Hedge fund manager Chris Hansen, who really, really, really, wants to bring the Sonics back to Seattle, has agreed to pay part of a $50,000 fine as a settlement over his failure to disclose a $100,000 contribution to an organization opposing the public financing of a new basketball arena in Sacramento. I'm waiting on an answer as to how much of that fine is Hansen's responsibility.

Hansen says he sorry. Also, in a long statement posted to his website, he says that "it was never my desire or intent to either directly fund signature gathering or to be the primary financial sponsor of the opposition’s efforts." Hansen claims he didn't even know that his money was being used to fund a signature drive until a complaint had been filed. But unfortunately, he trusted some lawyers or something. So, you know, his bad.

But most importantly, I would again just like to reiterate my commitment to stay out of Sacramento’s Arena efforts. In this regard, I would also like to highlight that I will take steps to prevent any signatures collected by GoCo from being submitted to the opposition. As it was never my intent to directly fund signature gathering efforts, I completely agree with the numerous Kings fans who have taken the time to write me and suggest this course of action. It is also important to note that this decision is not part of my proposed settlement with the FPPC, and is one I am making completely voluntarily. It’s clearly the right thing to do given the circumstances and I wish the City of Sacramento and the Kings the best in their efforts going forward.

And in other Sonics-related news, the Washington State Court of Appeals has rejected a challenge to the proposed Sodo arena, ruling that the Memorandum of Understanding does not predetermine where (or if) an arena will be built, and therefore does not violate state environmental laws.