizona Cardinals will admit to following the Fiesta Bowl's lead.
But when it comes to courting politicians, the Cardinals stole a page from their longtime adversary's playbook.
Between 2006 and 2009, the football team said it gave dozens of state lawmakers free tickets - including premium seats in the owner's loft - to NFL games. The goal, according to the organization: to improve its standing at the Arizona Legislature after losing battles to the Fiesta Bowl over stadium-sharing issues.
For years, the Fiesta Bowl curried legislative favor by doling out free game tickets and taking lawmakers on expensive out-of-state trips.
The Cardinals' biggest defeat came in 2005, when the Fiesta Bowl persuaded the Legislature to settle a dispute with the Cardinals over control of University of Phoenix Stadium for the 2007 Bowl Championship Series college-football title game. The politicians overwhelmingly passed a law that not only let the Fiesta Bowl manage the event and receive additional revenue, but they also tossed in a $263,000 state subsidy for the bowl.
"It was clear to us, particularly after the 2005 legislative session pertaining to the BCS game, that the team's relationship with the Legislature was not as strong as it could be," said Mark Dalton, a Cardinals spokesman.
Dalton said the Cardinals began giving away free tickets to "build a better relationship" with lawmakers and change the team's perception.
They were not alone. Interviews and examinations of public records show a culture of sports freebies has evolved among state lawmakers as various entities try to lobby lawmakers on issues ranging from university budgets to tax subsidies.
In fact, Arizona State University and the University of Arizona told The Arizona Republic they have for years provided legislators free tickets to home football games. The Arizona Diamondbacks routinely provide free tickets to opening day.
Only the Phoenix Coyotes and Phoenix Suns said they do not give free tickets to legislators, with one executive calling it "a bad idea."
Failure to disclose
State lobbying laws allow lawmakers to accept game tickets, so long as they are offered to the entire Legislature, an entire chamber, or an entire legislative committee.
The Cardinals made it a practice to invite entire committees to games so as not to run afoul of state rules. The universities make their tickets available to all 90 state lawmakers.
But state law requires lawmakers to disclose such gifts on annually filed financial disclosure forms if their value exceeds $500.
So far, 15 current and former state lawmakers have amended their disclosure forms to reflect gifts from the Fiesta Bowl since the March release of a 276-page internal report that detailed misuse of funds by employees, potentially illegal reimbursement of employee donations for political campaigns, and free gifts and tickets to politicians.
Fifteen others properly disclosed receipt of bowl gifts, whether in the form of tickets or trips, on their annually filed forms, according to an ongoing Republic review of the records.
Amid its investigation last year, the bowl stopped giving lawmakers free tickets to the Fiesta Bowl and Insight Bowl, its sister game, and asked legislators to begin paying for their tickets.
Following Fiesta
For the Cardinals, giving away free tickets was a way to go head-to-head with the Fiesta Bowl, which for years battled the NFL team over stadium issues.
The Cardinals didn't have any bills before the Legislature during the time it gave out the gifts.
Nonetheless, the team gave 35 lawmakers pairs of tickets to its home opener in 2006. It gave a pair of loft tickets 47 times to lawmakers or incoming legislators for a dozen different home games from 2007 to 2009, according to the team.
Each loft ticket had a value ranging from $132.50 to $167.25.
In most cases, however, the lawmakers attended only one game during the calendar year. That meant they were not obligated to reveal their acceptance of the gift on their annual financial disclosure forms, since the value fell under the $500 reporting threshold.
Edward Queen, director of the Ethics and Servant Leadership Program at Emory University in Atlanta, suggested Arizona's reporting minimum is too high, especially when it comes to gifts like premium seats at sporting events.
"In instances like this, you are really not only giving a monetary value, you are giving a significant kind of prestige value," Queen said. "These are events and experiences that set you off from the mass of people. They give you the impression you are special, and that far outweighs any monetary value they may have."
The Republic, in its review of records, found only three lawmakers who disclosed the Cardinals tickets: Rep. Jack Harper, R-Surprise; Sen. Michele Reagan, R-Scottsdale, and former Rep. Ben Miranda, D-Phoenix.
Arizona law required only Miranda to disclose his tickets, because he went to two games in 2008, bumping the value of the gift over the $500 limit.
Reagan said she erred on the side of caution and disclosed the tickets because "they were really good seats."
"I didn't know the ticket price," Reagan said. "That's the reason why I disclosed."
Reagan, who is among the 30 lawmakers who also have reported Fiesta Bowl gifts, said she understands why lawmakers' acceptance of the seats might elicit public anger. She said she would not do it again.
"The public has an issue with these tickets," she said, "And I understand that. They say, 'We don't get to go for free.' "
Looking back, she said, "I would never have gone. I learned my lesson."
But Reagan and Senate Minority Leader David Schapira, D-Tempe, disagree with the notion that accepting the tickets was a way for the team to curry favor at the Capitol.
"Honestly, I've never done anything for the Fiesta Bowl," Reagan said. "It wasn't a quid pro quo and it wasn't with the Bidwills (the family that owns the Cardinals) either. They weren't taking us in the backroom, and saying, 'This is what I need.' "
Schapira pointed out that the Cardinals obeyed all state laws by inviting entire committees to the game. He said he had not advocated for them at the Capitol, adding, "The Cardinals have never asked me for anything."
Although the Fiesta Bowl and Cardinals have ended their policies of giving out free tickets, ASU, which relies on the Legislature to approve its budget, said it still plans to give legislators premium seats to its home football games this fall.
"Tickets to our football games are not considered gifts but are exempted as special events under the law and ASU reports the costs involved, not the legislators," said Virgil Renzulli, ASU's vice president of public affairs.
Amy Bjelland, the state elections director, said Renzulli is correct that the tickets are not "legally" considered gifts as it pertains to the state's lobbying law, but she said another state law still requires legislators to report any gifts if the amount exceeds $500.
