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Follow the Money: Transition staff, employers gave more than $400,000 to Sisolak's campaign

Riley Snyder
Riley Snyder
State Government
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To help prepare him to take the reins of government in January, Gov.-elect Steve Sisolak assembled a diverse transition advisory team composed of nearly three dozen elected officials, teachers, business leaders and other policy experts.

But some members of the transition team have also helped the soon-to-be governor in another way — by contributing to his gubernatorial campaign.

According to campaign finance reports filed with the secretary of state’s office, Sisolak received more than $400,000 from 14 members of his transition advisory team and their employers during the 2018 campaign cycle.

The vast majority of the donations from transition team members came from MGM Resorts, which through 32 different affiliates contributed $320,000 to Sisolak’s campaign, a significant chunk of the roughly $9.9 million in total he reported raising between 2017 and 2018. Denice Miller, a senior vice president of government affairs for the casino giant, is a member of the transition committee.

Sisolak announced the full 31-member “transition advisory” committee in late November, chaired by Democratic Rep. Dina Titus and Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve and consisting of gaming, labor, other elected officials, teachers and education leaders. The group held its first meeting on Dec. 7.

“Every member of this team brings a unique experience and view to the table and together, they will help me as I build an administration,” Sisolak said in a statement at the time. “By bringing people together from day one, we can deliver real solutions for Nevada families.”

In a statement, Sisolak spokesman Grigsby Crawford said members of the governor-elect’s transition committee were selected based on their talent and various viewpoints.

In assembling his transition advisory committee, Governor-elect Sisolak brought in a talented and diverse group of Nevadans from a wide range of industries and walks of life,” he said in an email. “They've accomplished a great deal for this state already, and the governor-elect couldn't be happier or more proud to have them helping as he builds his administration.”

Although Nevada law caps campaign contributions from a single entity at $10,000 per election cycle, big businesses such as MGM Resorts — or even the former companies of jailed gambler Billy Walters — effectively ignore the caps by making the contributions through affiliated companies or LLCs.

The next largest contributor is Caesars Entertainment executive Karlos LaSane, who gave $1,000 to the campaign with another $25,000 contributed by the gaming company. Three other transition team members gave $10,000 to Sisolak’s campaign: Nevada State AFL-CIO, former Sandoval Chief of Staff Gerald Gardner and attorney John Bailey.

Campaign contributions made by other members of Sisolak’s transition team were relatively small. Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo contributed $5,000, and Nevada Resorts Association head Virginia Valentine, Latin Chamber of Commerce President Peter Guzman and Reno City Councilman David Bobzien’s campaign all chipped in another $1,000.

Duncan Lee, president of RDL Investments and a member of the Asian Chamber of Commerce, also contributed $5,000 to Sisolak’s campaign on August 21. Lee is the only member of Sisolak’s transition team to have also served on Sandoval’s 2010 gubernatorial transition team.

Sixteen of the transition team members did not make any contributions to Sisolak’s campaign.

JT Stepleton, a researcher at the National Institute on Money in Politics, said in an interview that the nexus between campaign contributions and gubernatorial transition teams hadn’t really been tracked, but that it would be a cause for concern if donors were given an outsized role in determining appointments on regulatory boards.

“It’s also a matter of what role they have in the transition team, and if they have a say in who regulates gaming,” he said. “How much say did they have in who would be appointed, that raises some red flags in a lot of cases.”

The 19-member transition team of Attorney General-elect Aaron Ford contributed just $4,500 between individuals and their employers to the Democrat’s campaign, a small slice of the roughly $2.2 million he raised over the last two years.

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