Playing it Rough

Reports today seem to be substantiated that Chris Hansen funded anti-arena efforts in Sacramento.

While I generally want to wait for additional commentary from Hansen's camp it is absolutely significant enough news that we have to acknowledge it.

I have to consider how I feel about it. The first thing is that I just don't consider Hanson would actually do it himself.  Plenty of ways to bury something like this.

I'm upset that it comes to this.  If we were going to play it tough then we should have played it tough earlier.  At this point it feels like it is sacrificing the moral high ground a bit but I will say that this is no dirtier at all than what the Sacramento government did during the fight or what the NBA participated in during both the Sacto and OKC relocation sagas.

Interested to see more.

UPDATE: Here is the statement issued by Chris Hansen:

I made a mistake I regret.

When our binding agreement to purchase the Sacramento Kings became a competitive situation and we were faced with both the prospect of seeing our transaction fail and losing our $30 million deposit, I engaged Loeb & Loeb to canvas the various opposition groups to gain an understanding of their efforts and the prospects of their success.

During this time I was approached through Loeb by the opposition about making a contribution to the opposition’s efforts as part of a broader group and agreed to make a donation.

In this regard I would just like to highlight that I have never directly engaged with or even had any conversations or contact with STOP, Taxpayers For Safer Neighborhoods, or any the various consultants engaged in the Sacramento Arena opposition. It was also not my intent to be the primary financial sponsor of the opposition’s efforts. I merely agreed to make a donation to the opposition in what had become a competitive and heated process.

I have not agreed to provide any further political contributions and do not intend to make any further contributions.

I would also just point out that the contribution was made in my personal capacity and not on behalf of our ownership group or my partners. In fact, I have never discussed the contribution with them to date.

While I'm sure everyone can appreciate how easy it is to get caught up the heat of battle, with the benefit of hindsight, this is clearly a decision I regret. I wish the city of Sacramento and Kings fans the best in their efforts and they have my commitment not to have any involvement in their arena efforts in the future."