The Republic's review of financial disclosure reports found that three former state lawmakers - Republicans Thayer Verschoor of Gilbert and Jim Weiers of Phoenix, and Democrat Pete Rios of Hayden - disclosed ASU gifts.
The Republic has not found any lawmakers who disclosed gifts from UA.
It is possible lawmakers may not have known the value of the tickets provided by ASU. The university, through its foundation, pays $99 each for about 50 season tickets a year that are given to lawmakers and their guests, Renzulli said.
That amounts to $16.50 a ticket for six home games, or well under the reporting threshold, even if a lawmaker and a guest went to every game.
Most fans paying for those tickets would sit in the unshaded upper bowl. However, ASU allows lawmakers with the complimentary tickets to sit in Section 126 in the "loge," where there are cooling fans, TVs for instant replay and complimentary food and drink.
The current season-ticket price for that section is $520, or about $74 per game for seven home games this fall.
In prior years, such as 2009, the season-ticket price for that section was $850 or about $121 a game.
Assistant Secretary of State Jim Drake said while the seat being occupied by a lawmaker has a higher market value, they only would have to report the price paid by ASU's foundation.
Queen, the ethicist, said that is another weakness in Arizona's law.
"Pretending that because they only paid $99, that the value is actually worth just $99 is troubling," he said. "Unless you are completely disingenuous or dumber than a post, you know why you are getting these (gifts). They aren't giving you this just because you are such a nice person."
Renzulli declined to answer questions about why ASU let lawmakers sit in premium seats that were bought at a discount. But he said ticket pricing at Sun Devil Stadium has the dual goal of maximizing revenue and attendance.
At UA, the practice of inviting legislators to football games "goes back beyond the memory of anyone working at the University of Arizona," said Jennifer Fitzenberger, a UA spokeswoman.
"It is a tradition founded on the notion that it is appropriate to bring our state representatives into social contact with the university community for the quintessential collegiate weekend sporting event. Legislators experience the community and show their support for a vital state institution," she said.
Documents obtained by the newspaper through a public-records request show UA spent $33,266 over the past five years to provide 878 free tickets to legislators and Gov. Jan Brewer, who received three tickets worth $103 in 2009. The average cost of a ticket was nearly $38.
Former state Sen. Jay Tibshraeny, R-Chandler, received the most tickets - 14 valued at $615 - from UA last year. He also accepted tickets to every ASU home game last year, ASU said.
Tibshraeny, now mayor of Chandler, confirmed he accepted all the UA tickets, but said he did not go to every ASU game.
He said he took the tickets because they were offered to all lawmakers, and he was unaware he had to disclose that he had accepted the tickets from the universities. The Cardinals also said he twice accepted loft tickets in 2007.
If the acceptance of free tickets continues to be a negative issue among constituents, Tibshraeny said, lawmakers should stop the practice. [So he will accept the bribes, while at the same time condemning the practice - what a hypocrite!]
Fitzenberger said the UA paid for its tickets through the UA Athletics Department, using the university president's allocation. She said no state funds were used. Occasionally, she said, if additional tickets were needed, the UA Foundation paid for those.
Robert Shelton, incoming executive director at the Fiesta Bowl, said in an interview he thought lawmakers had paid for the tickets at UA, where he is leaving as president. Records, however, show legislators received free tickets.
While lawmakers contemplate their constituents' views on the matter, the Cardinals have already made a decision to get out of the freebie business.
Dalton, the team spokesman, said some lawmakers were giving away their free tickets, and there had been negative media attention over the Fiesta Bowl's business practices.
"Part of it was, the Fiesta Bowl had stopped their wining and dining of legislators, so this project had stopped its course and legislators were sending proxies," Dalton said.
Arizona lawmakers who received free sports tickets
Jun. 25, 2011 07:58 PM
The Arizona Republic
Recipients of Cardinals tickets
The Arizona Cardinals from 2006 to 2009 gave lawmakers free tickets, hoping to improve the team's image at the Legislature. In 2006, 35 legislators accepted tickets to one game, but the names were not disclosed by the team. Below is a list of current and former legislators who accepted seats in 2007-09 in the owner's suite.
- Rep. Kirk Adams, R-Mesa, 1 game
- Sen. Amanda Aguirre, D-Yuma, 1 game
- Rep. Cecil Ash, R-Mesa, 1 game
- Rep. Judy Berges, R-Skull Valley, 1 game
- Sen. Robert Blendu, R-Litchfield Park, 1 game
- Rep. Tom Boone, R-Peoria, 1 game
- Sen. Meg Burton Cahill D-Tempe, 1 game
- Rep. Cloves Campbell, Jr., D-Phoenix, 1 game
- Rep. Tom Chabin, D-Flagstaff, 2 games
- Rep. Doug Clark, R-Anthem, 1 game
- Rep. Steve Court, R-Mesa, 1 game
- Sen. Rich Crandall, R-Mesa, 2 games
- Rep. Mark DeSimone, D-Phoenix, 1 game
- Sen. Adam Driggs, R-Phoenix, 1 game
- Rep. Steve Farley, D-Tucson, 1 game
- Sen. Steve Gallardo, D-Phoenix, 1 game
- Sen. Jorge Luis Garcia, D-Tucson, 1 game
- Rep. Martha Garcia, D-Phoenix, 1 game
- Rep. Doris Goodale, R-Kingman, 1 game
- Sen. Pamela Gorman, R-Anthem, 1 game
- Rep. Jack Harper, R-Surprise, 1 game
- Rep. Laurin Hendrix, R-Gilbert,2 games
- Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Glendale, 1 game
- Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Tucson, 1 game
- Sen. John McComish, R-Phoenix, 2 games
- Rep. Debbie McCune Davis, D-Phoenix, 1 game
- Rep. Eric Meyer, D-Paradise Valley, 1 game
- Rep. Ben Miranda, D-Phoenix, 3 games
- Rep. Richard Miranda, D-Tolleson, 1 game
- Sen. Rick Murphy, R-Peoria, 1 game
- Rep. Warde Nichols, R-Gilbert, 1 game
- Rep. Lynne Pancrazi, D-Yuma, 1 game
- Sen. Michele Reagan, R-Scottsdale, 2 games
- Rep. Bob Robson, R-Chandler, 1 game
- Sen. David Schapira , D-Tempe, 1 game
- Sen. Jay Tibshraeny, R-Chandler, 2 games
- Rep. Andrew Tobin, R-Paulden, 1 game
- Rep. Jerry Weiers, R-Glendale, 1 game
- Rep. Vic Williams, R-Tucson, 1 game
Arizona State University tickets
The university has a longstanding policy of providing free tickets to home football games to Arizona state lawmakers. Below is a list of current and former legislators who accepted the seats, and for how many games, between 2006 and 2010.
