Concern regarding Rep. Celeste Maloy’s $5,000 contributions from oil and gas companies like Chevron (“U.S. Rep. Celeste Maloy reports massive fundraising lead in race for Utah’s new 3rd District,” April 17) pale in comparison to the $50,500 in campaign contributions Reef Capital Partners appears to have paid Maloy to sponsor, support and ensure the passage of The Shivwits Band of Paiutes Jurisdictional Clarity Act (S. 1508 and H.R. 3073).
Reef, which plans to build four golf courses, a luxury resort, and an airport on Shivwits Trust Lands near Ivins, is facing headwinds from the many Shivwits Band members who oppose the project.
Reef paid a lobbyist $180,000 for the sole job of promoting the act, which facilitates Reef’s development plans by mandating a transfer of Shivwits legal power and authority to the state of Utah and disallowing Shivwits members their federal right to vote on the issue (25 U.S.C. Section 1326).
The amount, timing, and acceptance of Reef’s campaign contributions to Rep. Maloy raise considerable questions about her legislative impartiality. Federal election records show that Patrick Manning, Reef’s director of Black Desert Resort, paid $10,500 to “Team Celeste” two days after she orchestrated favorable testimony on the act to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.
Reef promptly paid another $20,000 to “Celeste for Congress” and $20,000 more to the Republican National Campaign Committee (attributed to “Team Celeste”) a few days after Maloy ensured the passage of H.R. 3073 in the House of Representatives. The odor of potentially tainted political contributions can’t be avoided.
The clear beneficiary of the legislation isn’t the Shivwits people, but Reef Capital. Sen. John Curits should immediately withdraw his co-sponsorship from S. 1508, renounce his support for H.R. 3073, and work to kill this tainted, discriminatory, and unnecessary legislation in committee.
Eileen Geller, Ivins