PAUL D. LAXALT
(Paul Dominique Laxalt)
The Senator had been criticized for taking campaign contributions from gamblers who were part of organized crime. Although his defense was the legality of gambling in Nevada, despite various efforts to reduce the influence of organized crime in the gambling industry, there is still some involvement and influence.
Paul Dominique Laxalt was an American attorney and politician who was governor of Nevada from 1967 to 1971 and a United States senator from 1974 to 1987. He was one of Ronald Reagan's closest friends in politics. After Reagan was elected president in 1980, many in the national press referred to Laxalt as "the first friend." He was the older brother of writer Robert Laxalt and the grandfather of Adam Laxalt, who served as attorney general of Nevada from 2015 to 2019. He was a member of the Republican Party.