- Rep. Ed Ableser, D-Tempe, 33 games
- Rep. Kirk Adams, R-Mesa, 26 games
- Sen. Amanda Aguirre, D-Yuma, 1 game
- Sen. Linda Aguirre, D-Phoenix, 6 games
- Rep. Mark Anderson, R-Mesa, 3 games
- Rep. Ray Barnes, R-Scottsdale, 17 games
- Sen. Nancy Barto, R-Phoenix, 1 game
- Sen. Ken Bennett, R-Prescott, 1 game
- Rep. Tom Boone, R-Peoria, 23 games
- Rep. David Bradley, D-Tucson, 1 game
- Sen. Bill Brotherton, D-Phoenix, 2 games
- Meg Burton Cahill, D-Tempe, 2 games
- Rep. Jennifer Burns, R- Tucson, 1 game
- Sen. Ed Bunch, R-Scottsdale, 4 games
- Rep. Chad Campbell, D-Phoenix, 19 games
- Rep. Cloves Campbell Jr., D-Phoenix, 12 games
- Rep. Ted Carpenter, R-Phoenix, 1 game
- Rep. Tom Chabin, D-Flagstaff, 2 games
- Rep. Doug Clark, R-Anthem, 14 games
- Sen. Rich Crandall, R-Mesa, 6 games
- Rep. Mark DeSimone, D-Phoenix, 3 games
- Sen. Adam Driggs, R-Phoenix, 27 games
- Sen. Jake Flake, R-Snowflake,13 games
- Sen. Steve Gallardo, D-Phoenix, 9 games
- Rep. Doris Goodale, R-Kingman, 7 games
- Sen. Pamela Gorman, R-Anthem, 12 games
- Rep. David Gowan, R-Tucson, 1 game
- Rep. Albert Hale, D-Window Rock, 3 games
- Rep. Jack Harper, R-Surprise, 7 games
- Rep. Matt Heinz, D-Tucson, 12 games
- Rep. Laurin Hendrix, R-Gilbert, 7 games
- Rep. Pete Hershberger, R-Tucson, 1 game
- Sen. John Huppenthal, R-Chandler, 1 game
- Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, 15 games
- Sen. Karen Johnson, R-Mesa, 6 games
- Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Tucson, 7 games
- Rep. David Lujan, D-Phoenix, 34 games
- Rep. Lucy Mason, R-Prescott, 12 games
- Sen. John McComish, R-Phoenix, 33 games
- Rep. Debbie McCune Davis, D-Phoenix, 8 games
- Rep. Barbara McGuire, D-Kearny, 21 games
- Rep. Richard Miranda, D-Tolleson, 24 games
- Rep. Steve Montenegro, R-Avondale, 13 games
- Rep. Warde Nichols, R-Gilbert, 34 games
- Rep. Daniel Patterson, D-Tucson, 1 game
- Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, 14 games
- Sen. Gary Pierce, R-Mesa, 5 games
- Sen. Michele Reagan, R-Scottsdale, 5 games
- Rep. Pete Rios, D-Hayden, 21 games
- Sen. Rebecca Rios, D-Apache Junction, 22 games
- Rep. Bob Robson, R-Chandler, 21 games
- Rep. Collette Rosati, R-Scottsdale, 1 game
- Sen. David Schapira, D-Tempe, 27 games
- Rep. Carl Seel, R-Phoenix, 5 games
- Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Phoenix, 11 games
- Rep. David Stevens, R-Sierra Vista, 7 games
- Sen. Jay Tibshraeny, R-Chandler, 33 games
- Rep. Andy Tobin, R-Paulden, 5 games
- Rep. Albert Tom, D-Chambers, 7 games
- Rep. Anna Tovar, D-Tolleson, 4 games
- Rep. Stephen Tully, R-Phoenix, 1 game
- Sen. Thayer Verschoor, R-Gilbert, 27 games
- Rep. Jerry Weiers, R-Glendale, 28 games
- Sen. Steven Yarbrough, R-Chandler, 31 games
University of Arizona tickets
The University of Arizona routinely invites all 90 of Arizona's state lawmakers to home football games. Here's a list of current and former lawmakers who accepted tickets between 2006 and 2010 and how many they received during that time.
