Panel Rules Bernson Cannot Use Bowl Tickets

The Los Angeles Ethics Commission has rejected a request by Councilman Hal Bernson to let his staff use Hollywood Bowl tickets that were intended for poor and disabled constituents.

Bernson’s office said it sought to give the tickets to staff members after about 100 of them were left unused because residents who had asked for the complimentary passes never claimed them.

“It was not until the last minute that we found out that the people were not going to pick up the tickets,” said Francine Oschin, assistant chief deputy to Bernson, who was on vacation Tuesday and could not be reached for comment.

But in a recent letter to Bernson, the Ethics Commission said that state law prohibits city staff from using tickets that were accepted for distribution to “individuals otherwise unable to afford to attend Hollywood Bowl events.”

“Members of your staff do not fit this criteria and, therefore, they may not use any tickets left undistributed by your office,” said the letter from Rebecca Avila, executive director of the Ethics Commission.

Because the unclaimed tickets could not be used for staff, Bernson’s office threw them away--which has prompted criticism from some advocates for the poor who say there are many families who could have used the tickets.

“To think that someone would throw away 100 tickets. . . . I was sad to hear about it,” said Irene Tovar, executive director for the Latin American Civic Assn., the San Fernando Valley’s largest operator of Head Start preschool centers.

She said she works with low-income families throughout the Valley who could have used the tickets, including some families in Bernson’s northwest Valley district, which is home mostly to middle and upper-middle-income residents.

This is not the first time controversy has dogged Bernson over his use of Hollywood Bowl tickets. In March, the Ethics Commission fined the councilman $1,500 for spending funds from his officeholder account to buy Bowl tickets.

Bernson said the tickets were a legitimate office expense because he often brought constituents to Bowl concerts to discuss city business while listening to the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

In the latest controversy, Bernson and other council offices have received complimentary Hollywood Bowl tickets to the Los Angeles Philharmonic for distribution to disabled, elderly and low-income residents.

The philharmonic’s Community Services Program distributes about 10,000 bowl tickets annually to such residents. The council members are part of a long list of agencies and organizations used to distribute the tickets, said Janine Schaedler, the head of group sales for the Hollywood Bowl.

This is the first year that Bernson has offered to distribute the tickets. And for the most part, Oschin said, there have been no problems.

Oschin said Bernson’s office has received between 30 and 50 tickets for each concert and has asked the council’s staff to distribute them at senior citizens homes, recreation centers and at Cal State Northridge’s music department.

But during the first few concerts, she said the office only distributed about 10 or 15 of the tickets, leaving 20 to 40 unused. In total, around 100 tickets went unused, she said. Oschin said this was primarily because several groups, such as senior citizens organizations and others, failed to collect the tickets after asking Bernson’s office to reserve them.

On occasion, she said, the office was left with only a few days’ notice to find qualified residents to accept the unclaimed tickets. Rather than have them all go to waste, Oschin said Bernson asked the Ethics Commission if his staff could use the leftover tickets.

“I suppose in retrospect that I should have run down to the Hollywood Bowl immediately and returned all the tickets we could not distribute,” she said.

Perhaps to avoid such problems, some city lawmakers, such as council members Joel Wachs and Laura Chick, do not distribute any tickets for the Hollywood Bowl. Chick’s office has in the past asked the philharmonic’s Community Services Program to distribute the tickets directly to community groups in Chick’s west San Fernando Valley district.

Councilman Richard Alarcon, who represents mostly working-class communities in the northeast Valley, said his office has only distributed about 40 tickets this year and had no trouble finding qualified residents to accept them.

“In my district, given the economic criteria for the tickets, it’s not hard to find people to distribute them to,” he said, adding that he may request more tickets next year.

Due to the problems Bernson’s office has encountered with the program, Oschin said the councilman is now reevaluating the program and “wondering if it’s worthwhile.”