Tag: Boston Celtics

Today’s intersection of race, politics and sports harks back to the 1960’s. They could be setting themselves up for years of regret, knowing that when the times called for action they did nothing. Today’s NFL players have their reasons for engaging in the protests, or not. Those who are quietly sympathetic to the cause, but aren’t saying or doing anything about it, should take heed of Bob Cousy, a man from a different time and sport. But that’s what Cousy is doing. In answer to his conscience, Cousy wishes that, as team captain, he had privately pulled aside Russell during those seasons between 1957 and 1963 and said, “Russ, I’ve got your back.” He also wishes he had spoken out, even telling Boston’s white sportswriters, “I understand Russ’s feelings. When conscience comes into conflict with the wallet, conscience rarely wins – perhaps especially so in the NFL. San Francisco cornerback Richard Sherman, an African-American, says it “would mean a great deal” if more white players took part in the protests or spoke out in support of them. Sherman understands an NFL player’s need to protect his job: “This is your livelihood. At long last, Cousy had answered to his conscience.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., used funds from New PAC, his leadership political action committee, to purchase steak dinners, limo rides, and nearly $15,000 in Boston Celtics basketball games tickets, Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings show. The expenditures were first reported by the Fresno Bee and do not appear to break any federal laws. 2018 quarterly filings for New PAC show a number of more recent luxury expenditures. Other top donors include defense companies Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Co, and California-based dairy, almond and wine industry lobbyists. Calling the publication's staff “the Bee’s band of creeping correspondents,” Dunes criticized recent reporting on a winery in which he's an investor, describing the articles as a “textbook example of fake news.” The Fresno Bee published an editorial in response to the ad, and Joe Kieta, editor of the Fresno Bee, defended the paper's reporting in a statement to ABC News. By law, officeholders cannot use campaign funds for "personal use." However, today, less than half of Leadership PAC money is used to fund political allies; instead, the scathing report concludes, "leadership PACs look more like slush funds to subsidize officeholder luxury lifestyles." The report’s authors noted that lavish trips to Disneyland and beach resorts were written off as ‘fundraising’ and "perpetuate a never-ending fundraising cycle." Over the past five years, leadership PAC bills at the Capitol Hill Club, a Republican social club in Washington, have totaled at least $437,000, the report found. Nunes’ July quarterly filing shows that between April and June of this year, he spent just shy of $20,000 at the club, including a $13,773 tab on June 4th.

Rep. Devin Nunes spent $14,637.71 in political funds on Boston Celtics tickets last year, according to federal filings, but the California Republican’s office says the tickets were perfectly legal fundraising expenses. Federal Election Commission records show that the congressman’s political group, NEW PAC, made three payments to the TD Garden box office for tickets during the NBA season last year: $7,300 on Feb. 9, 2017; $5,700 on April 11, 2017; and $1,588 on May 8, 2017. Liz Mair, a Republican political strategist with the Swamp Accountability Project, told McClatchy, which first reported on NEW PAC’s spending habits Thursday, that “Nunes has got to be one of about 15 people in his district that spends the NBA season rooting for the guys from Teddy Kennedy’s turf instead of local favorites.” Despite growing up in his central California district, the congressman has reportedly been a Celtics fan since high school. The FEC prohibits campaign or PAC spending for “personal use” or gain, as campaign finance experts noted Thursday. He should be rooting for the @Lakers or @SacramentoKings. https://t.co/HO9ILsoSAa — Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) July 19, 2018 Nunes’s team contends that the tickets were relevant to the purpose of his political organization — namely, raising money. According to a recent report by two campaign finance watchdog groups, the Campaign Legal Center and Issue One, Nunes is hardly the only member of Congress to uses his political group to buy sporting event tickets — as well as luxury travel, lodging, and resort stays. Last year wasn’t the first time that the California congressman’s group has spent big on the Celtics. In 2015, NEW PAC spent more than $10,000 on fundraising expenses, such as room usage, catering, and “facility rental.” In fact, from 2010 to 2017, Nunes’s political organization has made more than $40,000 in such payments to the TD Garden box office, all for the purpose of fundraising. They are my favorite NBA team & they also beat the Celtics this year.