Disney Tickets Could Bar Majority Vote : Anaheim: With Bob Simpson’s disclosure, three of five council members could be excluded from decisions on Disneyland expansion. But all three say most gifts went to visiting dignitaries.

A new accounting of free tickets and meals provided by Disneyland to city officials totals $8,239 and raises the prospect that a third council member--a City Council majority--could be barred from voting on the theme park’s $3-billion expansion plan.

According to conflict of interest statements filed Wednesday with the city clerk’s office by the council, Mayor Fred Hunter was listed as having accepted 170 tickets last year, Councilman Irv Pickler accepted 98, and Councilman Bob Simpson, 24. Each also reported having accepted a golf outing and meals worth between $49 and $81.

At a cost of $27.50 each, the total ticket values surpass state-mandated limits on gifts and could threaten the members’ voting eligibility on Disney-related issues for up to a year.

State law bars officials who accept more than $250 in gifts in a year from voting on issues involving the donor for a year. In addition, Hunter and Pickler could also face fines of up to $10,000 if they are found to have violated a separate state law that prohibits local elected officials from accepting more than $1,000 in gifts from a single source during a year.

The reports of Disney gifts come as the city is negotiating with the entertainment company about environmental and financing issues related to the Disneyland Resort expansion, and may consider as much as $1 billion in public works improvements to augment the park’s proposed expansion.

Pickler, Hunter and Simpson have said that the bulk of tickets credited to them were obtained by them on behalf of visiting government officials and other dignitaries traveling through Anaheim. Both said they had not been made aware that tickets obtained for city visitors would be charged to them as political gifts.

“I will never, ever again get tickets for anyone who is visiting the city because of the reporting requirements,” Simpson said Wednesday at City Hall. “Tell me how that makes any sense. That’s idiocy.”

Disney officials on Wednesday supported that view.

However, Councilman William D. Ehrle--who reported receiving only a $30 meal from Disney in 1991--said Wednesday he has never questioned Disney’s reporting and always expected third-party tickets to be charged as gifts to him at the end of the year.

“I’ve always known how many times I have used a ticket,” Ehrle said, adding that a minority of the council could end up deciding the Disney issues. “The whole thing is very interesting.”

The city Wednesday was awaiting an interpretation from the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission on laws restricting political gifts, and how it would apply in this case. Disneyland President Jack Lindquist said the park had joined the city this week in its request for an FPPC ruling.

City Atty. Jack White declined comment on the gift issue, but he was in Sacramento on Tuesday conferring with commission officials.

Later this year, the five-member council is to consider the completed environmental study on the proposed park expansion, as well as how much the city would be expected by Disney to contribute in street, parking and utility improvements.

During the time that the park tickets were made available to city officials in 1991, the council voted to approve Disney-related items including the hiring of a attorney to help with ongoing negotiations, retaining consultants to study financing options and the spending of about $1 million for the environmental impact study.

In their conflict-of-interest reports filed Wednesday, the three council members separately disclosed the number of tickets obtained for their personal use; in each case it was six or fewer. This was an apparent attempt to bolster their argument that council members should not be penalized for obtaining third-party tickets. Hunter’s report filed with the city says he received 170 tickets valued at $4,675, plus a golf outing with dinner worth $49. Pickler listed 98 admissions at $2,695, plus miscellaneous meals and a golf outing worth $81. Simpson’s report showed 24 tickets worth $660, and an additional $49 for a golf outing with dinner.

Earlier reports provided to the city by Disneyland showed that Hunter had accepted 137 admissions, Pickler, 78 and Simpson, seven, possibly threatening the eligibility of only the mayor and Pickler. Council members Ehrle and Tom Daly said they did not accept free admissions from Disney in 1991.

Accompanying the reports by Hunter, Pickler and Simpson were identical statements that read: “In the interest of full disclosure, and based upon interim oral advice received from the Fair Political Practices Commission, I am reporting these third party ticket requests, together with this footnote, even though I do not believe such tickets to be reportable gifts to me within meaning of the Political Reform Act.”

The attached statements also indicated that the FPPC “is currently in the process of formulating new regulations concerning the reporting of gifts by public officials.”

FPPC officials were unavailable for comment.

“I thought what I was doing was legal,” said Pickler, who reported accepting only six of the 98 tickets for his personal use. “I don’t have anything to hide. I’d like to see us fight this thing. If I’ve got visitors coming from Japan or from back East, we should be able to do something for them. They (tickets) are some of the perks we get. I have no guilty feelings.”

Hunter could not be reached for comment Wednesday. But of the total number of tickets listed as gifts to him, the mayor’s report Wednesday indicated that four were accepted for his personal use. Simpson’s report showed six were for his personal use.