Welcome to Pay Dirt—exclusive reporting and research from The Daily Beast’s Lachlan Markay on corruption, campaign finance, and influence-peddling in the nation’s capital. For Beast Inside members only.
After Democrat Steve Sisolak prevailed in last year’s Nevada gubernatorial election, a number of corporate donors ponied up five-figure sums to fund his inauguration and transition to office. Now that money is financing an ostensibly independent political group devoted to singing Sisolak’s praises.
Home Means Nevada PAC was created in December—after Sisolak’s election victory—and worked to help staff his new administration. In just the first few weeks of its existence, the group brought in $415,000 in contributions. The largest donation came from the Nevada Democratic Party, but it also got cash from labor unions, a casino operator, and some property developers. A cannabis dispensary company even chipped in $15,000.
Much of that cash went toward salary and consulting payments for top Sisolak aides as they managed the new administration’s transition period. The PAC’s largest reported outlay went to a consulting firm run by the governor’s now-chief of staff. But it ended the year with more than $330,000 in the bank.
The group won’t be required to file another financial disclosure report until early next year. But other public records indicate that Home Means Nevada has used those remaining funds to bolster the new governor’s image. The group has spent more than $180,000 on television ads and more than $160,000 on Facebook ads, all promoting Sisolak’s early tenure as governor.
Home Means Nevada’s website says it “not authorized or paid for by a candidate for office or a committee controlled by a candidate for this office.” But the website also has traces of links to Sisolak’s official political operation. Both websites, for instance, appear to be using the same Google Analytics account (Home Means Nevada removed a line in its website’s source code revealing that overlap after PAY DIRT inquired about it).
Paperwork on file with Nevada regulators indicate that the PAC’s directors include Rebecca Lambe, a veteran Democratic operative in the state and consigliere to former Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid. The PAC is administered by the Griffin Company, a Carson City-based public-affairs firm that also lobbies on behalf of big-name corporate clients such as Amazon, Uber, and MGM Resorts.
We won’t know who else Home Means Nevada is paying to staff or consult for the group until next year. We also won’t know whether any other entities—say, ones with business before the state—are cutting checks to heap praise on the state’s new chief executive.
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