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Monday, February 26, 2007

Bad News for Seattle Storm Fans?

posted by on February 26 at 1:38 AM

A tipster says Tom Ward, one of the new co-owners of the Seattle Sonics/Storm contributed $100,000 to a 527 called Americans United to Preserve Marriage.

(Yikes. Sounds like one of those Citizens Councils from Mississippi in the 1950s that was fighting to preserve the tradition of segregation.)

The conservative 527 doled out $1,056,962 in the 2004 election cycle and $162,322 in the 2006 cycle.

I have not confirmed Ward’s donation to the group yet.

I can confirm that Ward contributed $5,000 to Gary Bauer’s PAC, Campaign for Working Families, in 2002—which should make the Storm’s lesbian fan base queasy enough.

Ward also contributed $1,000 to Bill Spadea, a GOP candidate in New Jersey for U.S. Congress in 2004.

I’ll do some more reporting on this tomorrow.

RSS icon Comments

1

Yep...time for them to go. No subsidized mega-arena in Renton. Pack up your shit and head for Oklahoma City. And good fucking riddance.

Posted by Don't Let the Door HIt You in the Ass | February 26, 2007 8:45 AM
2

It's correct name is Americans United to Preserve Marriage. Bauer runs it. It looks like Ward donated at least $250K in 2004 (see F.E.C. image 24038523190, p4 of the 9/27/04 filing at this FEC link. (I've only looked at the first report.)

Aubrey Mclendon, cofounder with Ward of Chesapeake Energy, is also a major donor (same page of that report) . Also see this AP story for one view of their political contributions.

Posted by rodrigo | February 26, 2007 8:47 AM
3

re that AP story, ex R-OK Senator Don Nickles is now on the board at Chesapeake Energy.

Posted by rodrigo | February 26, 2007 8:56 AM
4

Josh Feit: "… which should make the Storm’s lesbian fan base queasy enough."

Hey, I'm a Storm fan and season ticketholder, and I'm not a lesbian. I'm not even a woman. I don't mean to be Mr. Political Correctness here, but gosh, Josh, I got queasy reading the above phrase and the headline. As a Storm fan, I am all too aware there is a disproportionate number of lesbian Storm fans, and I obviously have no problem with that, but the kind of shorthand identification at least in the headline telegraphs "women's basketball = lesbian sports entertainment."

Huh. So I guess this anti-gay-marriage connection is non-news for the 100% heterosexual male Sonics fan base. (Roll eyes.)

Anyway, I'm probably just a little touchy this morning on account of lack of sleep.

Actually, when I read the headline, "Bad News for Seattle Storm Fans?," I thought it was some real bad news, like the OKC ownership group wanting to disband the team or try to let it die of neglect. In the long run, this is probably good news for Storm fans because it will provide that much more impetus for the Storm to be sold off to local investors when the Sonics inevitably depart for OKC.

Posted by cressona | February 26, 2007 9:18 AM
5

Gee, another pro sports organization in the pocket of extreme right wing wackos. Like that has never happened before. Are you people actually shocked they are giving money to these sort of pricks??!!

Posted by Andrew | February 26, 2007 9:20 AM
6

Cressona,
I hear ya. I meant that the Storm has a big lesbian contingent among its fans... which, obviously, makes this story relevant.

Posted by Josh Feit | February 26, 2007 9:25 AM
7

Acknowledged, Josh. I can't be too hard anyway on a fellow "Agent Zero" fan.

Posted by cressona | February 26, 2007 9:27 AM
8

Jillbert is the man.

Posted by Josh Feit | February 26, 2007 9:32 AM
9

McClendon, was also a big contributor to the Swiftboat campaign against John Kerry in the last Presidential election. The Sonics and there rightwing owners can leave for Oklahoma anytime....they will not be missed.

Posted by sergio | February 27, 2007 11:50 AM
10

McClendon, another Sonics owner, was also a big contributor to the Swiftboat campaign against John Kerry in the last Presidential election. The Sonics and their rightwing owners can leave for Oklahoma anytime....they will not be missed.

Posted by sergio | February 27, 2007 11:51 AM
11

Why does this matter? All rich people are basically evil, otherwise they would not get as rich as they are... (only a small exaggeration). The new owners of the Sonics are a bunch of conservatives from OKC, of course they have a warped view of the world.

Oh and the article should really be called "Good news for Seattle Storm Fans" because there was a legislative hearing last night in Olympia where 35+ Pro-Multipurpose Arena WA voters wanted to speak in front of their state government in support of the Arena while only 1 (the PAID hotel lobbyist Chris Van Dyke) wanted to speak against it.

The fact of the matter is most of you people that are against this issue know nothing about it. You don't like sports so you don't want to be taxed. There are a lot of sports fans in this city that would be crushed if the only teams that have ever won a National Championship for this city left. We care enough to organize and drive down to Olympia to make sure our voices are heard.

I'm glad the ignorant people here don't.

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