Inauguration Ticket Requests Swamp N.H. Congressional Offices
NH TICKETS
New Hampshire Union Leader
Jenny Paul
Boston University Washington News Service
11/18/08
WASHINGTON – The hottest tickets in the country right now are free, but that doesn’t mean they’re easy to get.
New Hampshire’s congressional delegation expects to receive 1,000 to 1,200 presidential inauguration tickets to give to New Hampshire residents looking to snag a spot at President-elect Barack Obama’s Jan. 20 swearing-in ceremony.
But the demand for the tickets is on track to outpace supply. Staff at the congressional offices said they’ve already gotten hundreds of requests for tickets, and they expect thousands to pour in by January.
“There has been an enormous amount of interest, and right now we are taking down all requests,” said Jamie Radice, press secretary for Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-N.H.), whose office has received several hundred ticket requests. “We want to accommodate as many constituents as possible.”
There are 240,000 tickets available for the inaugural ceremony, with the largest portion of tickets going to the president-elect and vice president-elect. The remaining tickets are distributed to members of the new Congress. The offices of House members have been allotted 198 tickets each to give to constituents, while Senate offices expect to receive 300 to 400 tickets each.
Constituents can call or e-mail their members’ offices to request tickets, free of charge. The offices will receive the tickets in the week before the inauguration, and constituents must pick them up in person in Washington Those who don’t get tickets but still want to travel to Washington will be able to watch the inauguration on large television screens set up on the National Mall and along the inaugural parade route.
Each congressional office may choose how to distribute the tickets to the public, meaning some members could award the tickets on a first-come, first-served basis, while others could use a lottery system. New Hampshire’s offices have not released information on how they plan to distribute their allotments.
Because tickets are allotted to members of the new Congress, some of New Hampshire’s tickets will go to Jeanne Shaheen, the Democratic senator-elect who defeated Republican John Sununu on Nov. 4.
“We have been getting requests on an ad hoc basis,” said Judy Reardon, a member of Shaheen’s senior staff. “We haven’t formalized a process yet with how we’re going to deal with those requests.”
The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, which organizes all inaugural ceremonies held at the U.S. Capitol, is working to see if new members could set up their Web sites before they take office on Jan. 3 to handle requests, spokeswoman Carole Florman said.
Florman said there “really isn’t a mechanism in place” for newly elected members to take ticket requests from constituents. Often, outgoing members take requests and pass on a list to the incoming members, she said, although they aren’t required to do so. Barbara Riley, a Sununu spokeswoman, said the office is referring all calls about inauguration tickets to the office of Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.).
People who can’t get tickets through a congressional office should not try to buy tickets on the Internet, officials warn. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) introduced legislation Monday that would make it a misdemeanor to sell or attempt to sell tickets to the ceremony. It also would be illegal to forge tickets. The crimes would be punishable by fines up to $100,000 and a year in prison. Feinstein said she hopes Congress will pass the bill this week.
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