Cubs Shut Down Special World Series Ticket Deal For Aldermen
By Mae Rice in News on Oct 24, 2016 7:59PM
Today is a bad day to be an alderman—almost on par with the day this happened. Today, the Sun-Times reports, the Cubs shut down a special deal that allowed local aldermen to buy tickets to the World Series at face value (despite the fact that on resale sites, tickets are going for Hamilton-level prices).
The abrupt end to the ultimate alderman perk came after the city's Ethics Committee issued revised guidelines on what gifts and discounts aldermen can accept. The policy shift, outlined in this Friday memo, keeps elected officials from accepting gifts worth more than $50. That includes discounts of more than $50—such as the discount they were, over the weekend, enjoying on World Series tickets.
Though the new rule might seem punitive to alderman, and was certainly timed to maximize disappointment, it makes sense to us at Chicagoist. The Cubs do, after all, stand to benefit from a cozy relationship with City Council (and Wrigleyville's alderman, Tom Tunney, specifically). They're still embroiled in an endless squabble with City Council about the regulations that will govern their forthcoming beer garden/plaza, after all—just one of the assorted renovations they're blessing and/or saddling Wrigleyville with in the coming years.