The Raiders Are Now a Faux Political Football in Las Vegas

It's not a new concept for done deals to become future political issues.

But as so often happens in Las Vegas, this one seems a little weird.

The only thing that's normal is the Raiders are involved, serving on behalf of the NFL as a local punching bag.

Suddenly, if the gubernatorial candidates from both parties had a mulligan, they wouldn't have supported giving a $750million public handout to the club owned by Al Davis's kid.

 

The political potlatch began when Democrat Steve Sisolak pledged to donate the salary he'd receive by being governor -- $149,000 -- to the Nevada public school system, which dwells in the ghetto of national rankings.

Republican Dan Schwartz countered by claiming he'd be all for pulling back that huge public package the Raiders received to pull up stakes in Oakland and come to the desert.

 

Two notable items about Schwartz's proposal:

• He's not giving back the governor's salary because he might actually need it to live or something, and
• While the money approved for the Raiders isn't his, there are no provisions for it to be taken away for any other expenditure, like education upgrades.

 

Schwartz is currently the State Treasurer. It'd seem like he'd know of the school system's plight well before any action was taken to fund the stadium.

For their part to stimulate the local economy, the Raiders just got approval to purchase 55 acres in nearby Henderson for their practice and office complex. They're getting a 50% discount on market value in exchange for promising 250 non-player jobs to the local populace.

Maybe some of their savings could go to the kids.

 

Yup.