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Casino Developer Hires 6 Lobbyists; $529K Donated To VA Candidates

RESTON, VA — Comstock Holding Companies Inc., the Fairfax County developer who is seeking to build a casino at or near the Wiehle-Reston East Metro Station, has made a number moves in the last few weeks in preparation for the start of the 2024 Virginia General Assembly session on Jan. 10.

This included hiring lobbyists and donating more than half a million dollars to candidates and political action committees it supported.

Patch broke the story on Sept. 25 that Comstock was seeking to build a casino on the Silver Line in Reston, according to multiple local officials.

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The 2024 legislative session will be the first time Comstock has hired lobbyists to represent its interests in Richmond, according to filings reported by the Virginia Public Access Project. The company has retained the services of:

None of the six lobbyists will represent any other company or association that advocates for or represents the interests of casinos, lottery, bingo, or entertainment in the 2024 session; however, some of them have represented such interests in past sessions.

Find out what's happening in Restonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Crockett, who has served as a general assembly lobbyist since May 20o9, represented Va. Paddlesport Assn (2021) and Powersports Dealers Assn of Va (2018, 2020).

Jones, who has been a lobbyist in Richmond since May 2014, represented the VA Charitable Gaming Council Inc. (2021, 2022).

Lloyd Petersen, who has been a general assembly lobbyist since May 2014, represented Arrow International Inc (2023), Margaritaville Holdings (2021, 2022, 2023), and the VA Charitable Gaming Council Inc. (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022).

Teddy Petersen has been a Richmond lobbyist since May 2020 and has represented Arrow International Inc (2023), Margaritaville Holdings (2022, 2023), and the VA Charitable Gaming Council Inc. (2020, 2021, 2022).

Neither Shreve nor Snesavage has represented a business or association that advocated for or represents the interests of casinos, lottery, bingo, or entertainment, according to VPAP. Shreve has served as a lobbyist in Richmond since May 2015. The 2024 general assembly session will be Snesavage’s first.

In its filings, Comstock described each of the lobbyists’ responsibilities in four similar, but slightly different, ways:

What’s significant is not the relative scope of what the six would be working on, but the entity to which their actions were connected.

Comstock Hospitality Holdings LLC was registered on Sept. 15, 2023, according to the State Corporation Commission. The principal office address was given as 1900 Reston Metro Plaza, Floor 10, Reston, which is the location of Comstock’s headquarters.


Related:

Read all of Patch’s reporting on Comstock Companies’ plan to build a casino on Metro’s Silver Line in Fairfax County at Silver Line Casino.


On Oct. 20, Patch first reported that Comstock’s employees, associates and entities donated $244,500 to the Building a Remarkable Virginia Political Action Committee. On Sept. 26, the company had registered the PAC with the Virginia Board of Elections “to elect candidates committed to building a better Commonwealth.”

Among the donors at the PAC’s formation were 13 limited liability companies that Comstock had earlier formed.

In October, Saurav Ghosh, the director of the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center’s Federal Campaign Finance Reform initiative, told Patch that it was common for corporations and even wealthy individuals who have certain goals for the political process to work in their favor to make political contributions.

“For optics reasons or to avoid the perception that they’re trying to essentially put a finger on the scale to achieve their desired policy outcomes, they often will try to conceal the fact that they’re making a political contribution to crucial, influential policymakers or even to sway a ballot measure one way or the other in the hopes of advancing their company’s goals,” Ghosh said. “They often will try to avoid that being done openly and transparently.”

Building a Remarkable Virginia PAC reported to the State Board of Elections that since Nov. 1 it received a total of $85,000 in contributions:

Over that same period of time, the PAC reported making a total of $71,500 in contributions to the campaign committees of the following 10 candidates:

When the Building a Remarkable Virginia PAC was formed on Sept. 26, 2023, it was required to include a list of all the candidates it planned to support or oppose. The PAC’s list contained the names of 113 candidates it sought to support. All 10 of the candidates above are included on the list of 113 names. All won their respective races in the Nov. 7 election.

Prior to November, Building a Remarkable Virginia made five other contributions totaling $236,900:

Dunnavant, Sens. Dave Marsden (D-Burke) and Scott Surovell (D-Mount Vernon) all appeared on the list of 113 names. Both Marsden and Surovell were reelected, but Dunnavant, a Republican, was defeated by Democrat Schuyler VanValkenburg in the District 16 State Senate race.

Coincidentally, VanValkenburg was included among the 113 candidates the PAC said it would support. Although VanValkenburg did not receive money directly from the PAC, he did receive a total of $27,500 from Surovell’s campaign committee.

Since its formation, Building a Remarkable Virginia PAC has contributed $308,400 to political action committees or the campaigns of candidates running for office during the 2023 campaign cycle.

Patch had previously reported that Comstock CEO Christopher Clemente and his father-in-law, Dwight Schar, a former part owner of the Washington Commanders, had brought Democratic Party leaders to Reston Station for fundraising events back in September and October. These included Marsden, Del. Don Scott (D-Plymouth) and Survovell. Following the Nov. 7 election, Democrats tapped Scott and Surovell to be the speaker of the house and senate majority leader, respectively.

On Jan. 20, 2023, Marsden and Del. Wren Williams (R-Stuart) introduced nearly identical bills that, if passed, would’ve given the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors the authority to put a casino referendum on a future ballot.

Patch reported that 14 Comstock employees gave $29,525 to Williams’ campaign. In addition, Nick Clemente, the Comstock CEO’s son, authorized a donation of $500 to Williams’ campaign on behalf of the NOVABIZPAC, the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce’s political action committee.

Although Nick Clemente’s name does not appear in the chamber’s recently released 2024 Legislative Agenda, as he was in 2023, he is listed in the staff directory as the vice president of government relations on the chamber’s website.


Comstock-Related Donations To Candidate Campaigns

The following donations were made by the Building a Remarkable Virginia PAC, Clemente family members, Comstock employees and limited liability companies that the developer created.

TOTAL: $522,975


Note: To avoid confusion, the numbers above do not include donations made to the Building a Remarkable Virginia PAC. Instead, that money is reflected in the PAC’s contributions in 2023.

Marsden has told Patch on multiple occasions over the last three months that he planned to reintroduce his referendum bill during the 2024 session. The bill will be expanded to include a performance space and a convention center anchored by a casino.

“That’s what the Silver Line was created for,” Marsden said, who favored building the complex in Tysons. “That’s what the business community paid extra taxes for, was to create the Silver Line to do high-density development. We’re losing $150 million a year to MGM at National Harbor. Virginians are going over there. We’re funding Maryland schools.”

Patch acknowledges that Comstock, its employees, associates, family members and others have a right to make donations to any candidate whose campaign they wish to support. They are also within their rights to create a political action committee to do so.

Patch is reporting this publicly available information; it is not saying that Comstock, its employees, associates, family members or any others who contributed to the Building a Remarkable Virginia or candidates running during the 2023 election cycle did anything illegal.


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