Bedfellows

Republican presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani is allied with Nevada’s most anti-labor union casino owner.

Las Vegas figure Sheldon Adelson has given $2,300 in contributions so far to Giuliani, and Giuliani is renting corporate jets from an Adelson firm. The New York Daily News reported, “The Republican presidential hopeful anted up more than $122,000 last summer alone for jets traceable to casino kingpin Sheldon Adelson, whose Las Vegas Sands empire has made him the third-richest American, a Daily News review of campaign records shows.”

Adelson in 1998 unsuccessfully funded an anti-union initiative petition in Nevada. The Las Vegas Review-Journal once reported of Adelson, “He spent $2 million to support local candidates, and his battle against the Culinary Union made him such a polarizing figure that his support for anyone was like the kiss of a black-widow spider. He was hated by a large segment of the voters.”

Adelson is also credited with being a large part of the reason for the success of the Computer Dealers Association (COMDEX) convention in Las Vegas.

His lawsuit against Las Vegas columnist John L. Smith over Smith’s book Sharks in the Desert/The Founding Fathers and Current Kings of Las Vegas has driven the columnist into bankruptcy.