If you forgot Joe Lombardo’s candidacy is being bankrolled by real estate mogul Robert Bigelow to the tune of $25 million and Lombardo coincidentally has no meaningful plan to lower the cost of housing, here’s your reminder.
P.S. Bigelow evicted families during a global pandemic.
Read more about Lombardo’s billionaire backer below.
Riley Snyder, Sean Golonka
October 25, 2022
Key Points:
- But with Republican candidates facing significant fundraising shortfalls in this year’s midterm election, another wealthy Las Vegas businessman has stepped up to fill the role, pouring nearly $50 million into campaigns and political action committees primarily supporting Nevada Republicans.
- More than half of his contributions have gone to support Lombardo’s campaign, though, directly or indirectly. He contributed nearly $200,000 to Lombardo’s campaign through a slew of maximum $10,000 donations from himself and his businesses, including holding companies and multiple Budget Suites of America entities.
- And unchecked by contribution limits, he’s given more than $13.3 million to a pair of Nevada PACs supporting Lombardo, including $7.6 million to Better Nevada PAC and nearly $5.8 million to Stronger Nevada PAC since the start of the year.
- Bigelow also directly contributed $9.3 million to the Republican Governors Association (RGA) over the past calendar year, with an affiliated company (Sedona Magnet LLC) contributing another $3 million, for a total of $12.3 million.
- In the third quarter, the RGA Nevada PAC — the state offshoot of the RGA that has run numerous ads boosting Lombardo and attacking Sisolak — reported receiving $12.75 million from the national organization.
Read the full story here.
Las Vegas Sun: Nevada billionaire Bigelow opens wallet to back GOP causes here, across US
Casey Harrison
October 24, 2022
Key Points:
- Bigelow’s largest contribution has been $12.3 million to the Republican Governors Association, according to financial disclosures filed by the conservative political action committee with the IRS.
- The Republican Governors Association had spent $12.7 million in Nevada as of Oct. 15, when the most recent campaign finance reports were due with the Secretary of State’s Office. That spending has been poured into advertising in support of Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo’s gubernatorial campaign against Democratic incumbent Steve Sisolak. Bigelow also personally donated $195,000 to Lombardo’s campaign.
- Lombardo’s campaign did not return a request for comment. His team does not usually respond to inquiries from the Sun. A spokesperson for Bigelow did not return comment in time for publication.
- Bigelow also donated about $13.7 million to three Nevada PACs, two of which — Better Nevada and Stronger Nevada — have contributed to Lombardo’s legal defense fund, and bought a slew of ads.
- The AP reported last month that Bigelow was a critic of the federal eviction moratorium enacted in September 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, saying it amounted to “legalized theft.”
- Despite the moratorium, Budget Suites of America filed 144 evictions through September 2021, according to the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, a nonprofit whose mission is to engage investors and work with tenants affected by private equity investments.
Read the full story here.
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