Bruce Springsteen

Enough talk about the lack of New Jerseyans on the stage at the Democratic National Convention in Denver this week: two Monmouth County Democrats are expected to get a prime slot on Thursday, when Barack Obama accepts his party’s presidential nomination.  Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi will be the opening acts for Obama’s concert. 

One interesting item in Charles Stile’s column today on the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority putting premium seats to the Bruce Springsteen concert aside for the politically connected to buy at face value: 24 tickets went to the Asbury Park Press. That wouldn’t be so noticeable if the APP hadn’t held itself out to be the beacon of ethics reform over the last five years.

Lobbyist/cable TV host Jim McQueeny is strongly denying an Inside Edge report that he was one of three people who worked on a plan for U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg’s campaign to buy premium seats to a Bruce Springsteen concert for $108 and resell them to campaign contributors for $1,500. "This story is utterly and completely untrue, but you don't have the balls or the ethics to print the retraction it requires,” McQueeny wrote in a statement, printed in its entirety, to PolitickerNJ.com. “Wally was obviously using this political science fiction in an obvious competition with the X-Files movie opening for bizarre plots. Congrats, Wally, you won!"

Published reports over the weekend that U.S Senator Frank Lautenberg’s re-election campaign called in some chits with the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority to but forty premium seat tickets for Bruce Springsteen’s concert this Sunday for $108 each and resell them for $1,500 each to campaign contributors raised an interesting question: what if some random person called a State Senator’s office and asked them if they had the clout to get them tickets to see The Boss?

PolitickerNJ.com asked one of our summer interns, Michael Gsovski, to find out.

Jim McQueeny, a lobbyist who hosts News 12 New Jersey’s Power & Politics, was one of the organizers of U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg’s now controversial plan to buy 40 premium seats to a Bruce Springsteen concert for $108 and resell them to campaign contributors for $1,500. Lautenberg cancelled the fundraiser yesterday after The Record broke a story detailing the event, which involved a deal with the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, a state agency, to obtain concert tickets set aside for VIP’s and political insiders. McQueeny, who served on Lautenberg’s staff in the 1980’s, worked on the event with Dan Katz, the Senator’s Chief of Staff, and Samantha Maltzman, the campaign finance director.

U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg sought to end a brewing political firestorm today cancelling a campaign fundraiser at Bruce Springsteen’s Giant Stadium concert on Friday – just one day after The Record broke the story that the Senator’s re-election campaign had cut a deal with the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority to buy forty premium tickets held back by the state agency for VIP’s and political insiders for $108 per ticket and reselling them to donors at $1,500 each.

U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg has cancelled a fundraiser at a Bruce Springsteen concert on Sunday evening after the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority decided not to seek his campaign premium seats at face value, according to a report from The Record’s Charles Stile.  Lautenberg had asked for a block of 40 tickets the sports authority reserves from VIP’s and political insiders, which he planned to but for $108 each and resell them to donors for $1,500 per ticket. 

Frank Lautenberg is selling tickets to Bruce Springsteen’s Sunday concert at $1,500 per seat. While the senior United States Senator from New Jersey has secured premium seats, and including dinner at a trendy Secaucus eatery, there are still some better deals for people who want to see the Boss at Giants Stadium. The website StubHub.com, a reseller of event tickets, has several premium seats still available, including floor tickets for under $300 each.