Political Reform May Blur Official View of Ballgame

When it comes to perks, it’s hard to beat two free tickets to every event at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium: Padres, Chargers, Aztecs, World Series, Super Bowl, motorcycle races, The Who concert, you name it.

And not stinko tickets, either.

In baseball, right next to team owner Joan Kroc’s private box. In football, next to team owner Alex Spanos. With free parking, ushers to keep away the riffraff, and beer and hot dogs within easy reach.

Such is the good life enjoyed by 26 public officials since the stadium opened in 1967.

Under the bonds sold to build the stadium, two tickets are given to each member of the San Diego City Council, the Stadium Authority and the Board of Supervisors, plus the city manager, city attorney and county administrative officer.

But now, Proposition 73, the political reform act adopted by statewide voters last year, threatens to ruin things for the supervisors and their administrative officer. The act restricts politicians to no more than $1,000 in gifts from a single source.

City officials are thought to be immune because the city runs the stadium. They use the free tickets not for enjoyment, but as a way to monitor how an important public facility is being maintained.

If you believe that, you probably also believe that men buy Playboy to read the articles.

The public-facility argument wears thin when it comes to the supervisors and administrative officer because the county does not have day-to-day responsibility for the stadium. Supervisors Chairman Susan Golding has stopped using the tickets until the matter is sorted out.

County Counsel Lloyd Harmon is negotiating with the state Fair Political Practices Commission to see if the supervisors and administrative officer can get an exemption from Proposition 73.

The commission is set to discuss the ticket issue June 6.

The News Rolls Along

There is always a local angle--even in Tian An Men Square.

Piper Parry, who helped get CNN film of Beijing despite the government news blackout, is the daughter of Brooks and Bill Parry of Del Mar. Brooks is a Del Mar Fair Board member; Bill is a retired real estate editor of the San Diego Union.

Piper, 32, a publicist for Turner Broadcasting System based in Hong Kong, had gone to Beijing for the Sino-Soviet summit.

She spent two nights in the crowded square when the student-led rebellion erupted. She was in the CNN bureau when Chinese bureaucrats pulled the plug on live broadcasts.

What followed was a scramble to get news film out of China, where transportation is snarled and confusion is rampant.

Stranded at her hotel and unable to get her film to the airport, Parry discovered that the students view the news media as an ally in their standoff with the People’s Liberation Army.

Unsolicited, a student on a motorbike sped to the front of the hotel and, without asking any questions, motioned for Parry to hop on.

The two weaved through the traffic blockades, and Parry’s precious cargo was soon bound for the outside world.

Bigger Fish to Fry

As in so many other sports, the Europeans provide government subsidies to their mountain climbers, and the Americans are left to fend for themselves.

Enter corporate sponsorship. But there are only a few mountain-climbing equipment firms to go around, so American climbers must look for sponsors wherever they can.

That explains why a group led by La Jolla climber Doug Dalquist will unfurl a red-and-yellow banner extolling the fish tacos at Rubio’s Deli-Mex when they reach the top of Mt. McKinley in Alaska, the highest mountain (20,230 feet) in North America.

The climbers, who begin the three-week trek Saturday, got $400 from Rubio’s, which has restaurants in San Diego, San Marcos and Chula Vista.

The banner--�The Highest Fish Taco / Rubio’s / Home of the Fish Taco�--will fly long enough for pictures to be taken, before being packed up. It may reappear, however, at an even greater height.

Dalquist needs sponsors for an assault next year on K2, a peak in the Himalayas that, at 28,250 feet, is second only to Mt. Everest.