Athletics
An artist’s rendering of the proposed A’s ballpark on the Tropicana casino site on the Las Vegas Strip.
Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023 | 2:23 p.m.
The educator-led political action committee Schools Over Stadiums is being sued for its efforts to force a public vote on the use of $380 million in taxpayer funds to help build a new park on the Las Vegas Strip for the relocating Oakland Athletics baseball team.
In a statement released today, Schools Over Stadiums said it was served with a lawsuit Wednesday by “representatives with ties to the A’s” challenging the referendum petition that the group launched this month seeking to repeal the state tax funding for stadium bonds. The Nevada Legislature approved the funding mechanism during a special session this summer.
“For weeks, stadium proponents dismissed the Schools Over Stadiums petition effort, saying it wouldn’t impact their stadium plans, but now they are suing educators for not fully describing the petition’s ‘substantive impacts’ on the project,” Schools Over Stadiums said in its statement.
The teachers group is affiliated with the Nevada State Education Association, a statewide educators’ union. NSEA officials say they oppose the stadium funding package on the grounds that the state should have invested further in its public school system rather than a stadium to lure professional baseball.
Their referendum petition seeks to repeal the state tax funding dedicated to the stadium bonds.
The $380 million in public financing would go toward a proposed $1.5 billion stadium at the site of the Tropicana on the Strip.
According to the lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday in First District Court in Carson City, plaintiffs Danny Thompson and Thomas Morley allege that the referendum petition is deficient because it includes only portions of Senate Bill 1, the special session bill that approved the bond funding, that the group seeks to repeal. The plaintiffs also characterized the “description of effect” attached to the petition as “inaccurate, misleading and argumentative.”
“Petitioners’ description of effect is deficient because it is confusing, deceptive and misleading, omits essential information regarding the petition’s effects, and flatly misstates important factual matters,” the complaint states. “Without a clear, accurate, and concise description of effect, it will be impossible for an elector to make a fully informed decision when presented with this petition, as required by law.”
The suit seeks to declare the referendum petition invalid, block the Nevada Secretary of State from placing it on next year’s general election ballot, block Schools Over Stadiums from circulating the petition, and invalidate any signatures it has already gathered. (A Schools Over Stadiums spokesman said today that the group had not yet begun to collect signatures.)
The lawsuit names as defendants Schools Over Stadiums, its officers Dawn Etcheverry, Chris Daly and Andrea DeMichieli, and Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar in his official capacity.
Schools Over Stadiums characterized plaintiffs Thompson and Morley in its statement as “well-connected lobbyists.” A state-maintained list of registered lobbyists for this spring’s regular session name Thompson and Morley as paid lobbyists for several clients, including trade unions that supported the stadium funding bill. (The state lobbyist webpage does not include a list of lobbyists for the June special session, when the A’s stadium bill was approved.) The suit only identifies them as residents of Clark County and registered voters.
“When we launched Schools Over Stadiums in June, an A’s representative called to pressure me into abandoning our effort to refocus Nevada’s misguided priorities,” said Etcheverry, a Reno-area elementary school music teacher and president of Schools Over Stadiums, in the statement. “Educators will not be intimidated or bullied. Some in our community claim to support educators and schools, but when we advocate to prioritize public education, they say, ‘No, not like that.’”
The June 15 signing of SB1 all but ended the A’s quest for a new stadium in Oakland, after negotiations stalled following years of back-and-forth with city officials. The team’s relocation, which faces stiff opposition from many Oakland fans, is pending approval by Major League Baseball. The Las Vegas ballpark is expected to open in time for the 2028 season.
