Chris Hansen Secretly Funded Campaign Against New Sacramento Arena

So it turns out that the guy who tried to buy the Kings and move them to Seattle is kind of a giant scumbag. Huh, how about that.

A volunteer group known as STOP (Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed to Pork) has been trying to force a public referendum on the construction of a new arena that is a necessity for the Kings to stay in Sacramento. About a month after the NBA turned down Chris Hansen's bid to move the Kings to Seattle, STOP received a mysterious $80,000 donation from a Los Angeles law firm.

Yesterday, a California watchdog group filed suit to force the firm to reveal the identity of the donor, something it had been fighting for weeks. Today, the identity leaked. It was Chris Hansen.

Chris Hansen is a billionaire. He spent $80,000, a tiny amount for him, on something that legally, had to eventually come out and make him look terrible. Something that had a minuscule chance of ever effecting real changes. Why did he do it? Pettiness? Bitterness? Hubris? All of the above?

Will the NBA manage to lose Hansen's number the next time a team comes up for sale?

[ Sacramento Bee]