A's Handouts to Nevada Politicians Continue

After Nevada voted to approve $380 in public financing for the A's proposed ballpark, the team has been making payments to politician's campaigns

Last summer the A's had a ballpark funding bill, SB509, which was never voted on before the end of the regular session. To get that proposed $380 million, the A's needed a special session, called by Nevada's governor Joe Lombardo, and even then it wasn't immediately approved. This led some to suspect that it may not pass. It took a few days of negotiations, but eventually the bill, renamed SB1, received the necessary votes.

Obviously the bill passing hit A's fans hard, but it also left some questions, like what exactly happened behind closed doors? There still haven't been answers to those questions, but with C&E reports (Contributions and Expenses) coming out in recent days ahead of the January 15th deadline, we're perhaps seeing some of the "negotiating" the A's did. 

These are just four of the contributions that have been declared with the deadline still nearly a week away, totaling $23,000. Richard Daly, Nicole Cannizzaro and Gregory Koenig all voted "yes" on SB1. Michael Naft is the Commissioner of Clark County. 

Clark County contributed $120 million in bonds for the proposed project, and in a nice coincidence, Naft received $10,000 from the A's. Cannizzaro is the majority leader of the Nevada senate and received $10,000 as well. 

Here is what Naft said on social media in April:

“Asking for” and getting are two very different things. https://t.co/i8A0zjUYSp

— Michael Naft (@MichaelNaft) April 21, 2023

The A's essentially asked for money from the public, and when given $380 million in financing, they then turned around and gave small contributions to the people that voted "yes" on the bill. One member that voted "no" on the bill, senator Robin Titus, did not receive any donations from the A's. 

You may also remember a former member of the Nevada senate that voted "yes" for the bill now works in the governor's cabinet. That member, Scott Hammond, recently got big mad online when someone used the term "corruptively" in describing how the voting on SB1 went down. What the public is seeing, fairly or unfairly, is four contributions by the A's and a promotion to a termed-out senator. 

The group Schools Over Stadiums is attempting to put a referendum on the ballot next election that would attack the funding for the A's proposed ballpark in Las Vegas and they are currently taking donations to make that happen.