Published Monday, May 2, 2016 | 8 a.m.
Updated Monday, May 2, 2016 | 3:18 p.m.
A Koch brothers-backed group announced today it is shelling out $1 million for television and digital ads targeting Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Catherine Cortez Masto.
Two ads highlight a contract Cortez Masto, who served as Nevada attorney general from 2007 to 2015, signed with the Washington class-action law firm Cohen Milstein in 2009 to litigate fraudulent mortgage lending practices on behalf of the state during the foreclosure crisis.
Cohen Milstein worked on contingency for the state, meaning it would only get paid in the event of a successful suit or settlement — in this case 15 percent of the award. The firm successfully negotiated a $38 million settlement with Bank of America for Nevada, generating a $5.6 million award for the firm.
One of the ads characterizes the deal with Cohen Milstein as a “sweetheart contract worth millions” and calls Cortez Masto a “special-interest politician,” pointing to a couple thousand dollars in campaign contributions she received in 2010 from six partners at the law firm.
The ads are paid for by the conservative-learning super PAC Freedom Partners Action Fund, part of the network of organizations affiliated with conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch.
This isn’t the first Koch-backed group to spend money on this Senate race this year. In March, the veterans-focused group Concerned Veterans for America spent $700,000 lauding Republican Rep. Joe Heck for his service to veterans in Congress.
Heck and Cortez Masto are running to replace Sen. Harry Reid, who is retiring at the end of his term.
A spokesman for Cortez Masto’s campaign defended the candidate’s tenure as attorney general.
“Washington Republicans are lying about Catherine Cortez Masto’s record because they know as Nevada’s next senator, she will focus on solving problems for Nevada families, not pushing their extreme agenda,” spokesman Zach Hudson said in a statement. “The truth is: as Nevada’s attorney general, Catherine Cortez Masto held the big banks accountable and helped deliver $1.9 billion in relief to Nevadans.”
The campaign noted that the contract with Cohen Milstein was approved by the Nevada Board of Examiners, which also includes the governor and the secretary of state.
They also pointed to other instances where Nevada has hired outside law firms to prosecute cases, including litigation against the tobacco industry and, recently, to defend the challenge to the state’s Education Savings Account program.
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