Adelson spokesman: Miriam and Sheldon had “no involvement” in special caucus

Monday, Jan. 30, 2012 | 4:33 p.m.

Here's what Adelson spokesman Ron Reese just put out after days of speculation that Sheldon Adelson had engineered the special caucus at his eponymous school -- a denial that was a long time coming:

"I trust many of you will be covering the Nevada Caucuses this coming weekend so I wanted to take a minute to clarify the involvement of Sheldon and Dr. Miriam Adelson as it relates to the evening caucus being held at the Adelson Educational Campus.

"In short, they had no involvement. A member of the Jewish community, who is an orthodox Jew and would be unable to participate in the caucuses during the day, brought the topic up at board meeting of the Adelson Educational Campus where he serves as a board member. (Full disclosure: The Adelsons were in attendance at the board meeting). For the record, Mr. and Dr. Adelson are not orthodox, thus they could participate in the caucus regardless of time or location.

"That person subsequently called the Clark County GOP to discuss concern over the fact that some religious communities (both Jewish and Seventh-day Adventist) would not be able to participate in the process. The Clark County GOP discussed the issue and subsequently overwhelming approved the evening caucus. The venue was selected after the person who originally started this process contacted the head master of the Adelson Educational Campus to ask about possible availability.

"The head master said it would not be a problem as the Campus hosts a variety of community and civic functions (including previously offering to hold Democratic caucuses.)

"At no point did either Mr. Adelson or Dr. Adelson provide any input into the process or intervene in any way. They were informed by the head master of the school after the final decision had been agreed upon by the Clark County GOP."