Sacramento labor leaders attended Golden 1 Center concert with Ashby tickets
Guests of a Sacramento City Council member in late September attended a concert at the Golden 1 Center in the city’s luxury suite, accessing a perk that officials said had gone unused during the coronavirus pandemic.
Councilwoman Angelique Ashby, who is running for a state Senate seat against former Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, gifted the tickets for a Roger Waters concert to members of the Sacramento-Sierra Building and Construction Trades Council, according to records released by the city.
That labor group is backing Ashby in her race against Jones.
Both Ashby and Jones are Democrats, and both have support from different unions. Some of the concert attendees in the luxury box work for organizations that endorsed Jones.
Ashby originally gave the tickets to the group in 2020 when Waters of Pink Floyd fame announced a tour with a stop in Sacramento. The coronavirus pandemic halted the tour. The Sacramento labor group was able to use the tickets for the rescheduled show this fall, according to Ashby and City Clerk Mindy Cuppy.
Eric Sunderland, Region 3 director for the state Democratic Party, criticized Ashby for providing tickets to a group that spends money on political campaigns. The state Democratic Party endorsed Jones in the Nov. 8 election.
“This was a misuse of our public assets,” Sunderland said. “First and foremost, our electeds have a fiduciary duty to the taxpayers. It should not be used to curry favor for elections.”
Sacramento keeps a luxury box at the Golden 1 Center that it uses to give tickets to nonprofit organizations. Groups can request tickets on their own. Council members largely have not used the perk for community groups recently. KCRA in a 2018 report found the suite was often empty.
“The city suite has been donated repeatedly to organizations that impact our community including the trades,” Ashby said in a statement. “Ironically most of the people in attendance that night are Dave Jones supporters.”
City records show Sacramento-Sierra Building and Construction Trades Council Executive Director Kevin Ferreira attended the concert along with his wife. He leads the umbrella group that backed Ashby. Five of the attendees are on the council’s executive board.
Aside from their work on the council, the attendees also represent organizations with mixed allegiances in the Senate race.
Three of the attendees work for council affiliates that are in Ashby’s camp. They work for Teamsters Local 150 and Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Local 3.
Karl Pineo, another attendee, is a business manager at Iron Workers Local 118, which endorsed Jones. Todd Schiavo, business manager of Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 447, also attended the concert. His union gave $14,600 to Jones’ campaign.
The box included two people from unions that donated to both Ashby and Jones. They represented Cement Masons Local 400 and Operating Engineers Local 3.
Flojaune Cofer, chair of a city committee that advises the council how to spend sales tax money also a lead writer of the Sacramento Sister Circle Voter Guide, criticized Ashby’s use of the tickets.
“There’s not supposed to be any kickback,” Cofer, who endorsed Jones in the senate race, said of the trades’ council endorsement of Ashby. “It’s not supposed to have any benefit to you, especially with public resources”
The California Fair Political Practices Commission requires cities to publicly post information about who received free tickets within 45 days of distribution. The city did not post the state form from the Sept. 20 concert until Wednesday, three hours after The Bee asked a spokesperson for it.
When it did post the form, it stated the organization for each of the men was called the Sacramento Building Trades Career Pathways. The document showed inaccurate contact information for the attendees.
This story was originally published November 1, 2022 at 5:30 AM.
