Ex-commissioner landed big donations from people with stakes in Two Kings Casino
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Evidence of financial benefits reaped by Cleveland County officials supportive of the Two Kings Casino project keeps growing.
The latest: In his last political campaign, a 2018 bid to keep his seat on the Cleveland County Commission, Eddie Holbrook raised comparatively huge sums of money, mostly from people that he later had business ties with related to the casino.
In each of the first three quarters of 2018, Holbrook raised more money than his competitors did over the entire year, campaign finance records show.
Holbrook’s campaign raised $64,570 that year, nearly four times what three other candidates for the county commission raised combined, according to Cleveland County records.
Recent revelations about Holbrook’s financial ties to the Catawba casino in Kings Mountain cast new light on contributions to his 2018 campaign for commissioner.
The majority of the money his campaign raised in 2018 came from people who either have business ties to the casino, which Holbrook supported for years before it opened in 2021, or to companies benefiting from the casino.
Holbrook’s campaign received $33,000 in donations from just four people, three that have financial stakes in companies related to the casino and a relative of one of those three associates.
Brendan LeGrand, who has known Holbrook for years and helped out on his 2018 campaign, which Holbrook lost, did not welcome that news.
“I was proud of Eddie for what he did for Shelby and Cleveland County. I’m not proud of finding this undercurrent,” said LeGrand, about the political contributions and Holbrook’s business ties.
Holbrook did not return calls seeking comment on the political contributions and his business connections related to the casino.
Who gave the money?
Prominent Cleveland County businessmen Doug Brown and Stuart LeGrand, along with LeGrand’s daughter, gave nearly $23,000 to Holbrook’s campaign in 2018, campaign finance reports show. Wallace Cheves, the man hired by Catawba Nation to help them get Two Kings Casino, also donated $10,200 to the campaign.
Neither the LeGrands nor Cheves donated to other candidates for Cleveland County Commission in 2018, records available from Cleveland County show. Brown did donate to two other campaigns, but gave much less money. Brown donated $2,500 to Ronny Whetstine and $500 to Doug Bridges, both of whom went on to win seats on the county commission, compared with the $10,000 he donated to Holbrook.
The commissioners who won the 2018 race commissioners race didn’t have much to say about Holbrook’s massive fundraising advantage or his business ties to his biggest donors.
“I really can’t speak to that,” said Doug Bridges. “As a county commissioner, I’m not allowed to make any money from my decisions. I wouldn’t know anything about their business dealings.”
Ronny Whetstine and Deb Hardin did not return calls seeking comment on the 2018 county commission race.
The amount of money Holbrook’s campaign raised is an outlier in recent Cleveland County politics. And it’s more evidence of the former commissioner’s ties to people positioned to make money from the casino.
More money ties
Holbrook held a financial stake in the casino, The Charlotte Observer reported in August. Through a company he created with his wife, called Moose & Putter Butter, LLC, Holbrook owned a small piece of a company called Kings Mountain Equipment Supply, which is contracted to provide slot machines to the casino.
Kings Mountain Equipment Supply reportedly earns 20 cents for every $1 of casino profit, according to reporting in the Wall Street Journal.
Holbrook also has additional ties to companies affiliated with the casino. Holbrook told The Observer last year that he had a stake in a company called E5 Holdings LLC, which owns nearly 40 acres on Dixon School Road near the casino site.
Corporate paperwork for E5 Holdings shows that Doug Brown and Stuart LeGrand, both campaign contributors, are managers of the company with Holbrook.
Also listed as a manager of E5 Holdings, in Nevada filings, is a company called CHT Enterprises LLC. Corporate paperwork for CHT Enterprises, filed in Nevada, list that company’s managers as Blue Sky Companies, Wallace Cheves’ firm; Jackpot Gaming LLC, a company with multiple links to Cheves, who donated $10,000 to Holbrook’s campaign in 2018.
Casino developer Cheves said during an email exchange last month that Holbrook is not involved with E5 Holdings. This is despite Holbrook’s name appearing on corporate paperwork filed in Nevada and Holbrook himself previously acknowledging a stake in the company.
This story was originally published December 15, 2022 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Ex-commissioner landed big donations from people with stakes in Two Kings Casino."
