Post by Blitz on Apr 3, 2024 6:09:36 GMT -5
Miriam Adelson recently met with Trump. Her company is also wooing New York Democrats for a casino.
The Republican megadonor’s contributions could be used against her in New York’s fierce competition for casino licenses.
Miriam Adelson is pictured. | Getty Images
Miriam Adelson recently dined with Donald Trump and owns a casino company bidding for a Long Island license. | Alex Wong/Getty Images
By JEFF COLTIN - 03/26/2024 10:14 AM EDT
www.politico.com/news/2024/03/26/miriam-adelson-met-with-trump-her-company-is-also-wooing-ny-dems-00149002
NEW YORK — GOP megadonor Miriam Adelson recently dined with former President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, POLITICO reported — at the same time she is trying to get a state license to build a casino at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island.
And the Trump-Adelson connection is likely to be fodder in the intense competition underway among gaming bidders to snag one of three downstate casino licenses.
Adelson, the majority owner of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, is expected to spend a chunk of her roughly $32 billion fortune to help elect the man who bankrupted the Trump Taj Mahal.
Adelson’s political giving is quite a gamble in proudly Democratic New York, where the 11 bidders fighting for three gambling licenses need support from elected officials — chief among them Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.
“New York is all about being anti-Trump,” said a Democratic operative familiar with the casino bidding process, who was granted anonymity to discuss private conversations.
The person predicted Sands’ competitors would “of course,” highlight Adelson’s Trump ties during the high-stakes contest, adding: “They all have consultants where that’ll be their first play.”
Things are moving on the casino front. A New York City Council subcommittee is expected to hold a hearing Tuesday morning on the zoning text amendment that would grease the skids for city bids. But state regulators don’t expect to be issuing any licenses until late 2025, the state Gaming Commission said Monday. The slow process has endlessly frustrated stakeholders, POLITICO reported.
Still, it just gives more time for the bidders — and the consultants benefiting financially from the drawn-out process — to win over the political appointees and appointers making the choice.
Adelson is a leading Republican donor, and the Sands casino project is backed by Republican County Executive and certified Hochul-hater Bruce Blakeman. But the bid also has support from Democratic donor Scott Rechler’s RXR Realty, as well as former Gov. David Paterson and George Santos’ opponent Robert Zimmerman. Stu Loeser, a spokesperson for the casino bid, declined to comment.
Sands is hardly the only project working the political angles.
Billionaire hedge funder Steve Cohen used to give to Republicans, including $1 million for Trump’s 2016 inauguration. Lately, the Mets owner has been taking Democratic-elected officials to games and showering Hochul and the state Democratic Party with donations. He also hired half the lobbyists in the city to boost his casino bid for Citi Field.
Another casino contender has distanced itself from a politically problematic founder.
A Democratic city politician, who was granted anonymity to discuss a private meeting, said that when Wynn Resorts and Related Cos. pitched their plan for gambling at Manhattan’s Hudson Yards, they made sure to mention that Steve Wynn — the Republican megadonor who resigned after sexual misconduct accusations — had left the company.
“It was the first thing out of their mouths,” the pol said.
The Republican megadonor’s contributions could be used against her in New York’s fierce competition for casino licenses.
Miriam Adelson is pictured. | Getty Images
Miriam Adelson recently dined with Donald Trump and owns a casino company bidding for a Long Island license. | Alex Wong/Getty Images
By JEFF COLTIN - 03/26/2024 10:14 AM EDT
www.politico.com/news/2024/03/26/miriam-adelson-met-with-trump-her-company-is-also-wooing-ny-dems-00149002
NEW YORK — GOP megadonor Miriam Adelson recently dined with former President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, POLITICO reported — at the same time she is trying to get a state license to build a casino at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island.
And the Trump-Adelson connection is likely to be fodder in the intense competition underway among gaming bidders to snag one of three downstate casino licenses.
Adelson, the majority owner of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, is expected to spend a chunk of her roughly $32 billion fortune to help elect the man who bankrupted the Trump Taj Mahal.
Adelson’s political giving is quite a gamble in proudly Democratic New York, where the 11 bidders fighting for three gambling licenses need support from elected officials — chief among them Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.
“New York is all about being anti-Trump,” said a Democratic operative familiar with the casino bidding process, who was granted anonymity to discuss private conversations.
The person predicted Sands’ competitors would “of course,” highlight Adelson’s Trump ties during the high-stakes contest, adding: “They all have consultants where that’ll be their first play.”
Things are moving on the casino front. A New York City Council subcommittee is expected to hold a hearing Tuesday morning on the zoning text amendment that would grease the skids for city bids. But state regulators don’t expect to be issuing any licenses until late 2025, the state Gaming Commission said Monday. The slow process has endlessly frustrated stakeholders, POLITICO reported.
Still, it just gives more time for the bidders — and the consultants benefiting financially from the drawn-out process — to win over the political appointees and appointers making the choice.
Adelson is a leading Republican donor, and the Sands casino project is backed by Republican County Executive and certified Hochul-hater Bruce Blakeman. But the bid also has support from Democratic donor Scott Rechler’s RXR Realty, as well as former Gov. David Paterson and George Santos’ opponent Robert Zimmerman. Stu Loeser, a spokesperson for the casino bid, declined to comment.
Sands is hardly the only project working the political angles.
Billionaire hedge funder Steve Cohen used to give to Republicans, including $1 million for Trump’s 2016 inauguration. Lately, the Mets owner has been taking Democratic-elected officials to games and showering Hochul and the state Democratic Party with donations. He also hired half the lobbyists in the city to boost his casino bid for Citi Field.
Another casino contender has distanced itself from a politically problematic founder.
A Democratic city politician, who was granted anonymity to discuss a private meeting, said that when Wynn Resorts and Related Cos. pitched their plan for gambling at Manhattan’s Hudson Yards, they made sure to mention that Steve Wynn — the Republican megadonor who resigned after sexual misconduct accusations — had left the company.
“It was the first thing out of their mouths,” the pol said.