Forced to return donations, Sigal Chattah hides $10,000 kickoff gift; possibly more
Updated: Feb 12, 2022
Snarled traffic along Convention Center Drive in Las Vegas on the night of March 25th, 2021 was a direct result of the high dollar kick off event in honor of longtime Clark County attorney Sigal Chattah's entrance into the race for Nevada Attorney General.
The garish, costly, fundraiser, held at Piero's Italian Cuisine, saw a throng of attendees swarm across multiple areas of the cavernous eatery plying gourmet finger foods from the trays of the wait staff, while jostling at the open bar for as much top shelf liquor as they could imbibe. Attendees included Las Vegas Raider's owner Mark Davis, Nevada GOP Chairman Michael J. McDonald, Republican National Committeewoman Michele Fiore, Red Rock Democrats President Anna Albertson, and the Pahrump power couple Leo and Melissa Blundo. The guests were there to fete the Chattah, the political novice, who at the time was the considered the best hope for those looking for an alternative to incumbent AG Aaron Ford.
After being introduced by party boss McDonald, Chattah ended the night by delivering a speech consisting of Republican tropes and "Big Lie" talking points, and with that her campaign began in earnest.
Less than a year later, Sigal Chattah has seen her election prospects dim. From calling fellow statewide conservative candidate Jim Marchant a "retard," to plotting with Democrats to oust Ford, and then making a horrific remark about AG Ford being hung, Chattah has bumbled along. These missteps contributed to the the recent announcement of another Vegas lawyer, Tisha Black, entering the primary against her.
However, it isn't just recent events that have caught up with Chattah. In the mandatory Contribution and Expense Report that every candidate must file with the Nevada Secretary of State, the would be Attorney General's first 2022 filing was rife with glaring errors and shocking omissions.
The most egregious was the lack of payment for the late March kickoff event. While Piero's shows up in several ledger entries, under both the contribution and expense portions, nothing was inputted for the 3/25/21 bacchanal. This despite Chattah bragging in a message that the event was worth "at least 10k."
It is believed that the entire five figure evening was donated to her by Freddie Glusman, the restaurants' majority owner.
While such a significant donation not appearing raised eyebrows, and the interest of the Secretary of State's election department, other issues plagued the campaign as well. Instances of refunds being given for ignoring finance limits were found in Chattah's initial filing, along with her having received, and kept, donations from those affiliated with Democratic Socialists.
As the text messages from Chattah shows below, she plotted ways around laws donation limits since the beginning of her candidacy. Working to figure out methods to bypass her then campaign advisor, Mike Slanker, in hopes of funding a competitive race, she settled on the use of independent expenditures and dark money to fuel her prospects. And while Slanker and his team helped at the launch of Chattah's campaign, texts indicate that a parting of the ways occurred in no small part due to differences over fundraising styles and Chattah's desire to skirt state and federal regulations.
