At least one New Yorker had no problem getting tickets to the Super Bowl this year.
Rep. Gregory Meeks used campaign funds to buy nearly $10,000 in tickets to the game, the only local member of Congress to do so.
The Queens Democrat usually snatches up Super Bowl tickets and puts on fund-raisers attached to the big game, no matter what city it is in. He charges donors a premium for the tickets and usually holds a lunch or brunch on Super Bowl weekend.
His campaign committee buys the tickets from television networks and ticket agencies, a practice that has been called ethically questionable because they are not readily available to the general public.
The fund-raisers are usually hush-hush affairs with only select details released in public campaign filings. A 2010 invitation revealed that the rep hosted a $5,000-per-ticket fund-raiser in Miami complete with a game ticket and brunch.
When Meeks was asked this year whether he was holding an event for the big game, the first Super Bowl ever in the metro area, he was cagey on the specifics.
“We’re checking on the venues,” he said the Thursday before Super Sunday.
The Friends for Gregory Meeks committee paid $4,086 in February for an event at the 40/40 Club, the West 25th Street sports bar owned by Jay Z. Meeks’ spokeswoman refused to say whether the fund-raiser was thrown in conjunction with the Super Bowl.
Meeks’ campaign committee received $13,600 in donations around the time of the Super Bowl, but records don’t reflect whether they were related to the fund-raiser.