After losing to Rep. George Santos (RN.Y.) in the Long Island race that helped hand Republican control of the US House, Democrat Robert Zimmerman has become one of Santos’ fiercest critics in the press. Zimmerman has denounced Santos on televisioncanvassed for petition signature demanded the resignation of Santos and received attention from the style section of The Washington Post, which profiled Life after the election is unique.
And while Zimmerman has not announced plans to reopen, he has entertained the idea on social media.
“George, if that’s your real name, if you’re sure.” #NY3 the voters still believe in you – step down and fight me again in the special election,” Zimmerman tweeted at the end of December.
But Zimmerman’s job as a high-powered public relations consultant could complicate matters for a potential congressman.
Newsday reported in January that Las Vegas Sands has hired Zimmerman’s firm, ZE Creative Communications, to help in the bid for casino rights on the site of Nassau Coliseum, Long Island sports venue and art venue.
In its current form, Las Vegas Sands is the product of the entrepreneurial work of the late Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson, who turned the company into a gaming and hospitality giant after buying Sands Hotel in 1988.
After Adelson death in January 2021, his widow, Dr. Miriam Adelsonbecome a multibillion-dollar majority shareholder.
Miriam Adelson also continued her late husband’s role as a major benefactor in Republican politics. Adelson, a physician, donated $12.5 million each to the main Republican Senate and House super PACs in the 2022 election cycle — a total of $25 million for the two groups alone.
As a pundit and Democratic donor, Zimmerman has a history of disparaging Republican Party leader Sheldon Adelson.
In a March 2012 appearance on CNN, Zimmerman compared Adelson’s financial support for Newt Gingrich, then the Republican presidential candidate, to a “sugar daddy” sponsoring a “trophy candidate,” like a rich man who could use his money to get a “trophy.” his wife.”
Talk to Politicians in 2015Zimmerman said that billionaire fund founder Warren Buffett’s speech at a fundraiser for presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was different from Adelson or David Koch’s fundraiser for Republican candidates because people actually wanted to hear what Buffett had to say.
“The only people who will come to Sheldon Adelson’s or David Koch’s show are people who want to walk around with a check,” he said, referring to Republican political candidates who have sought the support of the two billionaires.
Asked to reconcile his work for Las Vegas Sands with Miriam Adelson’s status as a Republican megadonor and past comments about her husband, Zimmerman told HuffPost that there is no conflict between his work for Las Vegas Sands and the Adelson family’s views on political giving.
“My company’s work will not compromise my integrity and principles,” he said in a statement.
AP Photo/Frank Franklin II
Zimmerman collaborated on the Las Vegas Sands project with Theresia “Resi” Cooper, a registered lobbyist who handles direct contact with the legislature. Las Vegas Sands has retained Cooper and Lauren Corcoran-Doolin, Cooper’s colleague at Ten Key Strategies, to $15,000 per monthaccording to a disclosure that Cooper filed with the state.
As a public relations consultant rather than a lobbyist, Zimmerman was not required to disclose the actual compensation he received for work on behalf of Las Vegas Sands. HuffPost asked a spokesperson for Zimmerman how much the firm earned from the arrangement, but Zimmerman did not respond.
Las Vegas Sands isn’t Zimmerman’s first controversial client. In the mid-2000s, he worked with Cooper to help Broadwater Energy — a company owned by Shell Oil — get state approval for a natural gas terminal in Long Island Sound. The proposed terminal, which would connect to an existing pipeline that transports natural gas from Canada, immediately attracted opposition from members of political parties concerned about the potential impact on regional ecosystems and national security.
Then-state Sen. Carl Marcellino, a Long Island Republican who chairs the state Senate’s Environmental Conservation Committee, asked Broadwater executives in a 2005 hearing about whether the terminal could be a juicy target for potential terrorists.
“Are we making a bomb in the middle of Long Island Sound?” he asked.
Finally, in 2008, opposition to the project led the state government to deem it inconsistent with environmental guidelines for Long Island Sound. Facing all-but-certain defeat, Broadwater is official pulled the plug in the project in 2012.
When Zimmerman ran against Santos in 2022, however, he expressed his commitment to protecting Long Island Sound from pollution.
“I pledge to be a strong defender of the Long Island Sound ecosystem and work every day to protect the public health of my 3rd Congressional District constituents,” Zimmerman wrote in a September tweets celebrating an endorsement from the League of Conservation Voters.
Still, Zimmerman’s work for Las Vegas Sands is likely to have the greatest impact on another run for Congress because of the horse trading and lobbying that characterizes the game license fight in which billions of dollars are at stake.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) effectively controls the state gaming commission, which gets the final say on who receives new “downstate” casino licenses. Along the way, other state and local elected officials will have the opportunity to consider proposals submitted by companies competing for new licenses. That, in turn, makes the licensing process a potential fundraising opportunity for politicians with sway in the matter, and a lucrative opening for various Consultants and lobbyists who specialize in securing influence in Albany.
The largest casino in the country has long fantasized to break into the metropolitan New York City market, which now has two “racinos” – a partial casino with horse betting – but not a full-size casino operation. In April, the New York state legislature authorized three casino licenses in or around New York City left to fight for the license for which Las Vegas Sands is now competing.
If Las Vegas Sands wins the bid for a casino license on Long Island, the location will be the company’s only domestic property. Las Vegas Sands, which has large properties in China and Singapore, sold The last remaining Las Vegas complex – the Venetian and Sands Expo and Convention Center – in March 2021.
Many countries have adopted legal gambling to provide new revenue. And in union strongholds like New York, casinos that agree not to fight union drives often also benefit from the political support of influential unions like the Hotel Trades Council.
It remains unclear how Las Vegas Sands plans to approach relations with organized labor in New York. Famous companies employ a scorched-earth approach against unionization efforts at the former Las Vegas property.
But the gaming giant’s proposal to rebuild the Nassau Coliseum site has the backing of John Durso, president of the Long Island Federation of Labor, an umbrella group for the area’s unions.
“We must not miss this opportunity to deliver to our residents,” Durso told Newsday in January.