As a task force formed by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson engaged in a public relations crusade last year to develop a financing plan for a new basketball arena, its effort was funded in large part by one of the parties with whom city officials would end up negotiating: the Sacramento Kings.

That funding stemmed from an arrangement worked out by Johnson, and agreed to by the Kings, that stipulated that 10 percent of the millions of dollars in corporate sponsorships the mayor helped raise for the franchise last spring would be funneled into his Think Big committee.

None of the donations – designated on official forms as being from the Kings to a foundation created by the mayor – were revealed until months after negotiations between the city and the Kings owners had collapsed.

via Ryan Lillis of The Sacramento Bee