Alpharetta Comps Questioned

Officials in Alpharetta, Ga., are facing some intense scrutiny after a recent investigation uncovered the mayor and city council members pocketed roughly $30,000 in free concert tickets over a two-year period.

The city’s convention and visitors bureau reportedly spent about $150,000 on two years of season passes to the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre.

But while the tickets were supposed to go to local businesses and radio stations to promote tourism, an investigation by Atlanta’s Journal-Constitution found that elected officials took more than 200 tickets for 43 concerts by artists including Eagles, Dave Matthews Band, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and Stevie Nicks. Additionally, several city department heads took another 108 tickets valued at about $16,000, the paper said.

Even worse, the investigation noted the convention and visitors bureau erased all records of how free tickets were distributed just a week after a local reporter sought lists of recipients through an Open Records request last year – a possible violation of state law.

Mayor Arthur Letchas thought otherwise, telling the Journal-Constitution, “Nobody has broken any codes or policies,” and adding that he has asked the bureau to resume documentation.

“If keeping records is the thing to do, then we’ll keep records,” he said.

Records showed Letchas took 20 tickets, but he was apparently on the low end with several other city officials taking 76 tickets, 44 tickets and 28 tickets, respectively, for personal use.

William Perry of the government accountability group Common Cause Georgia told the paper the freebies represent a serious conflict of interest for the city.

“Taxpayers have a right to know where their taxpayer dollars are going,” he said. “And right now, it looks like its going to council members.”

To that end, three former Alpharetta councilmen currently running for mayor have reportedly offered to reimburse the city for the tickets they took. It appears no other city officials have stepped forward with similar offers.