Free Tickets Not Meant to Buy Influence, Disney Insists : Giveaways: The freebies that Anaheim officials get represent only a tiny portion of those handed out to various groups every year, park president says.

The hundreds of free tickets Disneyland gives to local elected officials, now the subject of a state ethics inquiry, represent a minuscule portion of the more than 300,000 complimentary admissions the park issues every year, Disneyland President Jack Lindquist said Friday.

“It’s hardly one piece of sand in the desert,” Lindquist said, adding that the tickets given to local politicians have been misinterpreted as attempts to buy influence.

“Times have really changed,” Lindquist said. “It used to be that you could go to lunch with the mayor and pick up the tab, and you would never have to think about it. Maybe I’m naive, but I think I have known most elected officials in the city of Anaheim, and I don’t think any of them ever felt we had pressured or compromised them.”

The theme park president’s statements come as the state Fair Political Practices Commission is trying to determine whether three Anaheim council members could be disqualified from voting on future Disney-related issues, including the $3-billion Disneyland Resort, for surpassing state-set limits on gifts from a single source.

State law bars officials who accept more than $250 in gifts in a year from voting on issues involving the donor for up to a year. Reports filed last week showed that Anaheim Mayor Fred Hunter and Councilmen Irv Pickler and Bob D. Simpson had accepted a total of more than $8,000 in free tickets to the park, with each exceeding the limit on gifts.

Although a FPPC ruling on the three councilmen’s voting eligibility is not expected for at least two weeks, a local homeowners group also announced Friday that it will consider filing a formal complaint with the FPPC urging that the trio be prohibited from considering future Disney issues.

Curtis Stricker, president of Anaheim Homeowners for Maintaining a Better Environment (HOME), said the free tickets accepted by council members and staff have “compromised” ongoing negotiations between the city and the entertainment company involving the planned Disney expansion in Anaheim.

“It’s bad, bad ethical business,” Stricker said. “The council has been compromised. These gifts are no different than campaign contributions. It’s all done for the politicians’ gain.”

Stricker said his group will meet today and possibly file the complaint by early next week. HOME draws its membership from neighborhoods in the immediate area of the Disney expansion and has been critical of plans that call for the construction of two giant parking structures to serve the new park.

“I don’t think Disneyland is out of bounds on this,” Stricker said. “I know they are in it for the profit. But I don’t think they should be putting any city official in a compromising position.”

Lindquist, however, defended the park’s practice of issuing complimentary tickets to elected officials and others, saying that the tradition “had been going on for a long time.”

“It started in a different world, in a different age,” Lindquist said of Disney’s relationship with the city. “The perception is different now. I never felt they owed us anything because of my association or friendship.”

It was the changing public perception that Lindquist said led to last year’s cancellation of the annual overnight fishing and golf trips to San Diego that Disney had financed for all council members and city department heads for the past three decades.

Lindquist actually credits his company for being especially sensitive to the park’s relationship with the city in light of the expansion negotiations.

In 1990, when talk of a Disneyland expansion intensified, Lindquist said, he met with Anaheim city officials and suggested they cancel the trips. But he said city officials so looked forward to the outings--known as the excursions of the Anaheim Ichthyological, Sour Mash & 5-Card Draw Society--that the city suggested the trips continue.

“They wanted the trip, and we went,” the park president said.

Lindquist said he returned to the city last year when the expansion plans became public, again advocating cancellation of the outings. At that time, he said, both sides agreed to discontinue the tradition and replace it with a summertime golf tournament.

“If we looked at those fishing trips as a way of buying favors from the city,” Lindquist said, “it was the biggest waste of money we ever made.”

Still, Lindquist said that only a small portion of Disney’s giveaways are directed toward local officials who might have a hand in decisions involving the park.

Of the 300,000 complimentary tickets provided each year, Lindquist said, portions go to fill requests from mayors throughout the nation, the State Department, overseas dignitaries, various media organizations, charitable groups and individual requests made on behalf of needy children or families.

In addition to the requests from outside, Lindquist said, about 450,000 free admissions are provided to company employees and their families each year.

“If (requests for tickets) ever stopped, we’d be worried,” Lindquist said. “We’re known worldwide, and we’re an institution. It’s what makes it special.”