Why Cortez Masto opposes recreational marijuana, public money for NFL stadium

By Megan Messerly

Friday, Sept. 16, 2016 | 2 a.m.

Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Catherine Cortez Masto said Wednesday she opposes using any public dollars to fund the construction of an NFL stadium in Las Vegas.

Nevada is still playing “catch-up” after the Great Recession and should be investing in mental health, education, health care and infrastructure, not contributing to a stadium project spearheaded by billionaire developers, Cortez Masto said during an interview with the Las Vegas Sun’s editorial board. Cortez Masto, a former state attorney general, is locked in a tight battle against Republican Rep. Joe Heck to replace Democratic U.S. Sen. Harry Reid when he retires at the end of his term.

Cortez Masto’s remarks came just hours after a committee charged with recommending tourism-related projects to the governor voted in support of a plan for the public to contribute $750 million in tax dollars to the construction of a $1.9 billion NFL stadium. The stadium project was first put forward by Las Vegas Sands Corp., Majestic Realty, and the Oakland Raiders, who plan to move to Las Vegas should a stadium be constructed.

Cortez Masto joins a handful of elected officials — notably, county Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani — and community members raising concerns about the public contributing money to a stadium project backed by billionaire Sheldon Adelson, Sands’ CEO.

“If a billionaire wants to build a stadium, then a billionaire should pay for the stadium,” Cortez Masto said.

Cortez Masto’s position diverges slightly from Reid’s recent remarks, in which he suggested that both the stadium project and a proposal to expand and renovate the Las Vegas Convention Center could do with some “help.”

“I think it would be great if the Raiders came to Las Vegas,” Reid said in August. “I think it would be great that the most successful convention and visitors authority got the help that they need. So I hope they both get help. We’ll see.”

Cortez Masto also came out against a ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana, which will appear on the November ballot here in Nevada, a subject she had previously remained mum about. The former attorney general said that she believes that recreational marijuana will happen at some point in the future in Nevada, however, she expressed concerns about the state barely having the necessary infrastructure in place to regulate medical marijuana, let alone recreational marijuana.

“There is no doubt in my mind that, at some point in time, recreational marijuana is going to happen here in Nevada. The train is on the track and it’s moving in that direction,” Cortez Masto said. “However, I do have concerns and don’t believe at this point in time that we should be moving in that direction. So I’m voting no.”

Cortez Masto added that decriminalizing marijuana at the federal level should be a priority in addition to providing resources to police departments to ensure that people aren’t driving under the influence of marijuana.

She also repeatedly pushed back against the attacks that Heck’s campaign has been making against her, including the suggestion that Cortez Masto had a double standard in prosecuting Republican and Democratic politicians as attorney general.

During her first term as attorney general, Cortez Masto prosecuted Republican Lt. Gov Brian Krolicki over alleged misallocation of office funds. The charges filed against Krolicki were later dismissed by a judge; the Sun reported at the time that the dismissal “opened (Cortez Masto) to charges of politicizing her office.”

Cortez Masto’s office also filed six felony counts against former Democratic Assemblyman Morse Arberry Jr. for depositing about $120,000 in campaign contributions into his personal bank account — charges that were later dropped when Arberry pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of fraudulent appropriation of money.

“It’s totally a ridiculous argument. I’ve been a prosecutor for 10 years. You’re not going to win all of your cases,” Cortez Masto said.

In Arberry’s case, Cortez Masto said that his attorneys were able to exploit a loophole in the law that frustrated her and others in her office and that she introduced legislation the next session to strengthen criminal penalties for breaking campaign finance laws.

Cortez Masto said she’s “happy to go toe-to-toe” with anyone on her record, pointing to the issue of private guardianship. A recent ad from the Koch-linked Freedom Partners Action Fund accuses Cortez Masto of not doing enough to protect seniors from being exploited by private guardians.

Cortez Masto said that, toward the end of her time in office, she sat down with public guardians to figure out how best to regulate private guardians through legislation. She then approached Marilyn Kirkpatrick, former Assembly speaker, about who might be able to take the issue up in the Legislature, and Kirkpatrick directed her to Assemblyman Mike Sprinkle, who introduced a bill.

Cortez Masto’s battle is far from over. A recent poll from Monmouth University put her and Heck neck-and-neck in the Senate race. The same poll also showed that 32 percent of voters still have no opinion on Heck and 37 percent have no opinion on Cortez Masto.

“My father was county commissioner here for 16 years. The one thing he told me is you can't trust that anybody's going to win this election for you,” Cortez Masto said. “You've got to get out and talk to voters, and you've got to let them know who you are. Talk with them, listen to them, and let them know how you're going to fight for them."