Democratic Party Chairman Gus Bickford is renewing the party's call for an investigation into Steve Wynn's $2 million gift in 2014 to the Republican Governors Association, and newly questioning whether Wynn Resorts' willingness to cover up bad behavior stopped at allegations of sexual assault against Wynn.

Bickford's suggestion of a possible "quid pro quo" between Wynn and Gov. Charlie Baker came as the Massachusetts Gaming Commission entered its second day of hearings on the suitability of the company to continue to hold the license for its Encore Boston Harbor casino in Everett.

The party is hoping its request will be seen in a new light after commission investigators released a report on Monday detailing evidence that Wynn Resorts executives and outside counsel had engaged in "affirmative efforts to conceal allegations against Mr. Wynn."

Calls in 2018 for an investigation into the donations, which were made in 2014 - when Wynn Resorts was pursuing a state casino license - have gone nowhere. A party official said the state Office of Campaign Finance should be the authority to conduct the probe.

The party also called on Baker to use his stature within the RGA to return all the money the group received from Wynn, not just the $100,000 that the RGA forfeited last year after the assault allegations first surfaced. The RGA said at the time that it was severing ties to Wynn, but could not return money that had already been spent from previous election cycles.

Read more: Regulators Exploring $10 Million Payout To Former Wynn Executive

Bickford said that the Gaming Commission's investigatory report "offers a glimpse into why Steve Wynn went to extraordinary lengths to support Charlie Baker's 2014 campaign for Governor."

"It has become very clear that Steve Wynn knew he needed all the help he could get in winning a casino license in Massachusetts, and the surest way to get that license was to pour $2 million into Baker's campaign, funneled through the Republican Governor's Association," Bickford said.

Baker's campaign last year called the sexual harassment allegations against Wynn "deeply disturbing" and supported the RGA's severing of ties with Wynn and return of donations from the past cycle. The governor's campaign also noted, however, that he had never received a direct contribution from Steve Wynn.

His campaign declined to comment further on Wednesday about the resurfacing of questions surrounding the timing of the Wynn donations to the RGA in 2014.

Wynn Resorts won its coveted casino license in mid-September 2014 as Baker was in a tight election contest for governor against the incumbent Democratic Attorney General Martha Coakley.

A couple of weeks after being selected over a rival Mohegan Sun project at Suffolk Downs, Wynn Resorts wrote a check for $2 million to the Republican Governors Association. The same day Wynn made the donation, the RGA gave $1.1 million to a super PAC in Massachusetts supporting Baker.

Nine days later another $1.1 million flowed from the RGA to the Commonwealth Future super PAC.

In 2017, the Wall Street Journal reported on the close relationships between the two major party governors associations and candidates, including conversations within the RGA in 2014 about using Wynn's money to support Baker and the likelihood that the generous gift had a link to Wynn's casino interests in Massachusetts.

Baker would go on to win his first term as governor in November.

"A full investigation of the events leading up to the $2 million contribution from Wynn to Baker's campaign must be conducted to determine whether a quid quo pro arrangement existed," Bickford said.

A party official said the fact the Baker was not yet governor in October 2014 does not obviate the need for an investigation, and makes the timing of the donation even more curious.

Massachusetts state law prohibits applicants for gaming licenses from making political donations to candidates or committees, but in February the Gaming Commission cleared Wynn's contribution to the RGA, in part because it considered Wynn no longer an applicant, but a licensee.

The Democratic Party disagreed at the time with the Gaming Commission's interpretation of the law, citing the fact that Wynn Resorts did not actually receive final approval and pay the licensing fee until two days after the 2014 election.

Kevin Ready, a Democratic Party official, said Wednesday that the Gaming Commission was "not qualified to investigate campaign finance illegalities."

After being forwarded Bickford's latest statement on the issue Wednesday, the Office of Campaign and Political Finance told the News Service it would respond.

Ready said the party was not asking the Gaming Commission to delay its decision on Wynn Resorts' suitability to continue to hold a casino license.

The commission is holding hearings this week and is expected to make a decision ahead of the planned June opening date for the $2.6 billion Encore Boston Harbor resort and casino in Everett.