Move Over, Cliven, There's A New Racist In Town...And, He's A Democratic Billionaire

The estranged with of embattled Clippers owner Donald Sterling described her husband's much younger girlfriend in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit as a gold-digger who seduces and cajoles wealthy older men into showering her with presents. Sterling's girlfriend Vanessa Stiviano, 38, centre and right, sparked a firestorm on Saturday by allegedly leaking an audio recording of the 81-year-old Clippers owner launching a racist rant in which he berated her for being seen in public with black friends including Magic Johnson. The NBA is investigating the claims . A lawsuit filed by Sterling's estranged wife of 57 years Rochelle, below, claims to show how the Clipper's owner treated his girlfriend before the apparent row - by lavishing her with a series of gifts including a Ferrari, two Bentleys, a Range Rover and a $1.4million apartment.

L.A. Clippers owner, Donald Tokowitz Sterling, the 81 year-old owner of the LA Clippers, who has been married for 57 years and presided over the Los Angeles' areas second NBA franchise, has a smoking-naughty-hot piece of 38-or-something arm candy by the name of one Vanessa Stiviano, who claims to be of African-American and Mexican heritage.  Apparently, Ms V posted a pic of herself and legend, Magic Johnson, on Instagram.

From the LA Times, in an audio recording, released by celebrity gossip site TMZ, a person identified as Sterling argues with his girlfriend, criticizing her for posting a picture of herself on Instagram posing with Lakers legend Magic Johnson.

'It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you're associating with black people...I'm just saying, in your … Instagrams, you don't have to have yourself with, walking with black people...Don't put him on an Instagram for the world to have to see so they have to call me...And don't bring him to my games.'

 - Donald Tokowitz Sterling (81), the owner of the LA Clippers, to his mistress, Vanessa Stiviano (38)

Apparently there was the usual unhappiness that his half-black girlfriend was plastered around the internet with a good-looking, bona fide SUPERSTAR, who has done for AIDS research that which he did on the floorboards.  Never did he stop.  And, after 25 years of living with AIDS, he is still working, teaching, engaging in philanthropy, and giving people hope with that nuclear smile.  

One might be proud to post such a picture.  I would.  On the other hand, a man married to a wife of 57 years with a very spoiled (or 'money-grubbing, golddigger, as Ms Sterling alleges in a lawsuit) mistress of African-American-Mexican descent might find the whole thing vomit-inducing.  You see, this is no normal man.  He owns a professional basketball team where the vast-majority of players are African-American or biracial. He has TWICE been sued for refusing to rent to black people. 

Thank Heaven that his wife of 57 years actually runs the business, but even still, who would want to play ball in an arena where he was present.

The majority of the LA Clippers Team is black, biracial, etc.  

Silver would not comment what action the league would take if an investigation establishes Sterling made the comment. But it could include a hefty fine or suspension. A demand that he sell the team is unlikely.

TMZ did not say how it obtained the recording. The Times has not verified the recording for its authenticity.

The woman on the recording, who identifies herself as Mexican and black, was said to be V. Stiviano, who is in her 20s and who has often been seen at Sterling's side. In a lawsuit filed last month, Sterling's wife, Rochelle, contends her husband showered Stiviano in money and expensive cars, and that he had been having an affair with her for four years.

Clippers President Andy Roeser released a statement that questioned the authenticity of the recording and the motives of Stiviano, who he noted is the defendant in Rochelle Sterling's $1.8-million embezzlement case.

Roeser claimed that after the lawsuit was filed, Stiviano told Donald Sterling that she would "get even." The team executive also said what was stated on the recording "is not consistent with, nor does it reflect [Sterling's] views, beliefs or feelings."

Rivers said he would speak for his Clippers players regarding the controversy. During a 45-minute team meeting Saturday morning, he said, his players voiced their displeasure over the remarks.

"No one was happy about it," Rivers said at the practice court at the University of San Francisco, before alluding to the unity among his white and black players. "J.J. Redick was just as [mad] as Chris Paul and that's the way it should be."

Players considered wearing black socks or armbands in protest during Sunday's game but worried about being viewed as radical. Center DeAndre Jordan posted a black rectangle on his Instagram account and tweeted a link to his more than 426,000 followers.

Rivers said the idea of boycotting a game was raised but quickly dismissed.

"Honestly, I'm completely against that and they were too," Rivers said of his players.

"Why should we let someone's comments stop what we're trying to do?"

Sterling has not addressed his team.

Paul, the Clippers point guard and president of the NBA players' union, issued a statement calling the remarks "a very serious issue which we will address aggressively." Paul said he had asked Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, a former NBA player, to help determine the union's next steps in its response.

Other NBA stars weren't as restrained. Miami's James told reporters in Charlotte, N.C., that "there's no room for Donald Sterling in the NBA." Hall of Famer Charles Barkley called for Silver to suspend Sterling if the recording can be authenticated.

Johnson tweeted he and his wife would never go to a Clippers game again as long as Sterling owned the team.

"I feel sorry for my friends Coach Doc Rivers and Chris Paul that they have to work for a man that feels that way about African Americans," Johnson tweeted. "LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling's comments about African Americans are a black eye for the NBA."

