Kevin Johnson Truth? Who To Believe In Sacramento? SN&R or SacBee
Sacramento arena lawsuit unearths new emails, documents that suggest illegal collusion and gifts to the Kings
Is there now proof that majority owner Vivek Ranadive asked city for $100 million in ‘sweeteners'?
Mayor Kevin Johnson and friends traveled to the Tribeca Film Festival last month for the premiere of the ESPN-produced documentary Down in the Valley, which recounts Team K.J.’s triumphant campaign to keep the Kings in Sacramento. For many, that is the only version of the Kings arena story that needs telling.
But a different story is spooling out in Sacramento Superior Court right now. Three Sacramento residents and their lawyers are suing the city, claiming Sacramento officials committed fraud by giving Kings investors as much as $100 million worth of “sweeteners,” including the rights to build digital billboards, and the city-owned parking garage beneath Downtown Plaza. The city gave these assets to ensure the team’s profitability, while never disclosing the real costs to the public.
In this version of the story, the mayor, the city and the Kings colluded to shift millions of dollars in costs away from NBA owners and onto taxpayers, without the public catching on.
The city of Sacramento’s attorneys call this story “salacious,” “slanderous” and a “work of fiction.” But emails and other documents submitted to the court show the Kings’ majority owner, Vivek Ranadive, did ask the city for millions in additional revenue, above and beyond the city’s contribution to the arena, because he felt he overpaid for the team. https://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/sacramento-arena-lawsuit-unearths-new/content?oid=17159293
Music to Listen to While Reading Cosmo Garvin:
Opinion: Sacramento suit against the arena is taking money from your wallet
For months, high-ranking Sacramento officials have been frustrated by the last remaining lawsuit blocking completion of the downtown arena.
Headed to trial on June 22, the lawsuit purports to be about saving taxpayers money – but it may actually cost city taxpayers as much as $80 million.
Filed two years ago, the suit alleges fraud in the way the arena was financed, and was brought by Sacramento residents Isaac Gonzalez, James Cathcart and Julian Camacho.
As The Bee’s Dale Kasler and Ryan Lillis wrote recently: “(The lawsuit) says the city’s contribution (to the arena) represents ‘a fraud on the public’ and a ‘waste of public funds.’ It says the city is giving the Kings a ‘secret subsidy’ worth tens of millions of dollars, making the total contribution, which includes several land parcels and other assets, worth far more than the officially stated $255 million.”
The fear among city officials has been that while this lawsuit dragged on, the city couldn’t issue bonds to pay for its share of the arena. If interest rates rise by 1 percent this summer, as some economists predict, it could increase the city’s debt load. That would mean Sacramento taxpayers would have to pay about $80 million extra in finance chargers over the 30 years to pay off the notes.
Sacramento City Treasurer Russ Fehr said Friday that delays are already preventing the city from saving millions of dollars in estimated arena costs.
“We have an opportunity right now to lock in this deal and sell the bonds at an interest rate that could cost the city millions less than the (financing) model we presented to the City Council last May,” Fehr said.
If he could take bonds to market now, Fehr said the city’s annual debt service could be cut from an estimated $22 million a year to between $17 million and $18 million.
With millions of dollars at stake – and no serious chance of stopping an arena already sprouting steel beams at the old Downtown Plaza site – some in the community have suggested a settlement of some kind.
Mind you: It’s not the Kings – the primary tenants of the arena – who would pay these guys to go away.
It would be Sacramento.
But perhaps a few million bucks of extortion for persistent litigants would be far less painful to Sacramento than paying an extra $80 million?
No way.
The city should call the bluff and go to trial.
This is about much more than just money.
Along with others, the plaintiffs in the fraud suit have been fighting the arena and losing for years. They say they are about democracy, but actually they are only about democracy they agree with.
These are the same people who last year joined the opposition to a change in the city charter that would have granted Mayor Kevin Johnson more authority if voters approved.http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/marcos-breton/article18298874.html
Music to Listen to While Reading MARCOS BRETON:
