You can bet there will be some state legislators at Ford Field on Saturday for Final Four action. And that’s their business — as long as it is on their personal dime.
Michigan’s lobbying and gift rules for lawmakers are weak, but not weak enough to allow legislators to enter Ford Field on Saturday holding a ticket from a lobbyist.
“Lobbyists can give lobbyable officials items such as tickets for entertainment whose value is less than $53 in a month and those items do not have to be disclosed. Lobbyists cannot give lobbyable officials items whose value exceeds $53 in a month,” said a 2007 report from the Michigan Campaign Finance Network. Attempts have been made to tighten these restrictions, but the Legislature hasn’t found itself so moved just yet.
That means there’s a recipe for a bit of trouble this weekend.
You see, it’s not unusual to see legislators at regular-season Spartan home games. But those tickets carry a face value below the threshold. Even the Midwest Regional in Indy was in-bounds, since $50 tickets were available at Lucas Oil Stadium.
But the MSU ticket Web site carries figures of “$350, $300, $270 & $250” for the Final Four. Even divided by three games, the per-game, per-ticket price still sits above the $53 threshold.
What is a routine bit of Lansing graft is now an ethics violation for this game. Or is it?
What if, say, a lobbyist told a lawmaker that he would sell a ticket for face value, even though both parties would know that it was purchased from a scalper for hundreds of dollars? Would that be technically in compliance even though the lobbyist was able to provide a benefit worth hundreds of dollars directly to a public official?
Ah, the ways of the world.
