Malik makes it a practice to reward those who carry his legislation with political cash
After some deeper digging on the CA Secretary of State’s web site, TheVerifiableTruth (tVT) has discovered that Michael J. Malik Sr., a principal in the casino syndication Detroit-based Barwest LLC, made late campaign contributions to the authors of S.B. Senate Bill 157 (Ashburn, Berg, Wiggins) – a bill to ratify an unorthodox gambling agreement negotiated by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that paves the way for Barwest to be the developer and manager of two large off-reservation side-by-side casino and hotel resorts in Barstow, Calif.
Malik also rewarded two other’s (Chesbro, Maze) who had sponsored the same legislation in 2006.
Malik has little history as a political benefactor in California but he has routinely rewarded lawmakers who sit on committees that are scheduled to hear matters involving the Barstow casinos or have recently backed legislation intended to advance his casino development scheme. This is a pattern the principals behind Barwest have developed in Washington D.C. as well.
| MALIK MICHAEL, Governmental Advocates, Inc., Owner, Sacramento, Ca 95814 | $1,000.00 | 10/24/2006 | |
| MALIK MICHAEL J., Govermental Advocates, Inc., Se. Trustee, Sacramento, Ca 95814 | $1,000.00 | 10/20/2006 | |
| MICHAEL J. MALIK, SR TRUST, , CA | $2,000.00 | 10/21/2006 | |
| MJM Enterprises & Development, Detroit, MI 48201 | $2,000.00 | 10/21/2006 |
| MALIK MICHAEL J. SR., Michael J. Malik Sr., Real Estate Developer, Real Estate Developer, Detroit, Mi 48226 | $1,000.00 | 8/14/2006 | |
| MALIK, SR. TRUST MICHAEL, Barwest, LLC, Entreprenaur, Detroit, Mi 48201 | $375.00 | 11/5/2005 | |
| MALIK, SR. TRUST MICHAEL, Barwest, LLC, Entreprenaur, Detroit, Mi 48201 | $1,500.00 | 8/17/2006 |
The contributions by Michael Malik were difficult to uncover because the disclosure details (business name and address) that were provided to the Secretary of State are misleading and false representations.
Michael Malik is not an “owner” nor a “trustee” of the lobbying firm Governmental Advocates, Inc. nor is his principal residence or place of business located in California.
It is particularly curious that of 28 political contributions made by Malik since December 2004 -- 24 of which were made between June and October 2006 -- the last four were reported falsely as having a California address for Malik as well as other incorrect details, making it more difficult to track records. Three of those reported with false detail just happen to be the authors of SB 157 unveiled earlier this month. There were two contributions recorded by Friends of Pat Wiggins made by Malik and Malik's MJM Enterprises & Development each for $2,000 on 10/21/2006: one has Malik's address in California and the other has MJM headquartered in Detroit. Even more curious, all four contributions were reported by the individual recipient committees based on detail provided by Malik. Malik apparently failed to report those contributions and more than a dozen others totaling $28,000 made between August 14 & November 18, 2006, as required under the state’s Major Donor disclosure rules. Malik is major donor ID# 1286704.
Prior to June 2006, Malik had little history as a political donor to California candidates or ballot measures. Between May and November 2006 Malik (Major Donor Filer ID# 1286704) gave $42,000 primarily to legislative leaders and members of the Senate and Assembly Governmental Organization Committees.
Although there are discrepancies in CA lobbying disclosures reported by the Big Lagoon Rancheria and Los Coyotes Band of Indians and their lobbyists for the four quarters 2006; footnotes on some reports suggest Barwest, not the registered tribes, paid lobbying invoices of at least $400,000 from November 2005 - December 2006. Neither Barwest nor its principals including Michael J. Malik Sr. are registered as lobbyist employers or lobbyists.
There are no disclosures linking lobbying activity paid for by Barwest and political contributions made by Barwest and its agents (principals). Case in point, while the Big Lagoon and Los Coyotes were lobbying members of the Assembly GO committee leading up to a June 28, 2006 hearing; Michael J. Malik contributed $3,300 to Leland Yee on June 4/5 2006 -- at the time Yee was a member of the Assembly GO Committee. Yee was one of only two committee members who voted to approve the gaming compacts of Malik’s tribal partners. The Assembly GO Committee rejected the gaming compacts by a vote of 7-to-2 on June 28, 2006.
You may want to review these posts:
The Verifiable Truth: Yet More Discrepancies & Conflicts in Barstow Casinos disclosures
The Verifiable Truth: Lobbyist failed to report $66,677 from Big Lagoon Rancheria
The Verifiable Truth: More Lobbying Irregularities related to Barstow Casino raising question about who's paying the bills and why they are hiding
The Verifiable Truth: Irregularities in lobbying disclosures for Barstow Casinos bankrolled by Ilitch Detroit-based Syndicate
The Verifiable Truth: By Bankrolling lobbying expenses behind the scenes, Casino Syndicators were free to flow political cash
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