This is just too good not to diary, and hopefully puts a smile on your face as you head into the weekend.
In early 2010, Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips had a great idea: "Let's put on a show in Las Vegas this summer!"
Don't forget that 2010 was the year of our congressional discontent, and the crest of the tea party tide. Phillips apparently made a sucker's bet in scheduling the conference. He reserved over 1600 rooms at the Venetian (owned by Sheldon Adelson, who has become a favored sugar daddy of Bishop Romney), as well as conference halls and other amenities.
Well, dayum. The conference was supposed to take place in July. Judson didn't get a lot of registrants. Then Caribou Barbie cancelled. Three short weeks before the convention, the Tea Party Nation said "midsummer heat in Las Vegas was making it hard to sell tickets", and postponed the conference until October.
The fourth week in September, again three weeks before the convention, Tea Party Nation cancelled the convention entirely. Apparently, only a few rooms had been booked and there was little enthusiasm for the show.
Flash forward a bit. The Venetian sent ol' Judson a bill for unbooked rooms and other convention ameneties. Price tag? A bit over a half million dollars. Now, since Judson basically didn't have a pot to piss in, and Tea Party Nation was on the outs with the rest of the tea party factions (read: he didn't have an "in" with Dick Armey's astroturf tea party group), the bill went unpaid. So, the Tea Party Nation stiffed Sheldon Adelson.
And sugar daddy Sheldon sued.
The Daily Caller reports that the judge's gavel of civil justice recently came down:
A judge has ordered Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips to pay a six-figure hotel bill for a large number of rooms he booked for a tea party rally, which he later cancelled when the event failed to draw enough attendees...
...a judge ruled that Phillips owed the resort $748,000, including the $554,000 hotel bill and $194,300 in accrued interest.
Note to Judson: The vig is pretty high in Las Vegas. You didn't know that?
Confidential to Sheldon Adleson: You lie down with dogs, you get fleas. All you'll get out of this judgment is a tax writeoff for the bad debt. And remember this incident over the coming months, because I don't think you can sue to get campaign contributions returned, and you certainly can't write off the poor financial investment in Bishop Romney.