ATLANTA - Gov. Zell Miller's impending retirement means more than the end of an era in Georgia politics. It may mean open season for ticket scalpers outside Augusta's Masters Tournament and other popular sports and entertainment events.
Mr. Miller, who has been lieutenant governor or governor since 1975, has been a roadblock to proponents of legalizing the sell-at-any-price ticket peddling business in Georgia.
Scalping supporters are merely biding time.
State Rep. Alan Powell, D-Hartwell, a leader of the legalization movement in the General Assembly, didn't try to make a move in the 1998 legislative session.
``He (Mr. Miller) has vetoed it twice. What do you think he would do this year?'' Mr. Powell said. ``What I'm going to do is not set a record. I feel certain he'd veto it again. The second time may have been a record. The third time I know would be a record.''
But when asked if his name will be on a bill to legalize scalping next year, when Mr. Miller has retired to his home in Young Harris, Ga., Mr. Powell grinned and said, ``Possibly. Possibly.''
Mr. Miller figures as much. ``If I were them, that's what I'd do,'' he said recently.
Twice in the past three years, lawmakers have zipped pro-scalping legislation through the General Assembly with limited opposition.
In 1995, lawmakers supported turning scalping into a legal, regulated business in Georgia. Mr. Miller vetoed the bill.
Last year, legislators overwhelmingly amended a bill by state Rep. Tom Bordeaux, D-Savannah, one of Mr. Miller's assistant floor leaders, to allow scalping as long as the seller got a license and did business at least a block away from an event.
It would have allowed scalpers to sell Masters Tournament tickets off Augusta National Golf Club property.
However, Masters officials said they would maintain anti-scalping policies and likely revoke privileges from anyone caught scalping their tickets.
Mr. Bordeaux's original proposal would have allowed charitable groups to raffle off tickets at fund-raisers.
``I thought it was a simple, straightforward, good bill,'' said Mr. Bordeaux, who opposes legalizing scalping.
Still, it was ``no sale'' with Mr. Miller.
Mr. Bordeaux learned his lesson and got the House to engross his proposal, meaning it couldn't be amended.
Nonetheless, legalizing ticket-scalping has become more popular than ever in Georgia because tickets are increasingly prized.
That has especially become true with the rise in prominence of the Atlanta Braves.
Through the 1990 season, baseball fans could walk up to ticket windows at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium five minutes before a game and get good seats because the Braves were traditionally cellar-dwellers in the standings.
Starting with the team's championship run in 1991, the Braves became a hot social ticket, with often-marginal baseball fans snatching many of the best seats by buying up season passes.
Scalpers lined the streets outside the stadium, with prices rising into the hundreds of dollars per ticket by the time the Braves made it to the World Series.
Scalping prices rose dramatically in 1996 during the Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Lawmakers complained that even with laws prohibiting the sale of tickets at more than face value, seats at the opening ceremonies were running up to $650 a pop.
Scalping pre-dates the recent success of the Braves and the Olympics, Mr. Miller said.
``It's always been a problem at the Masters. It's always been a problem for big concerts like the Rolling Stones or Garth Brooks,'' said the governor, an expert on country music and baseball.
Lobbyists give lawmakers dozens of tickets each year for games involving the Braves, Atlanta Hawks, Atlanta Falcons, Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia.
When questioned about the tickets, lawmakers often claim they didn't use them.
``It's free enterprise,'' Mr. Powell said. ``If you as an individual have tickets, you can't get rid of them (now). The average citizen can't find good tickets for good seats anyway.''
A vast majority of lawmakers agree with Mr. Powell.
``I don't consider it scalping. I consider it free enterprise,'' House Minority Whip Earl Ehrhart, R-Powder Springs, said during last year's debate on the issue. ``The basic idea of buying something and selling it for a profit is one of the earliest tenants of this country.''
However, Mr. Bordeaux argues scalping hurts the ``little guy'' who wants to attend a game or concert.
Artists, entertainers and athletes get ripped off because they get nothing from the inflated prices, Mr. Miller added.
``It's not fair. A $30 ticket ought to cost $30,'' the governor said.
State Rep. Charlie Smith, D-St. Marys, one of few House members who objected to the scalping bill last year, said peddlers shouldn't be making a profit by selling taxpayers tickets to events at facilities funded by taxpayers, such as publicly built stadiums and civic centers.
``Some people think the free market ought to govern,'' Mr. Smith said. ``When you set a price, that ought to be the price.
``If the taxpayers are subsidizing the event, it's wrong for the hustler to make an extra profit. If there is going to be an extra profit made, it ought to go back to the taxpayer.''
However, Mr. Smith has less of a problem with ticket scalping at private facilities, like the Augusta National and other golf clubs.
``If it were something privately financed, they can do what they want,'' he said. ``In the case of a private club that doesn't have any taxpayer money in it, I don't care. Let them sell them for what they want.''
Legislature could legalize scalping next year