Opinion | VIP soccer access extracts a political price | Steve Bousquet

It was noisy and crowded. Buckets of rain poured down. Lightning lit up the skies, and by one account, the chicken fingers weren’t so great.

But none of that mattered because this was “The Unveil”  — the official arrival last Sunday at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale of soccer superstar Lionel Messi, as he accepted his No. 10 Inter Miami uniform jersey. That alone made it a milestone moment for the city and for all of South Florida.

On hand were three Fort Lauderdale commissioners who had VIP access for Messi’s debut at the city-owned stadium. But a week later, they’re reaching for their checkbooks to cover the cost of being there, as questions persist about whether their attendance ran afoul of county or state ethics codes.

Fort Lauderdale’s city attorney issued a memo two days after the event, reminding his bosses of ethics laws and suggesting they pay up.

“Any food or beverage consumed or entertainment experienced at the invitation-only event at the expense of the event host is a gift, pursuant to both the state Code of Ethics and the Broward County Code of Ethics for elected officials,” City Attorney D’Wayne Spence wrote.

The ceremony itself had the feel of a pep rally and seemed, to some, to fall in a gray area. No game was played and no written invitation was sent. Season ticket holders got in for free, but others had to pay $30 for a ticket, according to a post on the team’s website.

A day or two beforehand, commissioners Steven Glassman, Pam Beasley-Pittman and Warren Sturman each accepted a verbal invitation from the soccer team lobbyist, Stephanie Toothaker. They wore VIP badges and were ushered into a secure suite to pose for pictures with team co-owner David Beckham and other bigwigs.

City Manager Greg Chavarria was there too, as were a slew of Miami-Dade politicians.

Oddly, Commissioner John Herbst, whose district includes the stadium, said he wasn’t invited, and that he wouldn’t have gone even if he had been (slighting Herbst shows this was a private event, not a city event). Herbst has been a persistent critic of the city’s deal with the soccer team and questioned the deal from the very beginning, citing the lack of a serious business plan, and he was cut out of future discussions on the project, as city emails from 2019 clearly show.

City officials are bound by a county ethics code, which says in part: “No elected official or relative, registered domestic partner, or governmental office staff of any elected official, shall accept any gift, directly or indirectly, with a value in excess of $5.00, from lobbyists registered with the governmental entity … or from any principal or employer of any such registered lobbyist, or from vendors or contractors of such governmental entity.” State ethics laws require a gift from a lobbyist in excess of $25 must be disclosed, and gifts from lobbyists in excess of $100 or more are illegal.

Is this situation a problem? Or are critics making a mountain out of a molehill? Glassman thinks so.

“This is why people don’t have a subscription to the Sun Sentinel anymore,” Glassman told me. “These stories are not what people care about.”

The Sun Sentinel considers it part of our essential responsibility to monitor and report on the interactions between elected officials and lobbyists who seek to influence them.

Whether you agree or disagree with Glassman on his point that people don’t care about stories like this, we would like to hear from you.

This isn’t complicated. Lobbyists who need votes at City Hall need as much goodwill as possible. They ply elected officials with favors, including privileged access to events not available to the general public sitting in the cheap seats.

That’s the key. What’s the monetary value of meeting one of the greatest athletes of all time in a VIP box?

“The access is solely because they are elected officials,” Herbst said, “and that’s where the abuse comes in.”

The burden is on public officials to pay their own way — or stay home.

Sturman, who brought six family members and friends, said he would write a check after getting an invoice from the soccer club. “I will pay for it,” he said.

Glassman, who went alone, said he planned to write Inter Miami a check for $100.

“I have no qualms about it,” Glassman said of his attendance. He posted dozens of pictures from the event on his Facebook page.

Beasley-Pittman did not respond to requests for comment. Mayor Dean Trantalis was out of town and did not attend. The city attorney’s bottom-line advice to his bosses: “Provide reimbursement to the host within 90 days of the event, if such cost exceeds the applicable Broward County gift threshold.”

Messi’s debut as a player in Fort Lauderdale was Friday. The cost of a ticket was soaring, as Messi mania reaches a fever pitch here. But commissioners didn’t go.

Steve Bousquet is Opinion Editor of the Sun Sentinel and a columnist in Tallahassee and Fort Lauderdale. Contact him at or (850 567-2240 and follow him on Twitter @stevebousquet.