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John Daley reporting Money, influence and land: A connection between a powerful lobbying group, the Sandy Mayor's race, a soccer stadium, land speculation and what some observers call a big conflict of interest.
We looked at Mayor Tom Dolan's financial disclosure filings, and with a little digging, discovered a tangled web of relationships with a powerful lobbying firm in common.
July 1st: Sandy City awards a $50,000 lobbying contract with the powerful Tetris group, headed up by former state lawmakers Blaze Wharton and Paul Rogers. Just before that, some unusual contributions began rolling in to Sandy Mayor Tom Dolan's campaign.
June 15th: Workers Compensation Fund, $2500. Anheuser-Busch...of Van Nuys California, $2000. A week later Consumer Lending Alliance, Tallahassee Florida, $3000.
We asked the Mayor about them.
Tom Dolan, (R) Mayor of Sandy: "Well, I’m assuming all those groups contributed because they want to see me reelected."
They may have that in common -- those contributors have something else in common, too. They also happen to be clients of the Tetris Group.
A coincidence, or a possible conflict of interest?
We wanted to ask Tetris if they have encouraged other clients to contribute to Sandy's mayor, perhaps in return for Sandy keeping Tetris on as it's lobbyist.
After several phone calls to the lobbying company were not returned, we went to their office and were told the partners weren't there.
"Dan has back to back meetings, so does Paul, so does Blaze. So they're not home? No."
We asked mayor if the city's lobbyist has solicited money for the mayor's campaign.
Mayor Tom Dolan, (R) Mayor of Sandy: "Has Tetris ever helped out with that effort? Yes, yes, they've helped with legislators and their campaigns and such. There's many people helping me raise funds for this election."
We also wondered, could there be a connection with the new $70 million soccer stadium?
The official beer sponsor for Major League Soccer is Budweiser, a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch. One issue up for debate...should beer be sold at the new stadium?
We also discovered that 17 acres of prime real estate near the proposed stadium is owned by, guess who, the Worker's Compensation Fund of Utah, another Tetris client and Dolan contributor.
Tim Chambless, Uni. of Utah Political Science Professor : "And I ask why sandy? Why not St. George, Ogden, Logan. Why this particular area."
Lane Summerhays, who heads Worker's Compensation, told us they bought the land, half of it a year ago, because it is "probably the best investment property in the state." Summerhays says "Tetris and the mayor had nothing to do with the land deal." He sees no conflict there, and says the Fund gave to Dolan because "the mayor has done an excellent job."
Tom Dolan, (R) Mayor of Sandy: "I don't see a conflict. That maybe something you want to impose. But I don't see a conflict."
Jordan Tanner, Former State Lawmaker: "It's extremely naive to even begin to believe that large contributors do not benefit by making a large contribution to an individual candidate."
Tim Chambless, Univ. of Utah Political Science Professor "Does is surprise me? No. Does it trouble me? Yes."
We never heard back from one of those campaign contributors, Florida's Consumer Lending Alliance.
We called the Tetris lobbying firm repeatedly, but none of the three partners there returned our calls. Nor did Lisa Hartman, Mayor Dolan's campaign manager, who happens to be the wife of one of the three Tetris partners.