- Rep. Ed Ableser, D-Tempe, 8 tickets
- Rep. Kirk Adams, R-Mesa, 2 tickets
- Sen. Amanda Aguirre, D-Yuma, 2 tickets
- Sen. Linda Aguirre, D-Phoenix, 3 tickets
- Rep. John Allen, R-Scottsdale, 2 tickets
- Sen. Manuel Alvarez, D-Elfrida. 6 tickets
- Sen. Frank Antenori, R-Tucson, 12 tickets
- Sen. Tim Bee, R-Tucson, 3 tickets
- Sen. Ken Bennett, R-Prescott, 2 tickets
- Rep. Tom Boone, R-Peoria, 2 tickets
- Rep. David Bradley, D-Tucson, 53 tickets
- Sen. David Braswell, R-Phoenix, 12 tickets
- Gov. Jan Brewer, 3 tickets
- Sen. Bill Brotherton, D-Phoenix, 2 tickets
- Sen. Bob Burns, R-Peoria, 10 tickets
- Rep. Jennifer Burns, R-Tucson, 31 tickets
- Sen. Olivia Cajero Bedford, D-Tucson, 49 tickets
- Rep. Cloves Campbell Jr., D-Phoenix, 24 tickets
- Sen. Robert Cannell, D-Yuma, 2 tickets
- Rep. Tom Chabin, D-Flagstaff, 14 tickets
- Sen. Rich Crandall, R-Mesa, 6 tickets
- Rep. Ted Downing, D-Tucson 14 tickets
- Sen. Steve Gallardo, D-Phoenix, 4 tickets
- Rep. Steve Farley, D-Tucson, 37 tickets
- Rep. Patricia Fleming, D-Sierra Vista, 6 tickets
- Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Phoenix, 2 tickets
- Sen. Jorge Luis Garcia, D-Tucson, 36 tickets
- Sen. Maria Garcia, D-Tucson, 4 tickets
- Rep. Sally Ann Gonzalez, D-Tucson, 2 tickets
- Rep. David Gowan, R-Sierra Vista, 13 tickets
- Rep. Jack Harper, R-Surprise, 22 tickets
- Rep. Matt Heinz, D-Tucson, 24 tickets
- Sen. Toni Hellon, R-Tucson, 3 tickets
- Rep. Laurin Hendrix, R- Gilbert, 6 tickets
- Rep. Pete Hershberger, R-Tucson, 40 tickets
- Sen. John Huppenthal, R-Chandler, 6 tickets
- Rep. Bill Konopnicki, R-Safford, 2 tickets
- Rep. Phil Lopes, D-Tucson, 51 tickets,
- Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Tucson, 40 tickets
- Rep. David Lujan, D-Phoenix, 17 tickets
- Rep. Marian McClure, R-Tucson, 28 tickets
- Sen. John McComish, R-Phoenix, 13 tickets
- Rep. Debbie McCune Davis, D-Phoenix, 7 tickets
- Rep. Barbara McGuire, D-Kearny, 2 tickets
- Rep. Ben Miranda, D-Phoenix, 2 tickets
- Rep. Richard Miranda, D-Tolleson, 44 tickets,
- Rep. Steve Montenegro, R-Avondale, 24 tickets
- Rep. Warde Nichols, R-Gilbert 6 tickets
- Sen. Tom O'Halleran, R-Sedona, 4 tickets
- Rep. Lynne Pancrazi, D-Yuma, 16 tickets,
- Rep. Daniel Patterson, D-Tucson, 27 tickets,
- Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, 2 tickets
- Sen. Steve Pierce, R-Prescott 2 tickets,
- Rep. Frank Pratt, R-Casa Grande, 4 tickets
- Rep. Tom Prezelski, D-Tucson, 4 tickets
- Rep. Pete Rios, D-Hayden, 4 tickets
- Sen. Rebecca Rios, D-Apache Junction, 4 tickets,
- Rep. Macario Saldate, D-Tucson, 2 tickets
- Sen. Victor Soltero, D-Tucson, 18 tickets
- Sen. Jay Tibshraeny, R-Chandler, 50 tickets
- Rep. Andy Tobin, R-Paulden, 4 tickets
- Rep. Albert Tom, D-Chambers, 6 tickets
- Rep. Anna Tovar, D-Tolleson, 8 tickets
- Rep. Ted Vogt, R-Tucson, 6 tickets,
- Rep. Bruce Wheeler, D-Tucson, 2 tickets
- Rep. Vic Williams, R-Tucson, 2 tickets
- Rep. Nancy Young Wright, D-Tucson, 2 tickets
Gifts or bribes? Lawmakers get to decide.
Arizona legislators apparently did nothing illegal when they accepted free tickets to football games from the Arizona Cardinals as well as from Arizona State University and the University of Arizona.
Oh… and also accepted baseball tickets from the Arizona Diamondbacks.
And of course this is in addition to all those freebies they took from the Fiesta Bowl.
The most recent revelations about elected officials pocketing $100-plus game tickets from the Cardinals appeared in an article over the weekend by the Republic's Craig Harris and Ginger Rough.
The most unintentionally humorous comment in the article came from Sen. Michele Reagan, a Scottsdale Republican and beneficiary of free tickets, who said, "The public has an issue with these tickets. And I understand that. They say, 'We don't get to go for free.'”
It seems that Reagan and many of her colleagues didn't have this revelation until they – How shall we put this? – GOT CAUGHT.
A spokesman for the Cardinals said that the team began giving away tickets after legislators appeared to take the side of the much more generous Fiesta Bowl on a couple of issues.
The idea, according to the Cardinals' representative was to "build a better relationship" with lawmakers.
Everything was all perfectly legal, apparently.
But that is one of the great things about being an elected official.
You get to write the laws, which means that “legal” is what you say it is.
In Arizona, lawmakers produced lobbying laws that permit members of the legislature to accept game tickets if they are offered to the entire Legislature, an entire chamber (House and Senate), or an entire legislative committee.
In other words, something that might be described as a "bribe" if offered to only one legislator is defined a "gift" when offered to many of them.
Or all of them.
Only a politician could come up with that kind of fractured logic.
It's either brilliant or diabolical.
Or both.
The law allows Arizona lawmakers to accept more money in the form of tickets for a single NFL game than the family of an unemployed person would receive in a week.
That is, if these same lawmakers had not decided that that they will not extend unemployment benefits to jobless, cash-strapped Arizonans.
On Monday I spoke to a former lawmaker who still does some work at the legislature and so asked to remain anonymous. He told me, “These are good people (legislators). They put in long hours for what anybody would have to say is very low pay. They take a lot of abuse. And for the most part they want to do the right thing. But there are moments when you slip into the idea that because you do all this other stuff you are entitled to a few perks. You convince yourself that going to something like a football game will provide you with the information you need to make decisions. Perhaps it is fooling yourself a bit but I don't see anything sinister in it.”
