Clay Bennett, one of the owners of the Seattle SuperSonics, is the ultimate example of the Culture of Corporate Welfare that dominates our nation at this time. His mindset is made clear by his testimony yesterday and today in court: The people of Seattle don't deserve an NBA team despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars on Key Arena because they won't vote to throw even more Corporate Welfare at a man who admits under oath that he can easily absorb $60 million in losses over the next two years. Which begs the question: if he can absorb it, why couldn't he have just used the money to make the renovations to Key Arena himself?
Fortunately, he seems to have perjured himself today. More below the fold.
Throughout this article, I will be quoting King5's minute-by-minute transcript of the trial
Keller asks Nickels about wanting to tack on an additional $30-$40 million to the cost of the $500 million (proposed Renton)arena in order to pay off the KeyArena debt.
The City of Seattle, back in 1994, spent $84 million dollars in renovations on KeyArena. You'd think they'd have paid off more, but of course, the banks need their 200% pound of flesh so the city still owes nearly half of that money to the bloodsuckers. The Sonics lease barely pays a fraction of that cost. In fact, the entire term of the lease won't have even paid off the principal, let alone the interest.
Would a landlord ever enter into such a deal if he had to pay the remainder of that money out of his OWN pocket? Not in a million years. But in the culture of corporate welfare, making the public pay out the nose and then some is considered a bad deal for the tenant!
Even Mayor Nickels, who shouldn't bother running for reelection after the horrendous job he did on the stand day one, agrees that making the city pay through the nose and only passing on barely a third of the cost of an arena that's PRIMARY FUNCTION is to play basketball in, to the tenant is somehow a Bad Deal for the tenant:
11:05 a.m. - Sonics attorney Keller asking Nickels if the City's proposal to the Schultz ownership group to redo the financial aspects of the KeyArena lease as a sign that the City knew the team would lose money. Nickels basically says the reason to redo it was to make sure there would be a long-term tenant in KeyArena. Keller pushes, asking if that meant the mayor knew it was a bad deal for the Sonics, to which Nickels finally responds that it was.
WHY is asking a tenant to pay barely a third - not for the total costs of the building but just for the RENOVATIONS - a Bad Deal for the Sonics?
You out there that pay rent. Do you think your landlord doesn't pay off his ENTIRE MORTGAGE with the rent he charges you? I bet he does. And if you live in an apartment complex, do you not think the total rents collected pay off MORE than the entire mortgage of the building each month? You can bet it does.
But it's a Bad Deal when multimillionaires who can absorb losses of up to $60 million in two years have to pay even a third the costs of a renovation of a facility that was built specifically for their own business enterprise with Corporate Welfare.
WHY is the KeyArena lease a bad deal? Because in places like Oklahoma City the people are willing to throw their own tax dollars at the rich.
Does Bennett even NEED Corporate Welfare?
10:45 a.m. - Lawerence asks Bennett if staying at KeyArena would cause him undue hardship. Bennett replies "There would be significant and ever growing hardship, but it would not significantly alter our lifestyle." A video deposition is played of Bennett basically saying the same thing.
We're talking here about the loss of $60 million. It would not "significantly alter our lifestyle". He repeats this assertion on day 3 of his testimony. He also tells the judge that:
In testimony, Bennett said ultimately, PBC agreed to contribute $100 million to the $500 million building.
So in addition to the $60 million which he could lose without significantly affecting his lifestlye, the PBC has another $100 million with which they could put towards a new arena.
That's $160 million right there folks.
Bennett also admits that NBA Commissioner David Stern had lobbied in Olympia for a $200 million renovation plan when Howard Schultz was still the owner.
Well hell, they've got $160 million of that $200 million right there. I'm sure the guys could ask a bank for a loan for the other $40 million. They'll more than recoup that investment when they sell the Sonics. AND they'll be part owners in KeyArena.
Don't tell me that property isn't an excellent investment.
So WHY do these multimillionaires need our money?
Entitlement.
The conservatives won't spend one thin dime on the poor, the homeless, the single mom because they don't believe in "entitlement". Rush Limbaugh harangues his listeners everyday with the idea that the poor are not "entitled" to welfare.
Well, if the poor aren't "entitled" to anything, why the hell should the rich be? Especially when they could come up with the money themselves without significantly altering their lifestyles?
And let's be honest: $160 million up front to renovate KeyArena and the Sonics wouldn't face losing $60 million in revenue the next two years. Of course, if they were serious about staying in Seattle in the first place, they wouldn't have traded Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis. They'd have built a winning team, not the worst team in Seattle history. They'd have made money hand over fist. Just not as much money as they'd make in Oklahoma City, where they can get that corporate welfare from the city's taxpayers.
Because, you know, they're entitled to it.
Which brings us to the part about Clay Bennett committing perjury yesterday in court. Lawrence grilled him about those infamous emails:
11:45 a.m. - The "man possessed" e-mail is presented. From April 2007 -- six months into the 12 month "good faith period." Co-owner Tom Ward asks if there the Sonics are doomed for another "lame duck season" in Seattle. Bennett responded with "I'm a man possessed" and will do everything he can. In testimony, Bennett says in doing everything he can, he is not responding to the efforts to move the team, he is speaking about getting an arena deal done in Seattle. When asked why he didn't clarify to Ward and McClendon what he meant, he says the pair knew his position. Then comes a second e-mail four days later between Bennett and NBA number two man Joel Litvin. In the e-mail, Bennett asks if there is any way to move to Oklahoma City for the 2007-2008 season. Lawrence makes a pointed statement to Bennett, saying the first thing the man possessed to keep the team in Seattle did was ask the NBA when he could move the team to Oklahoma City. Bennett said it wasn't the first thing he did, but that he was beginning it explore it.
This semantic tapdancing didn't quite rise to the occasion of perjury day 2, however, it was exposed as such on day 3 when:
10:05 a.m. - Lawrence says he wants to get back to "this 'man possessed' period." He shows an e-mail string from April 2007 (a few days before the 'man possessed' e-mail) between Bennett and Brent Gooden, PR guy for the PBC. Bennett advises Gooden that after learning that an arena deal would not go through the legislature, the PBC can now go forward with trying to get out of the KeyArena lease.
No new arena, not staying at the KeyArena. That only leaves Oklahoma City when he says let's get out of the lease.
Bennett lied under oath. He wasn't "beginning" to explore moving the team days after his "man possessed" email, he was looking into it BEFORE his infamous email.
The question is, does Pechman believe in the Culture of Corporate Welfare and is she sympathetic to Bennett's "entitlement" to said welfare or is she a fair and honest judge? Because a fair and honest judge has got to charge Bennett with perjury for his lies under oath. Unless, of course, she buys into the crock of bull passed onto us by the Washington State Supreme Court last year that it's okay to lie.
I guess the rich are entitled to that as well.
