Tony Staskunas wants to be your social director

Another member of the state legislature is worried that you and your family are not entertained enough. State Representative Tony Staskunas wants to limit ticket reselling so his daughter can go see Hannah Montana. Somebody buy him the DVD instead.

Rep. Tony Staskunas, a West Allis Democrat, says he’s upset with scalpers charging teenage girls hundreds of dollars for tickets to the sold-out Hannah Montana concert in Milwaukee. He says his bill would require ticket resellers to pay $500 annually to register with the state and have permanent offices in Wisconsin.

The measure would set the maximum resale price between 20 percent and 45 percent over face value. Software that can purchase tickets online in bulk would be illegal and ticket brokers would be allowed to acquire only 1 percent of available tickets.

I have a better idea. Require all events selling tickets (venues of 1000 seats or more) to sell them via online auction. Let's encourage the free market and eliminate gross underpricing of tickets. I'd start with the Green Bay Packers, and I wouldn't be surprised if the Brown County Sales tax proves no longer necessary.