Over the past couple of week I've written more than a few columns about the legislature's refusal to extend unemployment benefits.
I've included phone numbers in several columns and recently was told by one legislative staff member that I only included the numbers because I wanted legislators to be “harassed.”
I told him that if a lawmaker thought that hearing from a constituent who disagreed on an issue was “harassment” then Arizona's problem is more basic than we thought.
Perhaps it isn't greed or ego that is getting the state's politicians into trouble. Perhaps it's only a poor grasp of vocabulary. I have heard lawmakers repeatedly describe what they do as “public service,” but I'm not sure they understand either term.
So, to review:
“Public” means out in the open and includes everyone, not just those who give gifts.
“Service” means not taking gifts.
Fiesta Bowl - We want our bribes back
Source
Fiesta Bowl to 31 politicians: We want our money back
by Craig Harris and Ginger Rough - Jun. 29, 2011 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
After years of attempting to curry favor with elected officials by lavishing them with expensive gifts including out-of-state trips and tickets to sporting events, the Fiesta Bowl now indicates it wants the money back.
The bowl, which is negotiating with the Internal Revenue Service to preserve its non-profit status, is asking 31 politicians to help it determine whether trips and gifts they received "serve the Fiesta Bowl's tax-exempt purposes."
If they cannot, the bowl says, it may ask the politicians to reimburse it for the trips and gifts, an amount that could exceed $154,000.
The bowl late last week sent each of the 31 a detailed letter about the benefits they received during the past decade and any amount they may have repaid. The bowl has asked the politicians to respond by July 15.
As a non-profit organization, the bowl does not have to pay federal or state income taxes.
"These are information letters being sent to let the politicians know what gifts or benefits we are aware of and to obtain additional information from them on whether these are proper expenses," said Nathan Hochman, the bowl's attorney.
In late March, the bowl released results of an internal investigation that exposed widespread misconduct and questionable spending. Since then, it has radically changed its business operations by firing its former chief executive and implementing reforms.
The bowl's research since then concluded that it spent $161,876 on the politicians. So far, those officials have reimbursed the bowl $7,311, it says.
The largest amount spent on any individual was $39,347 on Senate President Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, who stayed at luxury hotels and took family members with him on bowl-sponsored trips from 2002 to 2009, according to the bowl. Pearce, who did not respond to phone messages or e-mails seeking comment Tuesday, also had the bowl pay for chauffeured car services for him during a 2006 trip in Chicago. Also, the bowl indicated it provided one of his adult sons with expensive tickets to a University of Southern California football game in 2008. Pearce has so far repaid the bowl $1,417.
Bob Ottenhoff, chief executive of GuideStar USA Inc., which gathers information on 1.5 million non-profit organizations, said giving excessive gifts to publicly elected officials could cause the IRS to revoke a non-profit organization's tax status or levy a fine. The IRS will neither confirm nor deny that it is investigating the Fiesta Bowl, although the bowl has acknowledged that it is seeking repayment to maintain its tax-exempt status.
Ottenhoff said it is unclear what legal authority the bowl has to seek reimbursement, and he was not sure Tuesday how the Fiesta Bowl could force politicians to return the money. But Ottenhoff said the bowl has put those officials in an "uncomfortable position" because they have been accused of accepting expensive gifts.
The bowl sent letters to current and former elected officials, and copies of the letters were sent to the Arizona Secretary of State's Office and Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, who is looking into whether lawmakers violated state law by not reporting the trips and other gifts. Montgomery's office had no comment on the matter Tuesday. Lavish spending
The bowl has not yet given such letters to current and former employees or board members who may have received inappropriate gifts. Lavish spending detailed in the Fiesta Bowl's own investigative report included out-of-state junkets, gift cards and certain expenses relating to the wedding and honeymoon of a bowl secretary.
Hochman said an investigation of those internal matters is more detailed and ongoing.
"We will take the same type of analysis to employees, former and current, and third-party vendors," Hochman said.
Letters sent to politicians detail trips on which the bowl says it took lawmakers dating back to 2002. They also list tickets it doled out to the Fiesta Bowl, the Insight Bowl and other sporting events.
The trips were legal for lawmakers to accept under Arizona's lobbying statutes. But officials must disclose trips or gifts if their value exceeds $500. State law generally prohibits lawmakers from accepting free game tickets unless the entire Legislature, an entire chamber or an entire legislative committee is invited.
Since the bowl released its internal report, at least 15 current and former state lawmakers have amended their financial-disclosure reports to reflect gifts received from the bowl.
One of those accepting large amounts of tickets was state Rep. Ben Arredondo, D-Tempe, who received tickets to the 2009 Super Bowl between the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers, and to the 2004 Holiday Bowl. The Fiesta Bowl said it spent $13,678 for his tickets and trips, and Arredondo did not reimburse anything. Arredondo, reached by phone, said he had no comment.
Pearce and Arredondo, a former Tempe City Council member, pushed through public subsidies for the Fiesta Bowl in 2005 at the state Legislature and Tempe City Hall, respectively.
Until late last year, the bowl had made it a practice of spending on politicians in an effort to lobby for help landing subsidies or legislation to benefit the non-profit organization. The bowl changed course after The Arizona Republic in December 2009 first reported that current and former bowl employees said they were reimbursed for making campaign contributions, which is illegal, and cited questionable business practices.
The bowl's later internal investigation found excessive spending by employees and confirmation of the campaign-contribution reimbursement scheme. The bowl fired John Junker, its longtime chief executive, who has been replaced by outgoing University of Arizona President Robert Shelton.
Since its report was released, the bowl has tried to recoup campaign contributions from 26 politicians and political-action committees but has met little success. The bowl has said those funds, in addition to any money repaid for the gifts, would be given to charities that benefit youths or education in Arizona. Politicians' tabs
House Speaker Andy Tobin, R-Paulden, who went to Dallas to see a college-rivalry game between the University of Oklahoma and University of Texas, said he received his letter Monday afternoon. He called the letter "strange."
