By John Dempsey, WLS-AM News
(CHICAGO) The head of the Better Government Association says the Chicago Cubs did the right thing, in withdrawing their offer to sell World Series tickets at Wrigley Field to Aldermen and other city officials at face value.
BGA President and CEO Andy Shaw told “The Big John and Ray Show” on WLS, that since the tickets are now worth thousands of dollars on the open market, it would raise serious ethical concerns for the Cubs to allow Aldermen to buy those seats at cost. “I think the ethics board is really on top of this in a good way” said Shaw. “Remember, the City Council controls the fate of Wrigleyville. They had to pass on every single ordinance related to the expansion of the field and the park. The Cubs had to jump through numerous hoops to get what they did, and they did a great job of working with sometimes unreasonable public officials, whether it was the Mayor’s office or the Aldermen’s office.”
Shaw also says because of the history of corruption in the City Council, the city ethics board was correct in raising the issue. “When you’re being regulated by a body like the City Council, that over the last three decades has sent 35 people to jail for corruption, I think you’d better be a little more careful.”
For more than a decade, the Cubs have offered playoff tickets at face value to federal, state and city officials, but this year the new chairman of the ethics board said accepting the seats would violate city ethics law.
@ 2016 WLS-AM News
