“We were trying to do something good,” said Nogales Mayor Octavio Garcia-Von Borstel as he explained why $324 was charged to taxpayers after he allegedly authorized “bogus” movie tickets for a city-sponsored Halloween event on Oct. 31.

Mayor Octavio Garcia-Von Borstel

Before several members of the public at a city council meeting Wednesday, Garcia-Von Borstel said the tickets were donated to the City of Nogales by Oasis Cinema. But the tickets had the logo for the Weed and Seed program for a festival it had scheduled on Sept. 15 but later postponed.

The theater has denied donating any movie tickets to the mayor. General Manager Susan Clarke Morales said in an interview on Thursday that she refused to donate tickets as well as a subsequent request to provide treats at Halloween.

During the meeting, the mayor said that his assistant at the time and a secretary from the legal department were in his office “strategizing” for the Halloween event when they placed a telephone call to Morales.

“We requested 50 movie tickets to be donated,” Garcia-Von Borstel said. “At the time it became very apparent to all three of us that the tickets were going to be donated.

“I sent my assistant at that time to pick up the tickets. She did confirm she picked up the tickets. She came back to the office and had the tickets. My office went through a transition of assistants. Then those tickets were given to the legal secretary, which she kept locked up until the Halloween event.”

Attempts to reach his former assistant, Andrea Pottinger, were unsuccessful before press time.

During the meeting, Vice Mayor Arturo Garino said, “It is strange that the tickets from Weed and Seed for a festival ended up being the tickets for the movie when they were not made for a movie.” Garino wondered why the cinema would send outdated tickets for another event.

The mayor said, “If we were given the wrong tickets by the donor �- I think they need to take responsibility. However, since the tickets had been given out I didn’t want those children to be denied at the door. That’s why I made it a point to recognize those tickets within our budget.”

JoAnn DiFilippo of Weed and Seed said in an interview on Thursday morning her organization “never authorized” the City of Nogales to use those tickets and has no idea how the city obtained them.

Morales explained the tickets were purchased by the Weed and Seed program from Oasis for its annual film festival set for Sept. 15, which was later postponed. Consequently, the money for the tickets was refunded to Weed and Seed.

Apparently, the tickets which were printed for the festival in August were never destroyed. Morales explained the tickets were produced and printed in-house and has no clue how they ended up at city hall.

While she had donated tickets for past Halloween events, this year “at no time did Oasis Cinema authorize the City of Nogales to give away movie tickets,” she said.

“About three weeks or a month before Halloween, I was asked by Mayor Garcia-Von Borstel’s representative, Victor Mendez, for free tickets for this year. I apologetically declined. When I was later asked (by Mendez) to give away soda, popcorn and cotton candy (for the Halloween event), I was, again, forced to decline. “

Garcia Von-Borstel said the only request was when he personally called Morales during the strategy meeting. He contradicted himself though, first saying he had received the tickets in his office and then said, “I never even saw the tickets.”

As well, sources in the legal department said the mayor personally delivered the tickets to the legal secretary who put them in a safe.

“As much as Oasis Cinema has contributed to local and county schools, non-profit organizations and sports groups, I’m confident our customers understand that this year our business like every other has been hard-hit by the economy,” said Morales, adding that she had hoped the city would understand as well.

Morales contends that the mayor tried to use the cinema for political “grandstanding,” and “I’m not going to allow that. Oasis Cinema is not obligated to make a public official look good at community events,” she said. “On the contrary, our elected officials are mandated by the oaths they take and the laws they are entrusted to enforce to assist and promote local businesses and residents �” not steal from them,” she said.

She reported the incident to the Nogales Police Department on Nov. 1 and requested a formal complaint be issued “as in my mind there is no difference between an individual who shoplifts at a store and a city official or officials who present to the public they are entitled to this business’ merchandise simply by affixing the municipality’s mailing stamp to the back of a bogus ticket.

“And do these politicians really think that the public will be bought off with a bag of candy and a stolen movie ticket? We should be incensed.”

The payment for the tickets was approved along with several other bills by a vote of 4-2, with Garino and Councilwoman Esther Lopez Melendez dissenting.