Politics on Parade: Things Are Perking Up in Anaheim

I first heard the following banquet-circuit gag from a football coach, but its origins must have been in politics.

The coach was recalling the time that someone had asked him for the definition of a successful coach. That’s easy, he said: The successful coach is one who, while being chased out of town by an angry mob, makes it look like he’s leading a parade.

If I didn’t know better, I’d think Anaheim Mayor Fred Hunter was at that banquet, quietly taking notes.

Hunter has become the high-stepping drum major for the marching band leading the parade against excessive campaign finance and official perks.

Indignation over the joy rides on which public officials take themselves has obviously caught on this year. Jerry Brown is running a presidential campaign on it, term limits are in vogue and the public has expressed disgust with Congress’ Rubbergate scandal.

In recent months, Hunter has voiced support both for campaign spending limits and term limitations. He has also raised more than $575,000 in contributions since entering the Anaheim political scene in 1984.

Last week, Hunter enlarged his agenda by saying he’ll propose that city officials receive no gifts in the future.

Hunter’s latest reaction to the evils of money followed the news that Disney Co. gifts to him and two other councilmen might preclude them from voting on Disney-related matters. Since the three form a council majority, leaving only two eligible voting members, you see the problem.

Such generosity usually would go unnoticed, except that now Disney has expansion plans on the table and needs City Council votes to make their wishes come true. The story said Disneyland provided the following free tickets last year to the three councilmen: Hunter, 170; Irv Pickler, 98; Bob D. Simpson, 24. The three said the tickets mostly went to visiting government officials or other dignitaries. Even leaving that assertion unchallenged, the question is why city councilmen should be the middlemen in doling out Disneyland tickets.

In Anaheim, Disney is virtually a member of the family when it comes to city business. The company has openly wined and dined city officials for the last generation or more, treating them to annual overnight shindigs, in addition to its largess with Disneyland tickets.

Amazingly, the council will consider it a concession if they surrender their freebies.

Listen to Pickler. “No one can tell me what I can take or not take,” he said in announcing opposition to Hunter’s proposal. Pickler said he had no guilt feelings about getting the free tickets, which, he said, represent “some of the perks we get.”

I’ve met Irv Pickler, had coffee with him. I like the guy, and his lone dissenting votes on the Anaheim Sports Arena shows he’s not afraid to buck the rest of the council. But he’s dead wrong on the perks question.

Pickler strikes me as one of those guys who’s throwing down the gauntlet because he thinks his integrity is being challenged. Giving up the perks, that argument goes, would somehow be an admission that they’ve been used to curry favor.

Yo, Irv. That isn’t the point. The point isn’t whether or not the perks influence any of your votes; the point is there’s no reason that being a city councilman entitles you to anything not available to any other Anaheim citizen. Why should your grand-kid get in free to Disneyland when Joe Blow’s grand-kid can’t?

We see this attitude all the time, and it’s maddening. Public officials put in long hours and deal with complicated matters and, as a result, convince themselves they’re entitled to the little extras, like free tickets.

If it weren’t such common practice, they’d be hard-pressed to justify why they should get $27.50 tickets to Disneyland for free, while the rest of us have to pay for them. Or why they get Rams tickets, or Angels tickets, or any privileges not available to private citizens.

Sure, they put in long hours. Sure, the pay is nominal--$700 a month. That’s why they call it public service.

For those who feel overworked without the perks, the answer is simple: If you don’t want to do it, don’t run. If elected, don’t serve.

Hunter has picked up the sounds of unhappy voters. He’s running for reelection this November and wants to be remembered as the leader of the band.

This is the same mayor who told a Times reporter last December:

“The perception is that the City Council is being bought. That perception is sometimes a reality.”

The mayor went on to say: “There are no ethics in politics. There are no ethics in Anaheim politics.”

He didn’t mean that.

Did he?