A mysterious organization with ties to the Las Vegas Sands Corporation appears to want to influence the outcome of Irving’s City Council race.
A series of signs have popped up in Irving supporting the candidacy of City Council candidates David Pfaff, Tony Grimes, and Priscilla Vigliante. Each sign has the disclosure “Paid for by Lone Star Conservative Action Fund” at the bottom. Similar text messages for each candidate have been sent to Irving residents with the same disclosure.
The organization is a 501(c)(4), so its donor lists are unavailable to the public. However, the executive director listed on the group’s IRS 990 form is Aaron De Leon, Owner and President of Leon Strategies. The X account @LeonStrategies only follows three profiles, with the TX Destination Resort Alliance being one.
The Pro-Casino Texas Destination Resort Alliance follows Leon Strategies’ X account.
Further, Leon Strategies received $25K from Sands-backed Texas for Opportunity and Prosperity PAC.
Little is known about the fund beyond its donations. The organization’s website espouses general support for “Law & Order” and “Low Taxes,” although it does not share any specific policies that achieve these ends. Likewise, the fund’s newsletter appears to only have one entry, which went out almost three months ago.
Its social media activity is similarly scant, and the organization appears to support Sands-allied figures such as Governor Gregg Abbott and Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows.
Neither the newsletter nor the X account appears to have existed before January of this year.
The Comptroller’s website indicates that the organization did not exist until late October 2023, a few months after the PUD 6 property, on which the Sands project plans to build a structure that could one day become a casino, was purchased by its subsidiary corporation, Village Walk LLC.
This revelation comes after an overwhelming public rejection of a rezoning measure to rezone parts of PUD 6 for casino gaming, The Dallas Express reported.
The battle was partly defined by a report from DX that indicated the Las Vegas Sands Corporation and its affiliates were spending substantial sums of money to give the impression of public support, including paying supporters and making them sign non-disclosure agreements, after several public comment periods saw unanimous public rejections of the Sands’ project.
It is unclear to what extent the candidates are aware of the support they are receiving or of Lone Star Conservative Action Fund’s connections. DX reached out to Pfaff and Grimes for comment but did not immediately hear back.
Vigliante said, “I was not aware of this group’s existence until I saw signs start appearing around town.”
She directed DX to the Gaming section of her campaign website: “Priscilla is against gambling, and while she was on the Planning and Zoning Commission, she protected our neighborhoods and families by voting to stop the spread of poker houses in our community.”
Another entry says, “Before gaming is ever considered by the Council, the citizens deserve and must have the right to vote and make their voices heard through a constitutional amendment election.”
There is no equivalent section on Pfaff‘s or Grimes‘ websites.
However, City Council candidate Sergio Porres said to DX, “Its actually irrelevant if Priscilla Vigliante, Tony Grimes or David Pfaff are aware of who is funding these signs, text messages, and mailers. The fact that we are, almost overnight, seeing a massive wave of activity in support of these candidates puts the lie to the idea that Sands is no longer interested in building the world’s largest casino here.”
He added, ” [The Las Vegas Sands] tried to gaslight the voters and that didn’t work, so their next tactic is to simply flood the field to try to drown out the opposition. I don’t think its going to work because the people of Irving are paying attention, but it is more important than ever that the residents fight back against this dark money by going to the polls and voting for the candidates that are fighting back against this kind of special interest: Adam Muller, John Bloch and Sergio Porres.”
Porres is running against Pfaff for District 2.
Bloch was one of several city councilmen who signalled his opposition to casino gaming during a March 20 council meeting. Bloch will face Grimes for Place 1.
Muller’s campaign website says, “Protect Irving’s future quality of life by preventing casino development.” Muller is running against Vigliante for District 7.
Early voting in the race runs from April 22 to 29; election day is May 3.