On Monday, the day before the Assembly Republican Caucus was scheduled to vote on new leaders, Michele Fiore arrived unannounced at the Las Vegas Strip office of Sheldon Adelson.
The second-term assemblywoman, who had helped elevate Ira Hansen to speaker-designate only to see that collapse under the weight of racist and hompohobic offal he had produced as a columnist, had a new plan: She wanted to derail the candidacy of Paul Anderson, who, by most accounts, had the votes to succeed Hansen.
Fiore, sources confirm, wanted to tell Adelson that Anderson, the caucus political director, had not been a good steward of Las Vegas Sands money during the campaign, and that Adelson should back John Hambrick, her chosen candidate for speaker. The Sands had given $160,000 in October to Anderson's Growth and Opportunity PAC, circumventing the caucus because company officials trusted the low-key, reliable assemblyman more than GOP leaders.
"She saw him for 20 minutes and kept asking for a picture," a source close to Adelson told me. "It became awkward."
An elected official asking for a selfie with a prominent donor? Why would that be awkward?
Fiore, who was eyeing the majority leader's slot, also "leveled false accusations about how money was spent on Assembly races by Paul Anderson that were disproven," according to sources.
Fiore did not respond to requests for comment.
After spending the next day rounding up proxy votes for Hambrick , Fiore arrived at the caucus meeting Tuesday night, which took place at Anderson's office. According to multiple sources, Fiore announced that she was authorized to speak on Adelson's behalf and that he supported the Hambrick-Fiore team.
"I was there when she talked about getting time with Mr. Adelson, his contribution to our Growth and Opportunity PAC, and implied she had his full support," Assemblyman Randy Kirner said.
My guess is such a pronouncement would drive Adelson into a fury. I'm told he thought Fiore's visit and subsequent selfie-panting was creepy. And the notion that Adelson would have authorized Fiore to speak for him is clearly false, although I am wondering how many of the caucus' ingenuous freshman believed Fiore's laughable assertion.
"Our company has very clear compliance policies that would prohibit any elected official from serving as a representative or spokesperson for the company," said Adelson lieutenant Andy Abboud.
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mickstrongin replied on
It is obvious that unless the Governor can convince the sane members of his party in the Assembly to form a coalition with Democrats nothing worthwhile will get done.
The second-term assemblywoman, who had helped elevate Ira Hansen to speaker-designate only to see that collapse under the weight of racist and hompohobic offal he had produced as a columnist, had a new plan: She wanted to derail the candidacy of Paul Anderson, who, by most accounts, had the votes to succeed Hansen.
Fiore, sources confirm, wanted to tell Adelson that Anderson, the caucus political director, had not been a good steward of Las Vegas Sands money during the campaign, and that Adelson should back John Hambrick, her chosen candidate for speaker. The Sands had given $160,000 in October to Anderson's Growth and Opportunity PAC, circumventing the caucus because company officials trusted the low-key, reliable assemblyman more than GOP leaders.
"She saw him for 20 minutes and kept asking for a picture," a source close to Adelson told me. "It became awkward."
An elected official asking for a selfie with a prominent donor? Why would that be awkward?
Fiore, who was eyeing the majority leader's slot, also "leveled false accusations about how money was spent on Assembly races by Paul Anderson that were disproven," according to sources.
Fiore did not respond to requests for comment.
After spending the next day rounding up proxy votes for Hambrick , Fiore arrived at the caucus meeting Tuesday night, which took place at Anderson's office. According to multiple sources, Fiore announced that she was authorized to speak on Adelson's behalf and that he supported the Hambrick-Fiore team.
"I was there when she talked about getting time with Mr. Adelson, his contribution to our Growth and Opportunity PAC, and implied she had his full support," Assemblyman Randy Kirner said.
My guess is such a pronouncement would drive Adelson into a fury. I'm told he thought Fiore's visit and subsequent selfie-panting was creepy. And the notion that Adelson would have authorized Fiore to speak for him is clearly false, although I am wondering how many of the caucus' ingenuous freshman believed Fiore's laughable assertion.
"Our company has very clear compliance policies that would prohibit any elected official from serving as a representative or spokesperson for the company," said Adelson lieutenant Andy Abboud.
Comments:
Comments
It is obvious that unless the Governor can convince the sane members of his party in the Assembly to form a coalition with Democrats nothing worthwhile will get done.