Duquette defends ticket deal in Pittsfield

Face-value sale to mayor not political, he insists

"By not gifting the mayor a ticket ... I am not in violation of any Massachusetts law," said Daniel Duquette.

Former Red Sox general manager Daniel Duquette is embroiled in a state ethics controversy for selling Mayor James M. Ruberto of Pittsfield two tickets to the 2004 World Series at face value when such seats were fetching as much as $2,000 apiece.

Duquette told investigators that he sold Ruberto the two tickets for $190 each because he wanted his minor league team, then known as the Berkshire Dukes, to play at a city park, according to a statement released yesterday by the enforcement division of the State Ethics Commission.

State investigators allege that the transaction violated the state's conflict-of-interest law because face-value tickets were not available at the time to the general public. Tickets were selling on the Internet for $600 to $2,000 per ticket, according to the statement.

"By selling the World Series tickets to Ruberto at face value, where the general public could only obtain such tickets at prices more than $50 over face value, Duquette provided something of substantial value to Ruberto for or because of official acts to be performed by Ruberto as mayor," the statement says.

Duquette, in an e-mail yesterday, denied selling the tickets to gain a political favor with the mayor, whom he described as a family friend for many years.

Asked about his alleged statement to commission investigators, he repeated his assertion that he was not in any way trying to influence public policy when he sold Ruberto the tickets.

"I believed then and I believe now that by not gifting the mayor a ticket and instead selling it to him for the price set by Major League Baseball, I am not in violation of any Massachusetts law, regulation, or ethical norm," Duquette said in the e-mail.

Duquette, whose eight-year stint as the Red Sox general manager ended in 2002, also said he believed the enforcement division was out of line in saying that tickets were selling for much more on the Internet, when Major League Baseball rules forbid officials to sell tickets for greater than face value.

The mayor's lawyer, Leonard H. Cohen, said in a statement that the purchase of the World Series tickets did not influence the mayor's dealings with Duquette's minor league team.

"He purchased two tickets at face value ($190/ea) to the second game of the 2004 Red Sox World Series for one reason and one reason only," Cohen's statement read of the transaction. "He, like countless other Red Sox fans in New England and elsewhere, at last had hopes that his beloved team would win the World Series in his lifetime."

Cohen added: "Jimmy Ruberto, dedicated public servant and long-suffering Red Sox fan, purchased two tickets to see his team, and there is simply no impropriety in that."

Both Cohen and Duquette emphasized that the resulting deal for the team to play at Wahconah Park resulted in substantial benefits for the city.

The team, now known as the Pittsfield Dukes, pays the city $10,000 annually and a per-game fee of $300, more than any other New England Collegiate Baseball League team paid for a home facility last year, Duquette said.

"If this were more widely known, I believe it would reassure citizens of Pittsfield and Massachusetts state officials that the mayor represented their interests exceedingly well in this transaction," Duquette said, "and there was nothing improper about its execution for either the landlord or the tenant."

The Ethics Commission will schedule public hearings on the alleged violations within 90 days. Cohen and Duquette each face a possible $2,000 fine.