Jon Ralston on a scheme hatched by a consultant to use Overstock.com CEO’s deep pockets to finance races

Sunday, Sept. 17, 2006 | 7:23 a.m.

So what do you do if you want to elect Republicans to the Assembly to pursue education reforms but you have no faith in the lower house leaders or the traditional Establishment donors to pony up?

You find an out-of-state sugar daddy, induce him to commit six figures to the effort - and then launder, er disseminate, his cash through a series of political action committees.

It is happening right now in Nevada and the scheme is brilliant or diabolical, quixotic or possible - depending on your point of view. Meet Patrick Byrne, the controversial chief executive of Overstock.com and a major player in Utah politics who is trying to become a force in Nevada. Byrne suddenly is a major supporter of North Las Vegas and its mayor, Mike Montandon, who not so coincidentally has decided to start pouring his PAC money into legislative races.

This is the handiwork of GOP consultant Steve Wark, who not so coincidentally consults for Overstock.com in Utah and not so coincidentally is Montandon's political guru. Add this up and you suddenly have what Wark sees as swing districts inundated with cash from Montandon's city PAC and at least two other PACs that Byrne, thanks to Wark, has made flush during the last few months.

Byrne has given an aggregate of $110,000 to Montandon's PAC, a committee run by Wark's mother-in-law, ex-state GOP boss Earlene Forsythe and a conservative group, Keystone. Welcome to Nevada, Mr. Byrne. And you thought Howard Rich of Americans for Limited Government and the Club for Growth folks were the major out-of-state types trying to influence Nevada politics.

Byrne is even more of a character, too. Overstock.com, which sells name brands at discounts, was a sensation after it launched in 1999, and Byrne won many entrepreneurial awards. But when the stock started going south, Byrne attacked analysts and journalists, and in a bizarre conference call rant about a year ago, now legendary on Wall Street, he alleged a vast conspiracy against him led by an unnamed "Sith lord."

Ah. I see he is one of those eccentric rich guys. And a "Star Wars" geek, too.

But Byrne also has an agenda outside of his retail liquidation business. He is the head of First Class Education, which is campaigning across the country for what he calls the "65 percent solution" that would require that amount of all education expenditures to be spent - where have we heard this before? - in the classroom.

So certain GOP legislative contenders, identified by Wark as potential winners, have suddenly found new sources of cash. A couple of examples tell the story:

This is just some of the money, but you see the pattern. (This is a good deal for Wark, too, because some of these candidates turn around and use Byrne's money to pay him for campaign help.)

Wark and his conscripts believe they can affect a significant number of races - ousting Democrats, winning open seats and saving vulnerable Republicans. But you can be sure that some of those Establishment donors, believing the Democrats will run the Assembly (they control by 26-16 now) next year, are being reminded that hell hath no fury like Speaker-in-Waiting Barbara Buckley scorned.

Nevertheless, more Byrne money may be on the way. If Wark's plan is successful, Byrne may be seen as the dark Sith lord of Nevada politics. If not, he will be just another out-of-state rich guy who poured money down a Silver State rat hole.

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