Coyotes sale on hold, Goldwater Inst. wants documents
Mar 1, 2011, 11:17 PM | Updated: 11:18 pm
The City of Glendale’s bond sale to help Chicago investment executive Matthew Hulsizer has been put on hold as the Goldwater Institute said it wants to see additional documents related to the deal.
According to the Phoenix Business Journal, an official with the request said the group wants more information before making a decision about a possible lawsuit to challenge the deal.
That official said Goldwater wants to see as many as 250 pages of additional data.
A Glendale city official disputes Goldwater’s position saying the city told the Phoenix-based institute yesterday there are more documents related to the Coyotes, but only because the city has been moving forward with the bond deal and other tenets of the already approved package.
The city and the institute have battled for months over what documents and information should be provided with regards to the bond sale, which was supposed to happen in February.
The bond sale was supposed to happen in February, but the Goldwater Institute’s threat of a lawsuit over the city’s outlay to Hulsizer has caused trepidation among bond investors and is driving up the interest rate.
Glendale, Hulsizer and the National Hockey League want Goldwater withdraw its threat in hopes that the bonds will draw a lower interest rate. Hulsizer acknowledged in recent interviews that Glendale could have moved faster to provide Goldwater with information.
Darcy Olsen, CEO of the Goldwater Institute, says there is no time frame for when the group might decide on a lawsuit, though they did send letters to bond underwriters and rating agencies in January saying Glendale’s $197 million in payments to Hulsizer might violate the Arizona Constitution’s ban on government financial gifts to businesses.
Another official with direct knowledge of the Coyotes situation said if Goldwater doesn’t relent, the bonds still could be sold, just at a higher interest rate.
