Adam Laxalt is running to represent the people of Nevada in the U.S. Senate, but it is increasingly difficult to ascribe to him any basic fitness for that office – not just because of his ongoing election denial, but also his now-lengthy record of questionable financial relationships.

As Nevada attorney general, Laxalt was famously caught up in a pay-to-play scheme, complete with secret audio tapes in which he was heard pressuring the chair of the Nevada Gaming Control Board over a private lawsuit — all for the benefit of one of the world’s richest men and Laxalt’s biggest campaign contributor, the late Sheldon Adelson. 

Earlier in his tenure, he tried to use his office to stop investigators from looking into Koch Brothers-backed organizations, who then rewarded him with millions in campaign help. Then, amid his failed run for governor in 2018, Laxalt was part of a campaign finance scandal involving illegal foreign contributions from the memorable Igor Fruman and Lev Parnas, at whose federal trial Laxalt recently spent a few uncomfortable days on the witness stand.

Despite these recurring issues (or perhaps, who knows, because of them), Laxalt found a highly lucrative position with the Washington, D.C. law firm Cooper & Kirk. That longtime conservative firm incubated the political careers of Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton in years past, and now Laxalt’s personal financial disclosure shows he has made $2.2 million there just in the past two years. Not bad for a mid-career attorney whose legal abilities drew comparison to a locomotive disaster from his employers here in Nevada.

But the client list he maintained at Cooper & Kirk shows that perhaps it was not Laxalt’s legal brilliance that made him his small fortune. His clients include the far-right media outlet Breitbart; a lobbying group backed by one of his big campaign donors; and the timeshare company Starpoint Resort Group, another stalwart Laxalt campaign contributor. 

Meanwhile, Cooper & Kirk has represented payday lenders, Big Oil, Wall Street banks, and a pharmaceutical company profiting enormously from gouging on insulin prices. These are the wellsprings of Cooper & Kirk’s partners’ profits, and Laxalt’s windfall.

Also concerning is Laxalt’s work for the Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling, a lobbying venture funded by Adelson, and which Laxalt listed as one of his sources of personal compensation on his disclosure. He also made money from "BestBet Jacksonville," also linked to Adelson's company and critical to its efforts to expand into Florida markets.

It is unclear what Laxalt did for these clients. Oftentimes, lawyers like Laxalt are not expected to do anything at all at firms like these, because they represent future political investments rather than being useful and effective working attorneys. He didn’t register as a lobbyist, but lots of former politicians avoid or simply ignore such requirements, or fudge descriptions of their work, usually without consequence. (Anyone who spends less than 20 percent of their working time lobbying does not have to register as a lobbyist, but that doesn’t change the nature of that work – it merely removes the registration requirement and makes that individual a “shadow lobbyist.”)

Laxalt no longer touts his work at Cooper & Kirk on his campaign website. Maybe Washington lawyering is not the sort of thing that plays well with everyday, working Nevadans; maybe it underscores his D.C. roots more than makes him comfortable. But he apparently continues to work at the firm while running for Senate, and readily accepts contributions from the firm’s members and its clients. 

Surely, Cooper & Kirk wish him well this fall. Its clients can always use another former Cooper lawyer in the U.S. Senate, especially one as willing to run their errands as Adam Laxalt has always shown himself to be.

Bradley Schrager is an election lawyer at Wolf, Rifkin, Shapiro, Schulman & Rabkin, LLP, in Las Vegas. The firm has represented a variety of Nevada Democrats in assorted elections, legislative and ballot measure cases.