Money in politics still flows free after all ballots are counted

Campaign cash began to pour down like a hard, fresh rain not long after the Nevada polls closed on Nov. 4.

Although the voting was over, dozens of new and veteran Nevada lawmakers sought and received political donations to refill drained campaign coffers. They had to work fast. By state law, legislators could not raise money 30 days before, during, or 30 days after the 120-day legislative session that started Feb. 2.

Donors seemed ready to give, especially to newly empowered legislative leaders and incoming GOP conservatives. Many weren’t expected to win election, but thanks to a red wave and low Democratic turnout, Republicans took control of the Assembly, the Senate and all state offices for the first time since 1929.

Some legislators couldn’t help but be drenched in cash.

Incoming Assemblyman Chris Edwards, a Las Vegas Republican considered open to tax increases his more conservative colleagues abhor, collected $36,900, according to campaign finance reports covering Nov. 1 through the end of 2014. That accounted for nearly 46 percent of the $80,717 he collected in all of 2014.

Edwards’ single largest contributor: GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval, who donated $5,000 the day after Christmas — three weeks before he proposed $1.1 billion in new and extended taxes as part of his $7.3 billion budget.

That same day Sandoval’s campaign gave $5,000 to new Assemblyman Derek Armstrong, R-Henderson, who was appointed chairman of the Assembly Taxation Committee after a bruising leadership struggle between moderate Republicans and anti-tax conservatives. The moderates won.

The gubernatorial largess was a small portion of the $56,200 in contributions that flooded Armstrong’s campaign after the election, accounting for 57.3 percent of his total 2014 take of $98,146.

Armstrong and Edwards weren’t alone.

In fact, cranking open the money tap postelection is political business as usual. Business interests — gaming, mining, retailers, lobbyists and the like — and even other elected officials routinely donate to newly minted and re-elected lawmakers in search of friends who will take their calls, look kindly on their causes and support their bills.

While nothing new, the practice is getting more attention in light of an ongoing investigation of events in December that prompted Edwards to call the Las Vegas police. He told authorities someone was trying to make him vote their way in that GOP leadership fight. Exactly what was said and done is unclear, but police have used the term extortion.

“I’m the victim here,” Edwards told the Review-Journal after Metro began serving search warrants earlier this month.

His political foes, meanwhile, accuse Edwards of offering his leadership vote in return for those postelection campaign donations.

While Edwards did support John Hambrick, keeping the door open for Sandoval’s tax plan, those who didn’t still shared in the rain.

Just after the election, turmoil in the GOP Assembly caucus led to several leadership changes over the course of several weeks.

When the dust settled, Hambrick, of Las Vegas, was confirmed as the GOP caucus leader and Assembly speaker. He’s now the target of a recall effort mounted by conservatives who want to oust him from the Legislature completely. His sin: not bucking Sandoval’s expansive budget and saying he’s open to tax increases that would pay for school reforms and improvements.

Hambrick said it’s normal for candidates to receive contributions after an election. His own campaign reported collecting $61,900 in the final postelection fundraising period, or nearly half of the $131,219 he collected all last year.

“It is very common to see ‘help to reduce the debt’ events, both for the victors and the losers,” he said.

Lawmakers also spread money around to support their colleagues. Edwards, who also faces a recall threat, received $1,500 from Hambrick, as well.

Edwards has expressed confidence in the outcome of the investigation. He has said Rob Lauer, a GOP operative who claims Edwards sought money for his vote, and others “will be shown for what they are” when the whole story comes out.

Longtime GOP operative Tony Dane also appears to be a focus of the Metro probe, which included a search of Dane’s home near Washington last week.

Assemblywoman Michele Fiore, R-Las Vegas, was also a player in the GOP power struggle. An anti-tax conservative, she was named chair of the Assembly Taxation Committee and as GOP majority leader, then removed when the moderate Hambrick became speaker and her $1 million in IRS tax liens became an embarrassment.

Fiore called taking contributions after the election “politics as usual,” but then added — without naming names — “There are certain circumstances that are suspicious.”

Fiore took in $81,192 after the election, or less than one-third of her total $261,988 in 2014 donations. Of that, $2,500 came from one of Sandoval’s top political advisers, Pete Ernaut, and his wife, Wendy.

And former Assembly Minority Leader Pat Hickey, R-Reno, was one of Fiore’s most generous donors, giving $5,000 on Election Day. Regardless, she later helped oust Hickey, a moderate, as GOP Assembly Caucus leader.

GREASING THE SKIDS

“Whether such money buys you much is an open and ultimately unanswerable question,” said Eric Herzik, a political science professor at the University of Nevada, Reno. “Donations from party leaders (such as Sandoval or Hickey …) are a form of party coalition building. There is rarely any approach with an explicit quid-pro-quo, as such an arrangement would be in most every instance illegal. Instead you have a kind of ‘friend raising through fundraising.’ ”

David Damore, a political science professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said postelection donations might be more prevalent this time because of the vast changeover of lawmakers and political power in the Legislature.

“It is all about access,” Damore said. “Legislators know that they and their time are valuable. They are the only people who can carry, kill, or pass legislation.”

And while donors likely have self-interest at heart, they often give because of shared values.

After the election, Bill Brady of Brady Industries said he got a call from Fiore, whom he had not met before. He and his wife, Cindy, decided to give a total of $19,000 in four installments in November and December.

“She called me,” Brady said. “I support her basic belief system.”

But money tends to flow toward power. Ousted Democratic and Republican leaders of the Assembly and Senate, for example, saw relatively little postelection cash, according to their campaign finance reports.

Hickey, who was ousted as GOP minority leader before this session, collected $9,200 postelection, a fraction of the $191,026 he raised last year.

Former Senate Majority Leader Mo Denis, D-Las Vegas, reported raising just $6,000, a small slice of the $226,922 he took in last year.

Marilyn Kirkpatrick, D-North Las Vegas, may not be speaker anymore, but she’s still influential, particularly when it comes to tax measures. She collected $43,494.97 in the final two months of the year — for an annual total of $477,271.87.

The two new Senate leaders, Republican and Democratic, each raised six figures after the election, far more than others.

Senate Majority Leader Michael Roberson, R-Las Vegas, raised $103,046 in the final reporting period, or nearly one-fifth of his $606,259 total for 2014.

Senate Minority Leader Aaron Ford, D-Las Vegas, stood out among his peers, raising $107,754 after the election, or about two-thirds of the total $162,109 he raised throughout last year.

Money also flowed to newcomers whose financial needs were ignored until they won.

Freshman Assemblyman John Moore, R-Las Vegas, raised only $800 before Election Day and loaned his campaign $1,500 in the final days before the vote. After he won, his campaign took in $29,800 in donations from new friends who included fellow lawmakers hoping to woo the conservative freshman amid the GOP leadership turmoil.

Edwards loaned $3,000 to Moore’s campaign on Nov. 7. On Dec. 23, Hambrick contributed $1,000, which was matched by GOP Majority Leader Paul Anderson, R-Las Vegas. Anderson, a Hambrick ally, chairs the Assembly Ways and Means Committee.

On Nov. 9, Moore got $3,000 from Assemblyman Ira Hansen, R-Sparks, a conservative who was briefly GOP Caucus leader until he resigned under pressure after newspaper columns he wrote two decades ago were criticized as racist and sexist.

Anderson also made out postelection, collecting $57,000, or more than a third of the total $161,850 he raised last year.

Review-Journal writers Sean Whaley and Ben Botkin contributed to this report. Contact Laura Myers at lmyers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919. Find her on Twitter: @lmyerslvrj.