Coliseum General Manager Resigns
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — The general manager of the Los Angeles Memorial
Coliseum resigned Tuesday, hours before the stadium's governing body was set to meet in closed session to consider his fate.
Patrick Lynch, who was been managing the stadium and adjacent Sports
Arena since 1994, tendered his resignation in an e-mail to the nine members of the Coliseum Commission, the Los Angeles Times reported on its website.
The commission was scheduled to meet late this afternoon to discuss
Lynch's employment. Commissioner Rick Caruso called for Lynch's resignation Wednesday, the day The Times reported that the Coliseum's assistant general manager for events -- Todd DeStefano -- was also working for Insomniac Inc.
Insomniac Inc. organized the Electric Daisy Carnival, an electronic music festival held at the Coliseum last summer. The event was attended by a 15-
year-old girl who died from an overdose of Ecstasy.
"We have now learned that the fox was left guarding the henhouse since
our staff in charge of planning security at raves was also secretly working for
the rave organizer," Caruso said last week.
DeStefano began working with Insomniac about two months before the June
2010 event, and Lynch approved the arrangement, The Times reported.
Lynch said he reduced DeStefano's salary and changed his title after he
started with Insomniac, but DeStefano continued to work for the commission on the Electric Daisy preparations.
DeStefano resigned from the Coliseum position in January to pursue a
full-time career as an events promoter -- including for Insomniac, which is
seeking commission approval for another Electric Daisy Carnival.
State law generally forbids managers such as DeStefano to participate in
decisions affecting a company in which they or their immediate family members have a financial stake. Violations can result in civil or criminal penalties.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office and the California Fair Political Practices Commission have both begun investigating the matter.
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