The bowl told Tobin that it spent $2,824 on him and that he had reimbursed the bowl for $90.
"How do you turn around and bill later, after the fact?" Tobin said. "If you are going to invite people to go, then you should tell them what the bill is at the time."
Tobin added, "I think, more than anything else, they are trying to protect their tax status. But shifting this problem to lawmakers, who they invited, and whom they called on many occasions to get them to go - it's a bit much."
Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Tucson, who went on five Fiesta Bowl trips, could owe $16,847, according to documents disclosed by the bowl. On her tab: expenses for a Georgia-Auburn football game in 2006 and more than $2,000 for tickets to the 2009 Oklahoma-Texas game.
Lopez said Tuesday that she thought it was "highly inappropriate for the (bowl) to ask" lawmakers to pay for the accrued expenses.
She said she previously contacted the bowl on several occasions, indicating that she would reimburse for ticket expenses, yet never heard back. Lopez said Tuesday that she had no idea the ticket costs were so high. She had not yet received her letter.
Pearce and other lawmakers who took children or spouses on their trips were given letters breaking down those charges.
Tobin was angry that the bowl listed charges for a guest - Brian Townsend, a senior staffer for the GOP legislative majority - under his outstanding expenses.
"I wasn't making a vacation out of this," Tobin said. "I brought him (Townsend) because it was business."
Sen. John McComish, R-Phoenix, who went on a 2009 trip to Dallas, said Tuesday that he had not yet received his letter but that he has no intention of repaying the bowl more than $2,600. That is the balance bowl officials say he may owe for expenses incurred on the trip. McComish has already reimbursed the bowl $206 for game tickets.
"No, that's my simple answer," McComish said Tuesday when asked if he was paying the difference. "We thought we were doing them a favor. I thought I was on a business trip to help them out."
Sen. Steve Gallardo, D-Phoenix, was one of the few who indicated that he intends to reimburse the Fiesta Bowl for the full $1,407 it says is owed for outstanding expenses from a 2007 trip to Pasadena, Calif.
"I know there are some members who have come out and said they are refusing to pay. I think that's the wrong approach," Gallardo said. "We have an obligation to clean this up."
But he chastised the bowl and its attorneys for their lack of communication with lawmakers. "I called repeatedly, I don't know how many times, asking how much I might owe," Gallardo said. "They are trying to cover their butts here, and they are pointing the finger at everyone else."
John Zidich, CEO and publisher of The Arizona Republic, is a former member of the Fiesta Bowl's board of directors and was on the bowl's five-member executive committee from January 2010 to April 2011. The Arizona Republic is a Fiesta Bowl advertising sponsor.
Lawmakers to Fiesta Bowl - F*ck you! We are keeping the money!
This request from the Fiesta Bowl asking these crooked politicians to give the money back that was originally given to them with no strings attached is a little absurd.
But still that doesn't mean that most of these politicians aren't crooks who took the Fiesta Bowl money as a bribe in exchange for passing special laws for the Fiesta Bowl.
Fiesta bowl wants lawmakers to justify free tickets
HOWARD FISCHER Capitol Media Services
Wednesday, June 29, 2011 5:00 am | (0) Comments
PHOENIX -- Saying it wants to protect its tax-exempt status, the Fiesta Bowl is asking more than two dozen current and former lawmakers to justify taking free tickets and travel -- or be prepared to reimburse costs of more than $150,000.
In letters to the officials obtained by Capitol Media Services, attorney Nathan Hochman said the organization is permitted to provide tickets, reasonable travel, lodging and meal expenses "so long as these benefits are consistent with its tax-exempt purposes."
"Please provide any information you have on how these benefits further the Fiesta Bowl's tax exempt purposes ... as distinguished from your own interests," Hochman wrote. He said the information will be used to determine whether the Fiesta Bowl is required to seek reimbursement.
But several legislators told Capitol Media Services they have no intent of trying to provide the information, much less write out a check.
"I don't have to prove to you it was a benefit," said Sen. Rich Crandall, R-Mesa.
"Your board and directors said it was a benefit," he continued. "You need to go back to them and ask them how they felt it was a benefit. I don't have to justify anything to you."
Records provided by the bowl say he got $6,548 in benefits for tickets to games in 2008 and 2009 and related expenses. Crandall said -- and the records reflect -- that he reimbursed them $366 for the value of the tickets themselves after being informed that accepting them was illegal.
Senate President Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, who the Fiesta Bowl said accumulated $39,347 in expenses for several trips, called the request "outrageous."
Pearce said he went to one college football game in Dallas because Fiesta Bowl officials told him that having him and other legislators there would help their interests.
He said there was some fear at the time that Texas wanted to become part of the Bowl Championship Series, the championship game rotating among four bowls, including the Fiesta Bowl. Pearce said he was told that the trip would help keep the Cotton Bowl either from replacing the Fiesta Bowl or, at the very least, becoming a fifth partner which would dilute the value of being part of the BCS for the Fiesta Bowl.
The feelings are bipartisan. Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Tucson, who at $16,877 was the third highest beneficiary, said she has no obligation to respond and justify the travel.
"I was told when I was invited, and on every trip I went, that it was important for legislators to be there as we were meeting folks from the other (football) conferences, promoting the Fiesta Bowl, it was important for the economy of the state," she said. "They're the ones who wanted me to go."
All totaled, the benefits the Fiesta Bowl has been able to identify total more than $161,000. But Hochman said that probably is not a complete tally, asking lawmakers and others to check their own records.
Total reimbursements so far are only about $7,300.
The largest recipient, according to the Fiesta Bowl records, is Senate President Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, whose tickets and other benefits exceed $39,300. Pearce has reimbursed $1,417.
Other major beneficiaries include former state Sen. Robert Blendu, R-Litchfield Park, with $17,213 in expenses and $955 in reimbursements and Rep. Ben Arredondo, D-Tempe, recipient of $13,678 in benefits and no reimbursements for tickets dating back to his days as a member of the Tempe city council.
