[csusbpeace] California Republicans take donations from mogul after sex scandal - Los Angeles Times
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- Date: Tue, 4 May 2021 05:56:38 -0700
https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-05-03/donations-california-gop-members-of-congress-sexual-misconduct-scandal?utm_id=28501&sfmc_id=619255
<https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-05-03/donations-california-gop-members-of-congress-sexual-misconduct-scandal?utm_id=28501&sfmc_id=619255>
California Republicans take donations from casino mogul despite sexual
misconduct scandal
May 3, 2021
When billionaire casino mogul and top GOP donor Steve Wynn was accused of a
decades-long pattern of sexual misconduct in the midst of the #MeToo
movement, elected officials across the country quickly distanced themselves
from him.
The news broke in January 2018, and some Republicans immediately called on
their colleagues to return donations from Wynn, who was accused of pressuring
employees to perform sex acts.
Sen. Susan Collins told CNN, “I don’t even think it’s a close call to return
the money.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham also chimed in: “We should do of ourselves what we ask of
the Democratic Party. So I don’t think we should have a double standard for
ourselves.”
Within months, Wynn started to donate again, and by 2020, he was once again a
major GOP donor, giving millions of dollars to conservative super PACs,
President Trump’s reelection campaign, candidates and state Republican
parties across the nation.
This year, Winn gave more than three-quarters of a million dollars to a joint
fundraising committee aimed at helping Republicans retake control of the U.S.
House of Representatives, and that group gave donations to dozens of
incumbents across the country, including nearly every member of California’s
Republican delegation to Congress.
The recipients include
<https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-01-04/california-republicans-congressional-seats-struggles-death-spiral>Reps.
Mike Garcia of
<https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-01-04/california-republicans-congressional-seats-struggles-death-spiral>Santa
Clarita and David Valadao of
<https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-01-04/california-republicans-congressional-seats-struggles-death-spiral>Hanford
<https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-01-04/california-republicans-congressional-seats-struggles-death-spiral>,
whose seats will be hotly contested in next year’s midterm elections because
they are key to GOP hopes to retake control of the House.
Elections experts said Wynn’s reemergence in the political area and the
candidates’ willingness to take his money were unsurprising, and unlikely to
move voters.
“In politics in general, I think the hope of people who have been accused of
wrongdoing is that we’re all amnesiacs. And eight times out of 10 we are,”
said Jessica Levinson, an election law professor at Loyola Law School.
“Republicans in tight races — very few people are going to vote against them
because they got money from a PAC that got money from Steve Wynn.
“At this point, because we’re not in that cycle of breaking news about Steve
Wynn, I think it’s probably a pretty reasonable calculation, one, because
time has faded and two, because it’s not a direct contribution.”
Wynn donated $771,900 — the maximum allowed — to the Take Back the House 2022
joint fundraising committee on March 26, according to the Federal Election
Commission. From that day through the end of the month, the committee, which
is controlled by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield, sent
$5,800 max-out donations to more than 40 members of Congress, with FEC
documentation citing Wynn as the source of the money.
The California Republicans who received these donations are Reps. Devin Nunes
of Tulare, Darrell Issa of Bonsall, Doug LaMalfa of Richvale, Tom McClintock
of Elk Grove, Michelle Steel of Seal Beach, Valadao, Garcia and McCarthy.
Rep. Young Kim of La Habra also received a donation from Take Back the House
2022 on March 31, but her FEC filing does not identify the donor.
McCarthy was the only one to respond to requests for comment.
Asked about the new donations, McCarthy said in a statement, “Steve Wynn is
one of the great innovators in the history of modern capitalism. I thank him
for his continued support, and I look forward to working with him to retake
the House Majority.”
In 2018, McCarthy reportedly gave a Wynn contribution to charity in the
aftermath of the sexual misconduct allegations.
Three years ago, a Wall Street Journal investigation found that Wynn had
engaged in sexual misconduct for decades
<https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-steve-wynn-20180126-story.html>.
Among the cases cited was one by a casino hotel manicurist who claimed Wynn
forced her to have sex with him and who received a $7.5-million settlement,
the Journal reported.
Wynn, now 79, responded to the investigation by denying that he had ever
assaulted any woman and by blaming his ex-wife for airing the allegations as
she sought to revise their divorce settlement.
Though Wynn was never charged criminally, the fallout was severe. He resigned
<https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-steve-wynn-resignation-20180206-story.html>
as the head of his namesake company. Gambling regulators in Nevada and
Massachusetts fined Wynn Resorts tens of millions of dollars for its
executives covering up or ignoring Wynn’s alleged behavior. Wynn agreed to
pay
<https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-11-28/wynn-settles-over-sex-allegations>
Wynn Resorts $20 million to partly settle shareholder lawsuits against the
company.
Wynn, who previously had supported Democrats including President Obama,
stepped down as finance chair of the Republican National Committee. His name
was stripped off a commons at the University of Pennsylvania, his alma mater
where he once served as a trustee.
Among the politicians who returned or donated Wynn contributions were Sens.
Jeff Flake of Arizona, Rob Portman of Ohio, Dean Heller of Nevada, Tim Scott
of South Carolina, and then-House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.
McCarthy is in line to take the speaker’s gavel if Republicans win control of
the House next year. His Take Back the House 2022 is a joint fundraising
committee of 59 members of Congress and 20 other political committees that
raised nearly $22 million in the first quarter of this year, according to the
Federal Election Commission. Wynn was one of 11 people who maxed out to the
committee.
Wynn’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment, but he told the
Associated Press that Wynn “has the same rights and entitlements as any other
private citizen in the United States of America.”
Four of the Californians who received donations from the PAC — Garcia,
Valadao, Steel and Kim — are among the 22 incumbent Republicans targeted by
Democrats in the 2022 election. The four seats are in traditional Republican
strongholds but their demographics are changing. Mirroring a national trend,
these suburban districts have grown increasingly competitive as their
residents have grown more diverse. Democrats won the four seats during the
blue wave in 2018; Republicans flipped them back last year.
An added uncertainty is redistricting because California lost a congressional
seat based on the latest census report. Garcia’s northern Los Angeles County
seat, which he won by 333 votes in November, may shift closer to Los Angeles
when the redistricting commission redraws the maps, a move that would make it
more Democratic.
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