Tuesday, March 20, 2012

US election 2012: Mitt Romney Super-pac donors revealed

Original Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/us-election/9055396/US-election-2012-Mitt-Romney-Super-pac-donors-revealed.html

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Mitt Romney's overwhelming financial firepower and his strong links to Wall Street were revealed today as the Super-pac supporting his campaign disclosed its donor lists for the first time.

Restore our Future, the pro-Romney group that funded the most vicious attacks against Newt Gingrich in Florida, was shown to be by far the largest of the shadowy committees which are playing such a pivotal role in this year's election.
Of the $31 million the group raised last year, $5 million came from just five New York business donors who contributed $1 million each.
Two more million dollar donations were made by two companies in Mormon-heavy Utah - Eli Publishing and F8 LLC. The two firms share an address, donated on the same day and appear to exist only on paper, with no employees or substantial business.

Following a Supreme Court ruling last year, Super-pacs were allowed to raise unlimited sums of money and spend it freely attacking or promoting candidates on the condition that the groups do not coordinate directly with any campaign.

Also on the list of corporate millionaires contributing to Restore Our Future, was William Koch, the brother of David and Charles Koch, whose millions have helped fund the Tea Party movement as well as a constellation of conservative think thanks and advocacy groups. Mr Koch contributed $250,000, while Oxbow Carbon, the energy firm he runs, put in a further $750,000.

Mr Romney also received $1 million in two donations from Bob Perry, a Texan property mogul who bankrolled the 'Swift Boat' attacks against John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic nominee. The repeated assaults and distortions on Mr Kerry's record in the Vietnam War were credited with helping George W. Bush win re-election.

As well as contributions from donors at Wall Street firms like Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch, Mr Romney racked up nearly $1.4 million from five former colleagues at Bain Capital, the private equity company he ran in the 1990s. The firm's managing director, Steven Barnes donated $125,000, a sum matched by his wife, Deborah.

"This data is showing that big money is really at play behind the Super-pacs," Liz Bartolomeo of the Sunlight Foundation, a transparency group, told the Daily Telegraph. "These bodies are not being funded by small donors like we saw in 2008 - it's the big money players that are trying to use cash to influence the election."

The filings with the Federal Election Commission showed the the relative paucity of Mr Gingrich's Super-pac, Winning Our Future. Compared to nearly 300 donations for Mr Romney's committee, the pro-Gingrich group recorded only 17 throughout 2011, of which only half were for more than a $1,000.

Of the $2 million raised last year, half came from relatives of Sheldon Adelson, a casino mogul who has been almost single-handedly keeping the former Speaker's presidential hopes alive.

His wife's two adult daughters by a previous marriage, Sivan Ochshorn and Yasmin Lukatz, gave $750,000 dollars to the Gingrich Super-pac, while Mrs Lukatz's husband, Oren, gave a further $250,000.

But the sum is dwarfed by the reported $10 million reportedly donated directly by Mr Adelson and his wife in the last four weeks. Those donations are expected to appear in next month's filing reports.

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