The maneuver appears to reflect what might be described as a belated effort by the Fiesta Bowl to protect its tax-exempt status.
In his letters, Hochman says that the expenditures may not run afoul of rules governing what tax-exempt organizations can do. But he said they "may create an appearance of impropriety."
"The Fiesta Bowl is committed to remedying any appearance of impropriety and maintaining its tax-exempt status by requesting -- where appropriate -- reimbursement for benefits provided to identified individuals, including elected officials," he wrote.
Pearce said it's wrong to put the burden on lawmakers, who thought they were helping.
"If anything's wrong or improper because of their national charitable classification, it's between them and the feds, not us," he said.
State law allows lawmakers to accept travel, food and lodging as long as the value is reported. Several lawmakers have since amended financial disclosure reports to list the value of the travel.
But the law makes it illegal to take tickets for sporting events unless every member of a specific group, whether it be the entire Legislature, a specific chamber or even a specific committee, is invited.
House Speaker Andy Tobin, R-Paulden, said he reported the value of all the travel and tickets. But Tobin said he has no intention of reimbursing anyone, saying that he, like others, went to a game in Dallas to help preserve the four-city Bowl Championship Series.
House Minority Leader Chad Campbell, D-Phoenix, who went to two other Dallas games that year, agreed that the whole purpose of his presence was to help the Fiesta Bowl. He said Hochman should look to Bowl officials if he wants answers on how they spent their money.
Sen. John McComish, R-Phoenix, said the whole things smacks of a friend inviting you to an out-of-town wedding.
"Five years later, he gets divorced and sends you the bill," he said, calling the whole thing "absurd."
Copies of the bills also went to Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery who is investigating whether any criminal acts were committed.
This is actually the second bid by Hochman to get back Fiesta Bowl funds.
An investigation revealed that Fiesta Bowl employees made donations to the campaigns of politicians and then reimbursed them out of Bowl funds. That became an illegal contribution of corporate money to influence elections.
All totaled, according to an investigative report, more than $48,000 was laundered that way, including $15,000 to fired president and chief executive John Junker. The biggest recipient was U.S. Sen. John McCain who got $19,500 over several campaigns.
The Fiesta Bowl remains in the BCS rotation despite the scandal. But BCS officials did impose a $1 million fine and placed the Bowl on probation.
List of beneficiaries and reimbursements
- Sen. Paula Aboud, D-Tucson
$85 / $55 - Former House Speaker Kirk Adams, R-Mesa
$1,988 / $1,064 - Former Sen. Linda Aguirre, D-Yuma
$1,353 / $30 - Rep. Ben Arredondo, D-Tempe
$13,678 / $0 - Secretary of State Ken Bennett
$2,855 / $35 - Former Sen. Robert Blendu, R-Litchfield Park
$17,213 / $955 - Former Rep. David Bradley, D-Tucson
$3,756 / $0 - Former Senate President Bob Burns, R-Peoria
$4,200 / $0 - House Minority Leader Chad Campbell
$1,736 / $55 - Sen. Rich Crandall, R-Mesa
$6,548 / $366 - Former Rep. Sam Crump, R-Phoenix
$1,988 / $0 - Sen. Adam Driggs, R-Phoenix
$2,824 / $206 - Sen. Steve Gallardo, D-Phoenix
$1,407 / $0 - Former Rep. Laurin Hendrix, R-Gilbert
$1,893 / $0 - Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills
$1,813 / $0 - Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Tucson
$16,877 / $30 - Former Rep. David Lujan, D-Phoenix
$6,420 / $0 - Former Rep. Lucy Mason, R-Prescott
$2,793 / $206 - Sen. John McComish, R-Phoenix
$2,854 / $206 - Sen. Robert Meza, D-Phoenix
$5,729 / $2,320 - Sen. John Nelson, R-Litchfield Park
$1,407 / $47 - Former Rep. Warde Nichols, R-Gilbert
$1,614 / $0 - U.S. Rep. Ed Pastor, D-Ariz.
$2,200 / $0 - Senate President Russell Pearce, R-Mesa
$39,347 / $1,417 - Corporation Commissioner and former Rep. Gary Pierce, R-Mesa
$1,454 / $35 - Sen. Michele Reagan, R-Scottsdale
$3,756 / $160 - Pinal County Supervisor and former Rep. Pete Rios, D-Dudleyville
$3,695 / $35 - Glendale Mayor Elaine Scruggs
$219 / $0 - House Speaker Andy Tobin, R-Paulden
$2,824 / $90 - Former Rep. Steve Tully, R-Phoenix
$802 / $0 - Former Sen. Thayer Verschoor, R-Gilbert
$6,548 / $0
-- Source: Fiesta Bowl
Chandler Mayor Jay Tibshraeny - I'm not a crook!!!!!
SourceChandler mayor to amend disclosures over football tickets
by Edythe Jensen - Jun. 29, 2011 10:15 AM
The Arizona Republic
Chandler Mayor Jay Tibshraeny said he will amend the financial disclosure forms he filed when he was a state senator after it was made public that he accepted free Arizona State University, University of Arizona and Arizona Cardinals football game tickets.
Although state law requires lawmakers to disclose gifts if their value exceeds $500, Tibshraeny said he doesn't believe he did anything wrong but "will err on the side of caution" by amending his disclosures. The UA tickets alone were valued at $615. [ Yea, I am a royal government ruler! It is impossible for me to do anything wrong! ]
The mayor, who returned to the top city post in January after eight years in the Senate, accepted more UA tickets than any other Arizona lawmaker according to documents obtained through public records requests. He also accepted tickets to every ASU game last year, but said he didn't attend them all. And he got free tickets to two Cardinals games. [ Swear to God, "I'm not a crook!, I didn't attend all of the games"! ]
"I always ran that stuff through legal counsel to make sure it conformed to state laws," Tibshraeny said about accepting the free tickets. [ Then why did you accept the tickets without reporting them? ] The universities and Cardinals have been giving tickets to legislators for many years, but if constituents oppose the practice then the Legislature should stop it, he said.
