Fenty doles out Nats tickets to friends, contributors

WASHINGTON - It's good to be friends with D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty.

The mayor is continuing to shower his friends and family with government perks, like Nationals baseball tickets.

Fenty has given thousands of dollars worth of baseball tickets to campaign contributors, longtime friends, several of his running partners, as well as a few members of Congress, according to records provided by the mayor's office.

The 118 individuals and groups that received tickets over the first 16 home games include about 30 youth groups, civic organizations, and D.C. Public Schools.

The list is balanced with an equal number of mayoral staff and insiders. The mayor's brother, Jesse Fenty, is on the list as is Fenty's longtime friend Sinclair Skinner, who admitted to distributing racially-charged flyers depicting Councilmember Jim Graham as a plantation master.

Fenty spokesperson Mafara Hobson defended how the tickets are being distributed.

"The mayor is committed to sharing the tickets with District residents," Hobson says.

At least 11 people on the list are athletes who share the mayor's passion for competitive running and cycling. Among the runners to pick up free Nationals tickets from the mayor are Diaa Nour, whom Fenty nominated to the Public Employees Relations Board, Chuck Brodsky founder of the Nation's Triathlon, and Clarence Labor, whom Fenty nominated to the Board of the University of the District of Columbia.

Big-time campaign donors got to sit in the District's sky suite as well.

Chico Horton, who gave $2,400 to Fenty's mayoral campaign, is on the list. So is developer Chris Donatelli, who gave $2,000 to Fenty's 2006 campaign and has already given $2,000 for his re-election effort. Omar Karim, who gave the maximum $2,000 donations in 2006 and this year, is also on the list.

High-ranking officials in the Fenty administration got their share of the sky suite seats.

Outgoing City Administrator Dan Tangherlini took his kids to Opening Day. The District's Chief Financial Officer, Natwar Gandhi, took in a game, as did the Director of the Department of Environment George Hawkins, and the newly-named incoming City Administrator Neil Albert is on the list.

The list also includes four members of congress and two D.C. Councilmembers.

Much of the congressional delegation from Missouri was treated to free tickets. Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) was given tickets despite his vote against the D.C. Voting Rights Bill in 2009; Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) also saidyes to the freebies. Rep. JoAnne Emerson (R-Mo. 8th), who was one of the 22 Republicans who voted in favor of D.C. Voting Rights in 2007, is on the list as is Rep. William Clay Jr (D-Mo.1st). D.C. Councilmembers Jim Graham (D- Ward 1) and Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4) received tickets.

For many of the people on the list, Nationals games aren't the only events they are attending as guests of District taxpayers. Many of the same people have been given tickets to the District's skysuite at the Verizon Center. In 2007 when Bruce Springsteen came to town, the mayor's guest list included Karim, Horton, Tangherlini, Brodsky, Donatelli and others on the Nationals list.

The list of ticket recipients does not include un-used tickets, but Hobson acknowledged that some tickets were not distributed, although she couldn't say how many.

As part of the stadium lease agreement the District receives 86 tickets to every home game, including two sky suites. The tickets do not have a face value printed on them, but skysuites at Nationals Ballpark range from $150,000 per season to $440,000 depending on the size and location. Individual game tickets range from $10 to $50 each.

The mayor controlled all 86 tickets for the first 16 games. Using $30 as an average ticket value puts the total value of taxpayer-owned tickets given away by the mayor at more than $40,000.

After weeks of public bickering between the council and the mayor over control of the tickets, Fenty gave Council Chairman Vince Gray (D-At Large) the tickets for the council's skysuite at the ballpark.

Several councilmembers complained that their constituents, as well as deserving groups were being deprived of the opportunity to go to ball games because the mayor would not share the tickets.

The stadium lease agreement does not spell out who controls the tickets nor how they are to be used.

(Copyright 2009 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)