A’s Gave $87K to Lawmakers Who Voted to Publicly Fund Vegas Move

In June, the Nevada Senate approved SB1, which allocated $380M in public financing to construct a $1.5B baseball stadium for the Oakland A’s on the Las Vegas Strip.

Apparently, the A’s gave some of that money back. Not to the public, but to the campaigns of the individual politicians who voted “yes” on the bill.

Of the 38 “yes” voters, 30 received at least $1,000 in campaign contributions.

Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas) and Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro (D-Las Vegas) were the top recipients, each receiving the maximum allowed contribution of $10K from the team. Assembly Minority Leader Phillip P.K. O’Neill (R-Carson City) and Majority Leader Sandra Jauregui (D-Las Vegas), received $5,000 each, as did Budget Committee Chair Sen. Marilyn Dondero Loop (D-Las Vegas).

Play Ball & We Will Reward You

In total, it appears that the A’s donated $67K to legislators who voted to publicly fund their stadium, and another $20K to Clark County Commissioners William McCurdy II and Michael Naft.

Sooner or later, the A’s are likely to return to the state with proposals for additional funding and other matters.

In fairness to the A’s, they also contributed between $1K-$2K to nine of the 23 legislators who voted “no” on SB1. Those contributions totaled a meager $11K, but they did occur.

Notably, however, the A’s made no contributions to the handful of senators and Assembly members who aggressively opposed the bill.

Some politicians missed the deadline and are expected to file their disclosures by the end of this month.