Friday, October 29, 1999
Patton rebuked for Derby tickets
BY MARK R. CHELLGREN
The Associated Press
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Gov. Paul Patton did nothing wrong with the Kentucky Derby tickets made available to him, but needs to be more careful and probably not offer them to friends and political supporters, the Executive Branch Ethics Commission said.
The commission also recommended Mr. Patton think about reducing the number of tickets the governor's office gets from Churchill Downs, “to enhance public perception.”
Mr. Patton should also publish a list of those who have purchased the tickets that were initially made available to the governor's office as part of an effort “to maintain public trust,” the commission recom mended in a letter made public Thursday.
Mr. Patton's office rejected the recommendations.
The track reserves about 550 tickets for the governor's office use. The state bought about 60 for use by the Tourism Development and Economic Development cabinets. The rest were offered to Mr. Patton's friends and political supporters for purchase.
Mr. Patton's general counsel, Denis Fleming, said the distribution practices of the Patton administration are the same as the previous five governors.
“We believe it is inappropriate for the commission to recommend that we preclude friends of this administration from participating in this pro gram to promote Kentucky,” Mr. Fleming said. “If we took the attitude that once you become a supporter of this administration we can no longer associate with you, we would have few friends.”
Mr. Fleming said the administration would re-evaluate how the tickets will be used in time for the 2000 Derby.
More than 100,000 people annually attend the world's most prestigious horse race, but a huge number of those are ordinary infield patrons. Tickets at choice locations at the Downs are sought-after items.
Churchill Downs spokesman Karl Schmitt said the tickets in the governor's allotment ranged in price from $42 to $500.
“The commission believes that the use of tickets for economic development purposes is advantageous to the entire commonwealth and does not benefit you or others personally,” the commission's letter said. “However, the commission does not believe that the allocation of tickets to political supporters is advantageous to the entire commonwealth.”
The tickets became an issue after James Casey, a horse trainer from Maryland, was arrested in Louisville on May 1, Derby day. Mr. Casey allegedly tried to scalp a $42 ticket for $100 to an undercover police officer outside Churchill Downs. The charge was dismissed earlier this week, but could be reinstated.
Mr. Patton was not implicated in the alleged scalping. He said ticket purchases were not recorded and the checks from the buyers were simply passed along to Churchill Downs. It could not be determined who bought Mr. Casey's ticket originally.
In the future, “I would expect friends of ours that would ask for these tickets to exercise some common sense,” Mr. Patton said last week.
Mr. Schmitt also said last week the track considers the practice a good business move, helping attract corporate and political leaders to the event.
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