Six days after one of the most powerful men in Utah, Senate President J. Stuart Adams, didn’t garner enough Republican delegate support to avoid facing two primary challengers, companies with business before a board the senator chairs handed nearly $140,000 to a political action committee he runs.

That board — Utah’s Military Installation Development Authority — has drawn national attention in recent weeks for its role facilitating the possible development of a massive data center in Box Elder County that scientists say could have devastating environmental impacts. It could also divert water from the ailing Great Salt Lake and multiply Utah’s air pollution as it consumes unprecedented levels of energy.

While the series of May 1 donations to Adams Leadership PAC come from entities with financial interest in a different MIDA project, they resurface questions about whether elected officials on the board have conflicting interests.

In a statement to The Salt Lake Tribune, Adams denied speculation that political contributions have influenced MIDA’s decisions.

“The claims being circulated regarding political contributions and project approvals are inaccurate,” Adams said. “No donations from [fundraising events], or any other donations, are connected to the data center and it is all publicly and properly disclosed. Campaign and PAC contributions are disclosed and are entirely separate from any policy decisions.”

The seven donors are making money from the Military Recreation Project Area, which encompasses a sprawling eastward expansion of Deer Valley Ski Resort and an adjacent luxury village that stretches toward the shore of Jordanelle Reservoir.

The Tribune first reported in 2023 that campaigns for Senate Republicans — primarily Adams’ and PACs tied to him — received $112,500 from the lead developer in the project, New York City-based Extell and owner Gary Barnett, since MIDA partnered with the company in 2018.

He had given an additional $35,500 to other elected Republicans, including Gov. Spencer Cox and the Utah House Republican Election Committee, overseen by House Speaker Mike Schultz and previously by his predecessor Brad Wilson.

Since then, Barnett has donated $390,500 to Republican causes, pushing his financing of Utah politicians over half a million dollars.

Senate Republicans have received a total of $236,000 from Barnett since 2018.

In addition to Adams, members of his caucus and PACs he operates, recipients in recent years include Cox, Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, Attorney General Derek Brown and Schultz-controlled PACs.

Prior to his business in Utah, Federal Election Commission filings show Barnett had given primarily to Democratic candidates and issues across the country.

“In the state of Utah, we can look around and there’s a clear understanding of the importance of the Republican Party here, and particularly President Stuart Adams,” said Brooke Hontz, the vice president of development at Extell, in a 2023 interview with The Tribune.

While Hontz then noted she didn’t have specific details about Barnett’s contributions, she said, “The Republican Party has done a phenomenal job here of managing and supporting Utah through good government practices. So I could see why Extell, and Gary [Barnett], would want to support the party and the individuals who have been sustaining Utah and leading us over a long period of time.”

The half-dozen other donors who gave to Adams’ PAC earlier this month had not made comparable political contributions — to any candidate — over the last three years, The Tribune found in an analysis of Utah’s financial disclosures website.

Clawson General Contracting, which boasts of its work at Mayflower Mountain Resort in the Military Recreation Project Area on its website, donated $25,000 to the PAC. Another company owned by CEO Brandon Clawson, Copper Key Electrical Solutions, gave $20,000 to the PAC that same day.

Prominent Utah contractor Jacobsen Construction contributed $40,000 to the PAC on May 1. It is repeatedly listed in MIDA documents as the contractor for a high-end hotel and condominiums in the project area.

Tyler Aldous is over a 690-acre resort community in the Military Recreation Project Area, which was featured in the publication Mansion Global. Named SkyRidge, it includes equestrian facilities and a golf course.

MIDA selected Aldous as a board member for its Golf and Equestrian Center Public Infrastructure District. He gave $25,000 to Adams’ PAC following the convention.

Another group building a community in the area, Deer Cove Company, gave $1,500 to the PAC.

Barnett donated $25,000 to Adams’ PAC that day, and a New York City law firm that represents his company — Greenberg, Trager, Herbst & Wagowski — contributed $1,500.

Utah is one of only five states without political contribution limits for corporations and one of eleven states without a ceiling for individual donors, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

It’s unclear where all of the money given to the PAC is going. Adams doesn’t have to disclose its expenditures until June 16, one week before the primary election.

He will face former Weber State University general counsel Stephanie Hollist and Braden Hess, who previously worked as an attorney for the Legislature.

Did money influence the data center decision?

There is so far no clear indication in campaign finance disclosures that companies slated to profit from a data center have given money to elected officials making decisions on the potential project.

But lobbyists representing those companies are prolific political donors.

The company owned by celebrity investor Kevin O’Leary, who is proposing the hyperscale data center, recently hired Lincoln Shurtz and Casey Hill of Lincoln Hill Partners to lobby on its behalf.

According to Utah’s lobbyist database, their work for O’Leary Ventures began on April 26 and May 4, respectively.

Shurtz has also represented MIDA since January, and Hill previously lobbied on behalf of Election Hive, the political consulting firm managing Adams’ campaign, as well as Cox’s and Brown’s. Brown was a partner at Lincoln Hill when he decided to run for attorney general in 2024.

While Lincoln Hill has given approximately $23,000 to Adams and PACs he controls since the beginning of 2025, Adams hasn’t reported receiving donations from the firm since it began working for O’Leary.

But a separate company owned by Hill, Red Hill Strategies, gave $5,000 to Adams on April 27.

Hill did not respond to inquiries from The Tribune about the purpose of the donation.

At a May 4 news conference following a packed meeting during which Box Elder County commissioners unanimously voted to green-light the data center, Hill — speaking on behalf of O’Leary’s company — told reporters the first phase of the “over billion-dollar” project is expected to begin within the “next few months.”

It’s also unclear whether any of those commissioners have received money that could have influenced their decision.

Two men on the three-member Box Elder County Commission are up for reelection this year, and they will both face challengers in the June 23 Republican primary.

According to the Box Elder County clerk’s office, however, candidates in those races do not have to file reports disclosing donations until June 16 — one week before next month’s contest.