(UPDATED) Inaugural disappointment

Posted by Alaska_Politics

Posted: January 22, 2009 - 10:53 am

Comments (0) |

From Erika Bolstad in Washington D.C. --

Note: We described this as an "investigation." Young is not calling for an investigation, his spokeswoman Meredith Kenny said, just answers.

Not everyone with tickets, including some Alaskans, got access to the ticketed viewing area for Tuesday's presidential inauguration. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska is asking for answers to why thousands of people entering the "purple" section of the viewing area weren't admitted.

Young called on the event's organizers to provide answers (and an apology to ticket-holders) after about 30 to 40 Alaskans who had been issued tickets by his office weren't able to get in. Those people instead stopped by a reception the congressman was holding for people who were in town for the event but didn't obtain tickets. There, even though they were denied access to the event, they could at least watch the swearing-in on television from the reception, said Meredith Kenny, Young's spokesman. But it wasn't the same as being there, especially for people who had come so far.

In a statement, Young said that "no matter how far they traveled, how much money they spent or how long they waited, every person who was issued a ticket and was unable to get in should receive an apology from those responsible for organizing the Inauguration...Of particular concern is the lack of communication relayed to visitors causing frustration and creating confusion." Young himself did not attend the ceremony.

Initial reports blame poor planning to handle the security and the fact that thousands of people without tickets were trying to get to the National Mall at the same time to enter the public, non-ticketed viewing area there. (It's being called the "Purple Tunnel of Doom," since so many people with tickets for the purple section were stranded in a tunnel underneath the Mall.) The Washington Post reported that people with tickets "stood in long lines that never reached the security gates, that there were far too few police and officials on hand to direct or control the crowds, or that they were given confusing information and sent in the wrong direction. In the end, many gave up and left in disgust."

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who headed the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, asked late on Wednesday for "a prompt investigation" by the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Capitol Police.

login or register to post comments