That is a striking number for a guy not up until 2014 – and combined with an event a week from Friday in Reno, Gov. Brian Sandoval is likely to have seven figures on hand three years before he faces voters.
I am told by an insider (who also provided that dollar estimate) that the room at GOP HQ on The Strip – a k a The Venetian – was packed, including gaming doyens such as Steve Wynn and Gary Loveman as well as a panoply of other folks.
The hosts ran the gamut of powerful special interests and even included one prominent Democrat (yes, I know Jan Jones is of The Gaming Party now!).
Sandoval is sending a strong message with that haul and surely will use it as a way to dispense influence in Campaign ’12 and let any ambitious Democrats know he is willing to use the power of his position to maintain the power of his position.
Here’s the host list:
Lee Amaitis (Cantor Gaming)
George Balaban (Desert Cab)
Barrick Gold of North America
College Loan Corporation
Jeri and Rick Crawford (Green Valley Grocery, Crawford Oil)
Fertitta Entertainment
Frias Transportation Management
Gaming Arts, LLC
Jaclyn and Jacob Hafter
IGT
Tom Jenkin (Caesars)
Jan Jones
Keystone Corporation
Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce
The Las Vegas Sands Corporation
Gary Loveman
McDonald Carano Wilson LLP
MGM Resorts International
Susan and Monte Miller
Dr. Jim Nave
Newmont Mining Corporation
NV Energy
Mr. Phil Ruffin
Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center
Lynn and Bill Weidner
Brian Wittman (investment counselor)
Wynn Las Vegas
The value of Jeb Bush as a headliner must be going way down; $600,000 is small change to that guest list.
Thanks for the list. I have never stepped foot in the Venetian because of the owner but I will now add Green Valley Grocery, The Wynn, the MGM, the TI and any Stations Casino to my list of places I will not patronize.
Wealth, in the history of civilization has never needed a Democracy. They don't want to share power or money with the wage earning rabble, and if they control the Government, they can pay nothing to almost nothing in taxes.
Their children almost never join the military, and then the Air Force and Navy get most of them where they don't have to run like hell or directly dodge lead to keep oxygen in their blood. Let the jobless, the uneducated youth fight for the country if they want an income.
When Jeb Bush was at UNLV last year, he made the comment on stage that "one of the good things about privatized retirement accounts for Government employees is that they can be defaulted". He said this with James Carville and Jon Ralston on stage with him.
The retirement account managers of privatized managers are waiting to pull their commissions out of the fund over the years, and if the fund's liabilities are greater then the deposits, they simply default and what left, after bankruptcy attorney fees, is split between the loosers. This is what Bush wants for Social Security - privatized accounts.
Another dangerous aspect of privatized retirement accounts is that they can be taken in personal bankruptcies. If the economy tanks and you owe $50,000 on the house, that $50k comes out of the privatized retirement account and the owner sucks wind.
The Privatized retirement system can also threaten political candidates they don't like, warning that "your retirement accounts will suffer" (if the populist is elected) and they will indeed, just like the planned depression we are experiencing now.
Brian Sandoval is Bush's right hand man. Boycott Brylcreem.