Former Clippers point guard Baron Davis, who Sterling famously heckled from his courtside seat for his poor play during Davis' two-plus seasons with the team, alluded to Sterling's history of racial issues by tweeting, "That's the way it is … He is honest about what he believes in. Been going on for a long time, Hats off 2 the Team … 4 playin above it all."

In 2009, Sterling agreed to pay $2.73 million to settle allegations by the government that he refused to rent apartments to Hispanics, blacks and families with children in the Koreatown area of Los Angeles.

Former Clippers General Manager Elgin Baylor filed a wrongful-termination lawsuit against Sterling that same year contending the owner embraced a "vision of a Southern plantation-type structure" for his organization, though his claim was eventually rejected by a jury.

Former Clippers guard Ron Harper said in a phone interview Sterling "took care of me when I played there. But if I had known then what I know now, there's no way I would have ever played for him. I know where he stands and it's not for African-American people. I've got no love for him at all."

Mayor Garcetti denounced the owner, saying Sterling's alleged remarks were "offensive and despicable and have no place in Los Angeles. I urge the NBA to act swiftly. L.A. fans demand and deserve better."

The Los Angeles chapter of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People had been scheduled to give Sterling the group's lifetime achievement award at a May 15 banquet.

In the lawsuit filed in L.A. County Superior Court on March 7, Sterling's wife of more than 50 years paints Stiviano as an opportunist who seduces older wealthy men and persuades them to shower her with gifts. According to the suit, Sterling and Stiviano began an affair after meeting at the 2010 Super Bowl game and were still in a relationship as of the filing date.

Rochelle Sterling alleges her husband used community property to buy Stiviano a 2012 Ferrari, two Bentleys and a 2013 Range Rover, worth a total of more than $500,0000.

Sterling also gave Stiviano $1.8 million to buy a duplex on West 4th Street near the Beverly Center last December, according to the suit, which claims Sterling additionally provided her with $240,000 for upkeep and living expenses.

Arguing the gifts were all made without Rochelle Sterling's knowledge or consent, the complaint seeks their return along with compensatory damages.

Roeser, the Clippers' executive, said in his statement that Sterling "feels terrible that such sentiments are being attributed to him and apologizes to anyone who might have been hurt by them.

"He is also upset and apologizes for sentiments attributed to him about Earvin Johnson. He has long considered Magic a friend.."

So, the organisation celebrates Black History Month with the visages of two white men on the advert.  OK.  /

Now, thanks to Tim Cavanaugh and NRO, along with others, here comes the pièce de résistance:

L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling, whom commentators have tried to tie to the Republican Party after his alleged racist statements, is in fact a Democrat, according to campaign contribution records.

Sterling is in hot water after TMZ released recordings purporting to be a weird psychosexual rant he directed at girlfriend V. Stiviano, accusing her of publicly associating with black people. The highly offensive comments have drawn condemnation from across the National Basketball Association as well as from many other sources; and inevitably, attempts have been made to link him to the Republican Party. These appear to be based on campaign contribution records for a different Sterling, who lives in the state of Texas. Clippers owner Donald Sterling lives in Beverly Hills, has a long history of bigoted behavior in his Los Angeles business dealings, and according to a 2011 RealGM report, was a very occasional Democratic donor in the 1990s:

Donald Sterling, Los Angeles Clippers

Records show Sterling has donated just $6,000, with no activity since the early 1990s. He supported Gray Davis (D) early in his career, as well as Bill Bradley (D).

Bradley was a Hall of Fame forward for the New York Knicks before becoming a U.S. senator from New Jersey and an unsuccessful presidential candidate. Davis made out with Cybill Shepherd in the 1960s before becoming California’s 37th governor and the first Golden State executive ever to be recalled.

At the American Power blog, Donald Douglas has an extended discussion of Sterling’s donations to liberal causes and the left-leaning commentators who have lauded him in the past. 

At the time TMZ released its recording, Sterling was scheduled to receive a lifetime achievement award from the NAACP. 

This will be an interesting banquet… pic.twitter.com/FZdcjI7mAJ 

— Shelby Grad (@shelbygrad) April 26, 2014

Presuming the recordings are authentic, Sterling’s fixations appear to be strangely selective. At one point he fumes about Stiviano’s associating with Magic Johnson, not on the grounds that Magic is a former Laker but because Sterling believes she is publicizing her friendship with the beloved Los Angeles icon:

“[A]dmire him — bring him here, feed him, f–k him, I don’t care. You can do anything. But don’t put him on an Instagram for the world to see so they have to call me. And don’t bring him to my games.”

In another section Sterling reiterates that he is untroubled by the prospect of Stiviano’s sleeping with black men — an ancient point of agitation for white racists — but doesn’t want her to post pictures of blacks on Instagram:

“You can sleep with [black people]. You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want.  The little I ask you is not to promote it on that … and not to bring them to my games.”

Sterling made his fortune as a divorce and personal injury lawyer and Southern California real estate developer. He is reported to be worth $1.9 billion.

Related Reading:

Liberal #Democrat Donald Sterling Caught on Tape Screaming Ugly Racist Epithets

More to come....