Nor'Town: Politics in North Las Vegas, Nevada

Who's in the Money?

Year-end campaign finance reports are in and it looks like that sneaky old fox William Robinson has the biggest bucks so far. According to the Sun the numbers are:

William Robinson...$127,000
Stephanie Smith....$ 71,000
Shari Buck...........$ 67,000

It's interesting to note that Buck's bucks are mostly a holdover from the 2007 race and according to the Sun, she "has begun to raise money." Hmm. It might be a little late to start doing that, especially in these trying times. I don't just mean that the usual sources, casinos and developers, may be tapped out this cycle, but that the Republican infrastructure took a big hit this last cycle, and more Democratical candidates might find fund raising a bit easier.

That's not to say that the usual suspects aren't still in the game. Here's how some of the money breaks into some familiar sectors:

William Robinson:

Casino

Rumvee Inc    $5,000.00     Alhambra
Jack Binion    $10,000.00    Binion
Phyllis Cope    $10,000.00    Binion
Tom Fechser    $10,000.00   Binion
Boyd Gaming    $10,000.00  Boyd
Poker Palace    $2,000.00   
Cannery Casino    $500.00
TOTAL: $47,500

Real Estate Developers:

Montecito Companies    $2,500.00
Ghassan Shamoun    $2,000.00
Summerset Development Services    $10,000.00
Diamond Lamb LLC    $5,000.00
P2SA Equity    $2,000.00
AA Midwest Rebuilders Suppliers    $1,000.00
TAS Nevada LLC    $5,000.00
Kummer, Kaempfer Bonner Renshaw    $1,000.00
Paradise Development    $2,500.00
Smaxy PAC    $2,500.00
Terry Connelly   (Lyon Homes)  $1,000.00
D.L. Denman Construction Company    $1,000.00
Paradise Development    $500.00
TOTAL: $36,000

Summerset Services is the latest avatar of the Goett development group supposedly building/going bankrupt over that Park Highlands thing. Diamond Lamb is working Apex. Kummer, Kaempfer, etc. are actually lawyer-lobbyists for developers, appearing nightly at the City Council for your entertainment pleasure. TAS is the Nevada company fronting for the Athena Group which is supposed to be building/going bankrupt over the "District at Desert Star" shopping center (opening 2010!!).

Garbage Kings:

Republic Environmental Technologies    $5,000.00
Republic Services    $5,000.00
Republic Disposal Urban Maintenance    $5,000.00
TOTAL $15,000

Pawn Shops:

CSN Inc   (Metropawn) $2,500.00
Cash America    $2,500.00

What will be particularly amusing this cycle will be watching companies and individuals hedge their bets by giving money to two or more mayoral candidates. Take the Binions, for example. They're giving to nearly everybody. Boyd, too. The casinos are complaining about having such a tough year, too, yet there's always a couple hundred grand sitting around for election time. Same goes for the developers.

Stephanie Smith:

Casinos:

Jack Binion    $10,000.00   Binion
Phyillis Cope    $10,000.00   Binion
PJ & CB LLC    $10,000.00    Binion
Boyd Gaming    $10,000.00   Boyd
TOTAL: $40,000

Real Estate Developmers:

TAS Nevada LLC    $5,000.00
Summerset Development Services    $10,000.00
Paradise Development Ltd    $5,000.00
Montecito Co LLC    $2,500.00
TOTAL: $22,500

Pawn Shop:

CSN, Inc    $2,500.00

If you look carefully at Smith's report, however, on page 4, she gives $10,000 back to Binion. Perhaps some enterprising news reporter will find out what that's all about.

For some idea about sources of Shari Buck's bucks from last cycle, you can have, at your own risk, a look here. One benefit Buck gets from postponing fundraising is that she won't have to report any until one week before the primary in April, about halfway through early voting, thanks to Nevada's dumbass election laws.

Oh, and if you were wondering: an individual or corporation is only allowed to give $5,000 for the primary and $5,000 for the general election. So, strictly speaking, nobody should be giving $10,000 now, and nobody should  be giving more than $10,000 through LLC fronts or family members. But, then, welcome to Nevada, where all that stuff is perfectly legal. Well, legal, anyway.

What we haven't seen yet is which way the Station Casino money will go. The Fertitta brothers are always big contributers. They have a big presence in Nor"Town, and they will want to protect their Losee Station project. So, if they aren't broke, they'll be making somebody very happy in this next month or so.

Going Over to the Dark Side

In Nor'Town, it seems like everybody's got a hand in everybody else's pocket. First there was the president of a local Democratic club that gave money, in violation of said club's rules I'm told, to Republican Governor Jim Gibbons.

