State senator defends campaign donations amid push to legalize gambling in Texas
A state senator is defending campaign donations he's received, saying it isn't connected to his push to legalize gambling in Texas.
State Sen. Nathan Johnson clarified that the two campaign donations he received from a Political Action Committee linked to the Las Vegas Sands Corporation weren't part of a coordinated effort to influence his decision to file a resolution for voters to consider legalizing gambling in Texas.
"Filing a bill to allow the voters to lift a constitutional ban on gaming is consistent with my general philosophy that if the legislature is not in touch, the people can take action on their own," Johnson said.
Johnson, who represents parts of Dallas, Garland, Mesquite, Grand Prairie and Irving, filed Senate Joint Resolution 82 as his Irving constituents fought with the Sands Corp. over a tract of land.
Sands casino plans withdrawn
The Sands Corp. wants to build a world-class destination resort in Irving.
While the company received zoning approval in the heat of protest, Sands withdrew the casino portion of the project before the city council could vote. Those who were against the project speculated Irving would be used as a bargaining chip for Texas lawmakers to legalize gambling.
Voter approval required
Even if lawmakers wanted to do so, voters must agree to remove any constitutional ban at the polls in November.
Enter SJR 82.
"If this resolution were to go to the voters and the voters were to approve the resolution, there would still be no such thing as destination resort casino gaming or any other kind of gaming legal in Texas as a result," Johnson said. "What the bill does do is remove a constitutional prohibition on any form of gaming, however strictly regulated."
Comprehensive resort plan
Johnson said a voter-approved effort would head back to Austin, where lawmakers could agree to legalize gambling. If the votes were in favor of making gambling legal in Texas, Johnson's resolution suggests setting up a commission to regulate no more than 10 casino licenses. Each license, at a cost, would have a 40-year term.
"Conference centers for businesses, you'd have performance centers for popular music and classical music," Johnson said. "You could have a small sports arena in the space and you could have hotels and spas and other things that people like to go to, restaurants, and part of it would be casino gaming."
Johnson's pitch sounds much like the one Sands gave the citizens of Irving with a destination hotel, a sports arena that could have become the new home of the Dallas Mavericks, spas, retail and so on.
But Johnson said it was happenstance because he had no relationship with the Sands Corp. He said the issue has been on his radar for the past six years.
"I do not have a relationship any more than I have a relationship with anybody else who's interested in the government process here. I have meetings with people in my office all day long, every day," Johnson said.
Donations under scrutiny
CBS News Texas looked at online campaign finance records and found two donations to the senator from the Sands' political action committee, Texas Sands PAC. The checks were $4,500 each.
A representative said that Johnson could not offer comment for clarification due to the legislative session. The senator's office acknowledged the donations but said the money had no bearing on SJR 82. Johnson's office said many political colleagues had received donations from the same PAC.
According to Transparency USA, many state leaders have received money from the multimillion-dollar gambling PAC, like former Texas Speaker of the House Dade Phelan ($315,000), Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick ($200,000), and Gov. Greg Abbott ($200,000), to name a few.
Facing federal cuts
Meanwhile, Johnson emphasized the importance of legislative resources, especially in light of potential significant federal spending cuts that could severely impact Texas.
"It is always a good thing for a legislature to have the resources to do the things that we need to do, particularly when we are looking at federal cuts in spending on a massive scale, which will probably hit Texas really, really hard," he said.
Expecting public opposition
Sands has said its polling shows that Texans want to bring casinos to the state, but they expect opposition. Johnson does, too.
"I think there are a number of people in the public and in the legislature who view the whole topic as one that they just don't even want to talk about," Johnson said. "And until people are willing to have candid conversations about budgets, about what it means to have a thriving business economy and legal activity in a space where other states already have it in a space where there's illegal activity in Texas—until we have that conversation, it won't move."
