MGM Resorts International has for the last two years dramatically increased its lobbying presence in Washington D.C. as it pumps up in preparation for a variety of possible challenges in the nation’s capital.
In 2017 and 2018 MGM spent $1.5 million each year after spending less than half that amount in previous years going back a decade, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Some of its lobbyists have connections with the Trump administration, others used to work for retired Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and others formerly worked for George W. Bush.
The big increase coincided with the inauguration of Donald Trump and with the retirement of Reid, who was legendary for his bare-knuckle advocacy of the gaming industry in Congress.
“MGM has realized that government can play a very, very important role in their bottom line,” Craig Holman of the watchdog group Public Citizen, told the Nevada Current. He notes that in addition to MGM spending a “very large” amount for a company, that 24 of its 28 lobbyists were formerly government officials. “They’re putting out a lot of money to tap into this revolving door for influence peddling,” he said.
From 2014-2016 MGM hired two lobbying firms, Cassidy & Associates and K&L Gates, which were staffed with former federal employees, including former aides to Reid. In 2017 the company announced an expanded lobbying effort including the hiring of Reid’s former chief counsel Ayesha Khanna to lead the effort with another Reid alumnus, Adele Cruz, also on the team. For added muscle it hired firms known to have connections to Trump, including Ballard Partners, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck and Norton Regulatory Strategies.
One of the lead lobbyists for Brownstein, David Bernhardt, joined the Trump administration in the Interior Department as assistant secretary. He has now been nominated to replace Ryan Zinke as secretary. Zinke resigned under an ethical cloud in January and is reportedly being investigated by the Justice Department for allegations that he allowed himself to be illegally influenced by MGM to withdraw Interior’s nod of an amendment to the tribal state gaming compacts between Connecticut and its gaming tribes that was needed for them to build a casino in East Windsor. That casino has been fought at every level by MGM.
In a lawsuit filed by the Connecticut tribes, they allege that members of the Nevada congressional delegation had dinner with Zinke and pressured him to withdraw the department’s approval of the amended compact. Bernhardt was allegedly at the same meeting. The lawsuit was first dismissed by a federal judge last year. However, last month the same judge allowed the suit to be revived.
