There’s a lot of sleazy business disclosed in the Fiesta Bowl’s Special Committee Report, but this is the specialest of all:
For 30 years, John Junker was a glad-handing, canary-blazered shogun of the Fiesta Bowl, the smiling face of that event and its most passionate advocate. So grand was his passion that it overruled his judgment, which is how the 55-year-old came to find himself seated at a conference table, trying to convince investigators there was a legitimate business purpose for the $1,241 he’d charged to the bowl for a visit to a high-end Phoenix strip club on September 12, 2008. (“We are in the business where big strong athletes are known to attend these types of establishments,” Junker said, according to investigators. “It was important for us to visit and we certainly conducted business.”)
I can’t wait to try that line out on my wife.
Between that and the lay-for-play recruiting approach Ohio State took with Stanley McClover, you’d think it’s only a matter of time before some enterprising blogger comes up with a sleaze version of the Fulmer Cup. Nothing illegal, just immoral. Given the current state of things, keeping track of all that might turn out to be a full time job.
Get The Picture 
“It was important for us to visit and we certainly conducted business.”
——————
If the business is monkey spanking then yes we conducted business.
LikeLike
He should have tried this argument for the campaign contributions. At least that would have been slightly believable.
LikeLike
The Mike Price cup would be appropriate.
LikeLike
Now we’re rollin’!
LikeLike
The money handshakes happen everywhere and have happened for years. My father told me about it happening when he was at Georgia in the 40’s. My wife, who knows nothing about football, was friends with a guy that played when she was at Texas. Once, when we ran into some Georgia players and I shook hands with them, she later asked me if I gave them any money. I told her no, and she told me “you’re supposed to slip them money when you shake hands. That’s what my friend taught me in college.”
Now, conducting bidness in a strip club? That’s pushing it.
LikeLike
Only 1200 bucks at a “high end” strip club??? Maybe they were their on business. LOL.
LikeLike
A lawyer buddy of mine told me he had a case where a guy spent $50,000 of his company’s money at one of those “high-end” strip clubs in one night.
LikeLike
That does not surprise me, I have heard of guys spending that kind of money in the truly high end places, this is pretty low particularly if there was more than one or two guys.
LikeLike
I agree wives are better investigators.
LikeLike
I doubt this is confined to just Fiesta Bowl Officials
LikeLike
I think we can all agree we are just a tad envious on this one…nope…nope….just keep it to yourself.
LikeLike
$50,000 ? Now we know why they are called “high-end” places.
LikeLike
I am old enough to remember when Bowls were led by a local civic minded business man who wanted to share his success with his city. I’ll be damned if I would volunteer to work for free while the CEO is making a high six figure salary and spending money like a drunken sailor. I have said it before, big money leads to big corruption. There is just too damn much money in CFB!
LikeLike
That’s one heck of a Public Version of a Special Committee Report. Reminds me of King & Spalding’s on Michael Adams with opposite results. Three cheers to the multi-taskers in getting a private dance and conducting business at the same time.
(Pages 239-241 with unlinked footnotes):”In addition to these expenditures, several others stand out either because of the nature of the expense and/or the amount. Several are highlighted below.
a. Strip club visits
On September 12, 2008, Junker, Aaron Brown, and Shawn Schoeffler spent the evening at Phoenix’s Bourbon Street,1304 which claims to be a “World Famous Strip Club.”1305 Aaron Brown is a Maricopa County Sheriff’s lieutenant who owns Blue Steel Consulting, Inc., a company that provides security services to the Fiesta Bowl.1306
Junker’s American Express statement includes five separate charges from Bourbon Street for the evening, totaling $1,241.75.1307 (The men also spent $46 at Z Tejas, a restaurant, and $48.47 at Tilted Kilt, a bar, that evening, all paid for by the Fiesta Bowl.)1308 Junker acknowledged that the more than $1,200 spent at Bourbon Street that evening was not all spent for food and drink but “in all likelihood” included the payment for women to dance for them.1309 One of the investigators retained by counsel to the Special Committee conducted an investigation that concluded that the individual amounts that totaled up to the night’s charges equated with the charges for private dances.1310 The Fiesta Bowl paid for the drinks and all the strip club charges.1311
The handwritten description on Junker’s American Express statement for the strip club visit said “Junker, A. Brown—security site planning.”1312 Junker stated that they did discuss business during the evening and that there was a business purpose to the Bourbon Street visit: “We are in the business where big strong athletes are known to attend these types of establishments. It was important for us to visit and we certainly conducted business.”1313 Brown stated that it was his fault that they went to Bourbon Street and that he had pushed Junker to go.1314 Brown said they had “normal business discussions” while at Bourbon Street.1315
Our review of other executives’ American Express statements found several other apparent visits to Bourbon Street. Schoeffler’s American Express statements, for example, show that Schoeffler was reimbursed by the Fiesta Bowl for six other visits to Bourbon Street, although his charges per visit (ranging from $45.75 to $145.50) were significantly lower than the September 12, 2008 visit noted above.1316
Likewise, Fields’ American Express statements show two charges to Bourbon Street, one on September 2, 2009, for $400, and another on September 3, 2009, for $48.25.1317″
Click to access Fiesta_Bowl_Final_Public.pdf
LikeLike