* Sam Brown, running again for U.S. Senate in Nevada next year, officially announced his candidacy last week. And yesterday it was reported that he’s already raised…$400,000!
* Brown also announced his endorsement by the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), as well as AFP Action – both of which pour a ton of dough into Senate races as third-party expenditures.
* Brown’s next closest “competitor,” Jim Marchant, raised just over $100,000 by comparison. But he’s already spent much of it on consultants.
* One of those consultants running the campaign is Woody Johnston of McShane LLC. With Woody steering the ship, Marchant could raise a gazillion dollars and still lose the seat.
* And Woody is PROUD of that.
* When someone posted on Twitter that Woody’s candidates regularly lose general elections – naming Jim Marchant, Michele Fiore, Sam Peters & Dan Schwartz – Woody replied…
“Then beat my candidates in a primary or hire me duh. Or just keep losing to me in primaries I guess.”
* What a self-own. He freely admits it’s all about the Benjamins.
* Woody doesn’t care if Republicans win the seat. Only if they win the primary. He even got caught shaking down a candidate and threatening to run an opponent in the primary if the candidate didn’t hire him.
* Anything for a buck.
* Keep your powder dry in Nevada 3rd and 4th congressional district races. None of the announced candidates so far has caught fire – including Woody’s candidates in CD3 and CD4.
* There are two far-more viable candidates seriously looking at those races – both with proven electoral and fundraising abilities. Neither is likely to announce until after Labor Day – which is still six full months before filing for office opens next March.
* It’s OK to be either for or against the A’s stadium, but at least let’s argue the facts of the deal.
* First, there is no tax hike involved. Instead, the tax revenue generated from the stadium and connected businesses will be directed to funding the public portion of the stadium instead of going into the general fund.
* That said, I recently spoke with Clark County Commission Chairman Jim Gibson who explained that the tax revenue currently being generated from the Tropicana Resort where the property sits amounts to about $1.5 million/year.
* The tax revenue from the new stadium project is expected to be far more than that.
* Commissioner Gibson also noted that we have plenty of facilities that can handle events of around 15,000 people, as well as events for 60,000-plus at Allegiant Stadium. The A’s stadium will be able handle mid-level events of around 30,000 in addition to baseball games.
* Citizens Against Government Waste has pooh-poohed the stadium, arguing that “there will be few opportunities for the stadium to host non-baseball events.” Not true.
* In fact, Petco Stadium in San Diego just hosted two sold-out Morgan Wallen concerts last weekend – right in the middle of baseball season.
* And anyone arguing that people from other baseball cities won’t fly into Vegas to catch games featuring their team and the A’s hasn’t been following the complaints of some Raiders fans that fans from other teams often outnumber the Raiders fans at games.
* Bottom line: Taxes weren’t raised - and if you don’t want to pay for the stadium, the answer is simple - Don’t go.