Now we learn that Clark County Commissioner Tom Collins, who represents a hunk of North Las Vegas, accepted contributions from Republican kingpin and warmonger Sheldon Adelson.  (Sun).

Now, it's bad enough for Collins to accept money for Nevada's premier Republican cash cow, but it adds insult to injury that the money was bundled. In Nevada, an individual or corporation can only donate $10,000 to a candidate per election cycle. Bigwigs like Adelson get around the law by giving multiple contributions of $10,000 each through several distinct corporations they own or through family members. This practice is called bundling, and despite the fact that it is endemic to Nevada's system, it is wrong. Why have a law saying that the most an individual can give a candidate is $10,000 if we're going to turn our backs as politicians stuff checks for $50,000 or $100,000 from source into their wallets?

Unfortunately, the practice was deemed legal by a short-sighted Attorney General long ago. However, voters don't have to put up with it. Ask your candidates to stop accepting bundled contributions. Hold them to a higher standard than what the law requires.

And for pity's sake give Sheldon back his dirty money, Tom. And while you're at it, ask the Secretary of State to clean up your finance reports on the SOS site. They are a mess what with a bunch of letters from former Secretary of State Dean Heller asking for Collins to turn in his reports.

What? It's so hard to fill in a form? Why? Because Adelson's dirty fingerprints are all over them?

[UPDATE: Okay, I pulled a Gibbons. Collins financial reports are over at the Clark County site in what is perhaps the most irritating webpage ever. It seems very odd that campaign reports aren't kept in one location, like the Nevada Secretary site. No, Nevadans have to dig around the NLV site for NLV candidates and the Clark County site for the CCC. And the Clark County site seriously needs blowing up. The 2004 reports are the most entertaining.]

Campaign Finance Reports Are In!

Whoohoo! Contribution and Expense Reports for most of the candidates are up on the North Las Vegas city site.

Who's winning the money game? Incumbents, of course!

Total Contributions:

Ward 4

Shari Buck: $183,300
Richard Cherchio: $44,064
[UPDATE: Jo Cato $18,000]
Debra Lewis: $10,350

Ward 2

William Robinson $114,850
John T. Stephens $610

With all that money, you'd think Robinson would figure out a way to type his entries. And Ward 2, you should be ashamed of yourselves. Send that John Stephens some money. He can't even afford a website, for pete's sake. You all are just making a mockery of the democratic process.

I'll be looking over those reports real careful the next few days, but lookee what I've already spotted in Shari Buck's: the Fertitta Brothers:

[UPDATE: Aliante Holding is owned by Aliante Station: $5,000]
[UPDATE: Fiesta Rancho: $5,000]
Boulder Station $5,000
Palace Station $5,000
Station Casinos, Inc. $5,000
Texas Station $5,000
Texas Station In Kind Contributions, $2,567.25
Fertitta Total:      $22567.25 $27,567.25 $32,567.25

Now, in the state of Nevada, the maximum contribution allowed is $10,000, $5,000 in the primary and $5,000 in the general. How is it that Stations Casinos can give over 22K? Let Sun reporter Coolican explain:

Some of the anonymity stems from what is known as "bundling." Although contributors can give only $10,000 to a candidate, a 1994 ruling by then-Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa argued that the Nevada campaign finance law allows different entities each to give $10,000.

As a result, wealthy individuals and companies form limited liability corporations so they can bundle their contributions and give candidates hundreds of thousands of dollars. These new companies have no public profile and exist only to funnel campaign cash, so they can remain a mystery to the public.

So, you ask, why bother with the $10,000 limit if Nevada politicians and their rich donors are cynically going to ignore. Now, that's a good question to ask your state Assemblyperson or Senator. Unfortunately, you'll find that no one has drafted any bills that directly address the problem for this session of the Legislature.

And if you want some real fun, go do a corporate entity search over at the Secretary of State's page for some of those Limited Liabilty Corporations, or LLC's, that you find in abundance in Buck's Contribution and Expense Report. I know I will.

Shari Buck Has Two Challengers

North Las Vegas Councilperson Shari Buck has two challengers for Ward 4. Richard Cherchio has made his run official and Deborah Lewis, a North Las Vegas activist who tried to stop Station Casinos from building yet another one of their lovely properties, is also signed up for the race. It looks like Ward 4 will have an interesting race with strong candidates all around.

Buck is also the beneficiary of the garbage king trifecta of corporate donations like councilguy Robinson. She's received a total of $15,000 bundled from the local garbage company. Unlike Robinson, however, she at least listed them separately on p. 3 of her financials:

$5,000 Republic Disposal Urban Maintenance

$5,000 Republic Environmental Technologies

$5,000 Republic Services of So. Nevada

The first company isn't listed on the Secretary of State's bidness site. Hmm. Slapped together just for this election cycle maybe?

