Utah Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, collected $25,000 from John Miller about one month after the primary election, according to state records.
Miller is the founder of Dakota Pacific Real Estate, now Six Ridge Partners, which is soon to break ground on a controversial mixed-use development in Kimball Junction.
He leads the company’s investment arm, Dakota Pacific Holdings.
Campaign contributions Adams received from Miller and others after the June 23 primary totaled almost $120,000. The amount was first reported by Utah Political Watch.
Adams lost the GOP primary in Utah’s Senate District 7. Widely considered one of the state’s most powerful politicians, he will leave the Legislature at the end of the year.
Utah Political Watch reports he may still have outstanding campaign bills, but those wouldn’t be public until late September.
Utah law restricts how politicians can spend campaign donations.
They can’t make personal purchases, for example. But they can sit on the cash until the next campaign season and spend it then.
Adams hasn’t said publicly what his political future holds.
Since 2008, he has served on the board of the Military Installation Development Authority and is its current chair. His term expires in March 2027.
MIDA is the state entity driving development at Deer Valley East Village, and it partnered with celebrity investor Kevin O’Leary on a controversial data center near the north end of the Great Salt Lake.
Political commentators have speculated that backlash from that data center fueled Adams’ primary defeat.
Utah Political Watch also noted that Adams received $25,000 July 21 from Gary Barnett, the head of Extell Development, which is building most of East Village.
Another East Village landholder, Dallas-based Dart Industries, donated $10,000.
Earlier this year, Adams’ political action committee received $25,000 each from Barnett and his wife and SkyRidge owner Tyler Aldous and his wife.
SkyRidge is part of MIDA’s Wasatch County project area and has collaborated with it on infrastructure development.
In 2022, Barnett’s wife and John Miller each gave the Adams Leadership PAC $5,000.
That was a year before Summit County sued Dakota Pacific and lawmakers, claiming they had engaged in “unconstitutional, legislative cronyism.”
The now-dismissed lawsuit accused the company Miller founded of using its connections at the Utah Capitol to circumvent local planning processes and get its development approved.
The county and developer have since partnered to expand the Kimball Junction Transit Center and other nonprofit and civic facilities in the area.
Adams did not respond to KPCW’s email seeking comment Monday.
Summit County is a financial supporter of KPCW.
