Sudbury mayor John Rodriguez has taken responsibility for allowing city councillors to buy "so many" tickets for next month's Elton John concert.

"My decision to offer so many advance purchase tickets to council was rushed and not given sufficient consideration. For that I apologize," the mayor said at the outset of a city council meeting on February 13, 2008. In a rare departure from normal procedure, the mayor read a prepared statement before beginning regular council business.

The 365-word statement was a response to the public furore over the preferential treatment that allowed council first dibs on more than 100 tickets for the March 2, 2008 Elton John concert. "I want to speak directly to the people of Greater Sudbury," Rodriguez said. While he stated that council must learn from its "mistakes," the mayor also reiterated some of his positions on the controversy that have offended many city residents.

In particular, Rodriguez emphasized that councillors did not get any freebies, nor is council the only such group in the province to get first choice on tickets to exclusive events at municipal facilities. "These tickets are not free: the cost is paid in full by the councillor. This same practice occurs in the City of Kitchener, where Elton John is also playing next month," he said.

The mayor also maintained that "the practice of making tickets available to councillors and staff is a longstanding one" at the city. That assertion, particularly with regard to the actions taken by council with Elton John tickets, has been disputed by a former councillor, by a current councillor (in an off-the-record admission) and by a former advisor in the mayor's office. In fact, Rodriguez noted last week that the opportunity provided to council for Elton John tickets was not offered to the politicians for the two recent, sold-out performances of Michael Buble.

The mayor also said in his statement that he has directed city staff to prepare "an open and transparent policy to ensure that this type of debacle never happens again." The Elton John concert should be a "very positive event for our city and our citizens," Rodriguez said.

"I deeply regret that this controversy has been such a distraction," he said. However, there was no mention of, let alone apology for, the refusal of city officials to be entirely open and transparent on a number of issues related to the Elton John concert. For example, there still has been no explanation or apology for an initial assurance offered by a city manager that no tickets were offered in advance to city officials.

As well, fully 50 per cent of councillors - six in number - continue to refuse the request that they publicly disclose how many concert tickets they obtained. City officials also are refusing to disclose precisely how many tickets were available for sale to the general public and how many tickets in total went to other groups.

Speaking to reporters following the council meeting on February 13, 2008, Rodriguez suggested the news media have unfairly prolonged the controversy. He rejected the suggestion that the matter continues to fester partly because councillors and city officials refuse to answer questions about ticket sales. Asked if he thought council's stated commitment to openness and accountability should include councillors disclosing details of their ticket purchases, the mayor said he "can understand the sensitivity of councillors to answering these questions."

Related News