[UPDATE: Glossy signs for Richard Cherchio sprang up overnight on MLK. Do I smell Aliante money going up against the garbage company? Hmm. Wonder if the Cherchios still plan to move into Turnberry Towers?]

Robinson Has a Challenger

City Councilman William Robinson has picked up a challenger for the Ward 2 race, one John T. Stephens III

Time will tell if Mr. Stephens is a serious candidate or is a narcissist who just wanted his name printed on a bunch of ballots. Anybody with any info about the candidate can zap me an email.

I noted something strange and potentially illegal in Councilman Robinson's financial report (page 2). It looks like Republic Disposal, yup, the garbage company, has contributed $15,000 to the Councilman's campaign. According to NRS 294A.100, no one can contribute more that $10,000 to an election. $5,000 for the primary and $5,000 for the general. I look forward to the Councilman returning $5,000 of that contribution. And, whatever happened to penmanship? That report is a pain to read. Robinson pulled in about $211,000 in contributions last year and has already spent about $60,000 on the campaign. A chunk of that is going to a place called Southwest Strategies. The Councilman seems to prefer to spend his money on California media types. Doesn't trust the local talent, I suppose.

[UPDATE: A reader (yes, there's one!) writes in and after making a rude remark about my genitalia, notes that I pulled a Muth in confusing the San Diego Southwest Strategies with the Paradise Township one. However, last time I checked, Las Vegas is not North Las Vegas, and it just goes to show that it's hard to find good local talent to spend North Las Vegas dollars on.

The reader also notes that the $15,000 came from three corporate entities all having to do with garbage removal and having the word "Republic" in their name. Gee, that makes it all okay. In other words, the councilman is engaged in the borderline legal practice of "bunding" which allows cynical politicians like Mayor Mike to sidestep the Nevada campaign caps. When bundling, donors, like Venetian owner Sheldon Adelson, use multiple corporations each giving no more than the  maximum $10,000 to channel hundreds of thousands of dollars to candidates. Oh, that makes it all so much better, no?]

Northtown For Sale: AD 17

Jon Ralston reported recently that the CEO of overstock.com, one Patrick Byrne, was trying to buy some Republican politicians for North Las Vegas, home of the 'Monger, and elsewhere throughout the state.

Byrne suddenly is a major supporter of North Las Vegas and its mayor, Mike Montandon, who not so coincidentally has decided to start pouring his PAC money into legislative races.

This is the handiwork of GOP consultant Steve Wark, who not so coincidentally consults for Overstock.com in Utah and not so coincidentally is Montandon's political guru. Add this up and you suddenly have what Wark sees as swing districts inundated with cash from Montandon's city PAC and at least two other PACs that Byrne, thanks to Wark, has made flush during the last few months.

Byrne has given an aggregate of $110,000 to Montandon's PAC, a committee run by Wark's mother-in-law, ex-state GOP boss Earlene Forsythe and a conservative group, Keystone. Welcome to Nevada, Mr. Byrne. And you thought Howard Rich of Americans for Limited Government and the Club for Growth folks were the major out-of-state types trying to influence Nevada politics.

Besides the mayor and two other Repubic Assembly wannabes mentioned in Ralston's article, the Assembly District 17 race has Byrne money flowing into it. There, Republican Angelo Carvalho is running for a second time against Democrat incumbent Kelvin Atkinson. In 2004, Carvalho ran with just over $19,000 in contributions. Now, in 2006, he's got over $90,000.

Part of the difference comes from, you guessed it, the Byrne-Montandon slush fund. You can have a look at Carvalho's reports over at the irritating Clark County elections website. There you'll find the following list of interesting contributions to Carvalho:

$10,000 NLV PAC

$10,000 Montandon For Mayor

$10,000 Keystone Corp.

$ 5,000 Republican Assembly Caucus

According the financial records over at the crappy website for the Nevada Secretary of State's office, Byrne gave $50,000 to NLV PAC, $30,000 to Keystone and $40,000 to the Republican Assembly Caucus. Other large contributions to Carvalho come from the usual suspects, $10,000 from the Boyd family trust, and thousands from other casinos and Northtown developers. Yup, out lords and masters.

Kelvin Atikinson, the incumbent, is trailing Carvalho, as of last month, by about $20,000. His campaign coffer is depressingly filled by casino magnates as well.

However, the mind boggles at the amounts of money being thrown at these elections. And, guys, you can use some of that money to spiff up the websites. Although websites at the Assembly level probably don't matter as much as walking the neighborhood. And money from Utah wackos.