Petrelis Files

Which Supervisor Got $15,700 Worth of Free SF Opera Tix?

(Sup. Eric Mar at the podium speaking at a July presser. Credit: Paul Chinn, SF Chronicle.)

The current compensation package for each member of the Board of Supervisors comes to $154,719, giving them enough money to purchase tickets to cultural programs at any of the houses that comprise the City-owned War Memorial & Performing Arts Center.

Public disclosure records show that several Supervisors have received thousands of dollars in comp tickets to the City Arts and Lectures, SF Ballet, SFJazz, the SF Opera and the SF Symphony programs taking place at these City-funded institutions.

(Public document shows Mar and Campos received SF Opera tickets valued at either $296 or $306 in September.)

Here's the list of Supervisors who took advantage of the comps available to them, from 2012 through September 30, 2014, and total amount of comps they received:

Eric Mar:
$15,707

David Campos:
$3,192

Scott Wiener:
$1,335

Malia Cohen:
$530

Mark Farrell:
$256

David Chiu:
$144

The combined amount of freebies for these six Supervisors since 2012 is $21,164. The disclosure forms state the reasons for the comps include gaining awareness of the institutions or building appreciation for them.

We must ask the Supervisors to fully and voluntarily disclose all perks available them, eg: SF Giants tickets, Muni passes, free parking, on their official City-funded web sites and to explain which perks they've used and when.

Given their six-figure salaries, I believe they can well afford to purchase tickets to the cultural events and avoid the appearance of entitlement as elected officials, feeding at the public trough in all ways possible.