The Republic's review of financial disclosure reports found that three former state lawmakers - Republicans Thayer Verschoor of Gilbert and Jim Weiers of Phoenix, and Democrat Pete Rios of Hayden - disclosed ASU gifts.
Tibshraeny could soon be getting more ticket offers as mayor but not to multiple games. Mayors and council members of Valley cities are invited to at least one ASU football game every year where they sit with President Michael Crow. Councilman Rick Heumann and former Councilman Bob Caccamo said they have attended.
"It wasn't a lobbying effort; it was to promote goodwill, get us together so we can interact and talk about issues or just watch the game and be friendly," Caccamo said.
"Tickets to our football games are not considered gifts but are exempted as special events under the law, and ASU reports the costs involved," said Virgil Renzulli, ASU's vice president of public affairs. He said state lawmakers, city councils from throughout the Valley, chambers of commerce, community groups and members of the military and their wives or guests are invited "as part of our cultivation and connection to the community . . . football is one of the major connectors. It's not an attempt to influence anybody. This is all done above board, within the law and without ulterior motives." [ Translation - We are equal opportunity crooks! ]
The university has campuses in many cities and is in talks with Chandler to bring a facility there, Renzulli said.
Tibshraeny said his presence at university football games was more about the way he conducts business in elected office than snagging free entertainment.
"I utilized them (the tickets) to get to know the university folks better; I looked at it as an extension of my duties," he said, citing Chandler's ongoing negotiations to bring a UA campus to the city. He compared his game attendance to going to employee recognition events or speaking to neighborhood groups.
And invitations to college games shouldn't be compared to the recent Fiesta Bowl scandal, Renzulli said. For years the Fiesta Bowl curried legislative favor by handing out free game tickets and taking lawmakers on expensive out-of-state trips. News of that practice led to an investigation, potentially illegal employee conduct and spending irregularities that put the bowl's non-profit status and prestigious role in college football's national-championship series in jeopardy.
Renzulli said ASU invites a rotating list of about 80 to visit with Crow for one game each season.
"We are a state university, and this is our constituency. We're not cherry-picking a few people, bringing them out and hitting them up for something." [ We don't hit up a few people for money, we hit up EVERYBODY for money. ]
Reporter Craig Harris contributed to this article.
Fiesta Bowl fiasco a bipartisan affair
Finally, that rarest of earth has been uncovered at the Capitol.
Common ground.
Whether right or left, red or blue, it seems our leaders have found that they can indeed come together and join hands -- as long as one of those hands is holding a foam finger and the other has a key card from the Ritz.
Politicians love to tell us that they can't be bought for the price of a football ticket.
I believe them.
It takes far more than a mere football ticket to buy access to an Arizona legislator. You also have to pony up airfare and resort accommodations, not only for them but for their spouses, their children, their children's spouses and their grandchildren.
Fiesta Bowl records released this week indicate that 29 former or current legislators have helped themselves to a junket or two (or in the case of Russell Pearce, 10), courtesy of the non profit.
Twenty Republicans and nine Democrats jetsetted their way across America where they were forced to endure grueling schedules of fine dining and football before they were at last able to retire to spartan quarters at the Ritz or the Four Seasons or the elegant Adolphus in downtown Dallas.
Pearce, a Republican, endured no less than $38,000 worth of this torture, forcing his wife and children to go along to bear witness to his agony. Included in his haul: 12 free tickets to the 2009 Fiesta Bowl, worth $2,769. Somebody explain to me how that's legal.
Linda Lopez, a Democrat, was second to Pearce at $16,847, with five trips in five years. Think three Ritzes, one Adolphus and a Copley Plaza where the Fiesta Bowl paid for two rooms at $1,683 apiece – one for her and another for her son and daughter in law.
Rounding out our top four weekend workaholics were Robert Blendu, R-$16,258, and Ben Arredondo, D-$13,678, who treated the Fiesta Bowl like his own personal Stub Hub.
In addition to junkets, Arredondo took six tickets to the 2004 Holiday Bowl ($348), six tickets to the 2005 Insight Bowl ($312) seven tickets to the 2007 Fiesta Bowl ($1,531), tickets to Cardinals games in 2007 and 2008 ($2,240), 10 tickets to the 2009 Fiesta Bowl ($2,307), four tickets to the 2009 Super Bowl ($4,000) and four tickets to the 2009 Insight Bowl ($328). This guy even let the Fiesta Bowl tip the valets who carried his bags.
The law that generally bans legislators from taking free game tickets may not apply to Arredondo because he was a Tempe councilman when he was raking in the freebies. But the conflict-of-interest law certainly does. That's the one that bars public officials from using their positions to get gifts. Like Pearce, Arredondo served as a point man for the Fiesta Bowl.
Of our 29 junketeers, it appears that all but one took free game tickets, though some have reimbursed the bowl since being caught. (Only Gary Pierce paid for his football tickets at the time, though he was $10 short of the $45 tab.)
About half of the 29 failed to disclose their trips as the law required, including three of our top four travelers. Lopez, to her credit, did disclose, though what those gifts were wasn't clear until this week.
Under the law, our leaders can snatch up as many free trips as special interests toss their way. They just have to disclose them if they're worth more than $500.
As for game tickets, state law generally bars lawmakers from taking them unless they're offered to a full chamber or committee.
Today ends Week 12 of the Fiesta Fiasco. As we are now three months in, a few stats seem in order:
Number of indictments thus far of those who laundered campaign contributions, plundered a non-profit and covered up illegal activity: zero.
Number of politicians facing fines and/or indictments: zero.
Number of legislative proposals to outlaw all gifts to public officials (and yes, their relatives, too): zero.
Number of invoices thus far sent to legislators for the junkets: zero. And that last one should stay that way.
It's far too late for the Fiesta Bowl to ask our leaders to pay.
Leave that to voters