I finally got around to having a good look at Congressman and Governor wannabe Jim Gibbons’ campaign report. And there’s a whole lot of bundling going on.
Bundling is when a donor contributes more than the legal limit to a campaign by channeling the donations through several sources, like several different corporate sources. The legal limit is $10,000 per campaign, $5,000 for the primary and $5,000 for the general election.
Here’s some examples from the latest Gib-report (searchable version–big!):
page 10:
$10,000 from Golden Gaming (Golden Route Operations)
$10,000 from Golden Gaming (Golden Tavern Group)
$10,000 from Golden Gaming (Golden Gaming, Inc)
$10,000 from Blake Santini (Owner, Golden Gaming)
$10,000 from Denise Santini (The Wife?)
———
$50,000 total!
MGM Mirage bundled up some goodies for the Gibster:
p. 12:
$10,000 Treasure Island (Owned by MGM Mirage Inc)
$10,000 MGM Grand (Owned by MGM Mirage Inc)
$10,000 Treasure Island (Owned by MGM Mirage Inc)
p.16:
$10,000 Monte Carlo (Owned by MGM Mirage Inc)
$10,000 New York, New York (Owned by MGM Mirage Inc)
$10,000 Mirage (Owned by MGM Mirage Inc)
——-
$60,000 Total!
These guys share the same office (#220) at 3455 Cliff Shadows Parkway, Las Vegas:
$5,000 Coyote Equities
$5,000 Cal-Nev Land Company
$5,000 Bridgekeeper, LLC
$5,000 Beltway I-15, LLC
$5,000 Acacia Properties, LLC
$2,500 Shlincoln PAC
$2,500 Acme Enterprises PAC (fitting that they’re funding Nevada’s answer to Elmer Fudd!)
——–
$30,000 Total!
The last two guys are funded by "Focus Contributions" which name has an astounding similarity to the name of the company "Focus Commercial Group," a subsidiary of a multi-state real estate company called the Randall Group. Focus Commercial also operates out of 3455 Cliff Shadows Parkway, Las Vegas, Suite 220. Must get cramped in there.
Focus Contributions, as you will see if you look at the reports for the Shlincoln and Acme Enterprises PACs, has a ton of money and seems to be giving all of our politicians a nice taste.
These guys come out of one address, too:
p.17:
$10,000 Elkhorn Investments
$10,000 Sedora Holdings
——–
$20,000 Total!
Another small office:
p.32
$10,000 Monterrey Somerset Investors
$10,000 PMG Golf Communities
$10,000 Town Center Residential
$ 8,500 MDG Nevada
———-
$38,500 Total!
Goldstrike Mining seems to have clearly passed the $10K limit:
$10,000 Goldstrike Mining (January Report, p. 43)
$ 7,000 Goldstrike Mining (August Report, p. 18)
———
$17,000 Total!
You’d think these guys could afford two offices:
p.35
$10,000 Howard Hughes Properties, Inc
$ 9,680.62 GGP Limited Partnership: Other Hughes Properties
———-
$19,680.62 Total! (What, it’s so hard to come up with the $319.38? Must be that much sitting in the coffee money.)
And another $10,000 from bundlin’ Shelly Adelson (p. 28)
So, what to do? It’s election year, folks. Make sure you elect a Governor and a Secretary of State who are ready for reform. But you’ve got to get your state legislators on board, too. Do you know where your State Senator and Assembly person/candidate stand on reform? Call them up and ask.
[UPDATE: Supporting the Townsend bill would be a start, too.]
excellent work!