Casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson, whose net worth makes him one of
the world's richest men, is on a check-writing spree that will soon bring his
total political contributions in this election cycle to at least $71 million, according to sources familiar with his
spending. That money is spread across the spectrum of GOP super PACs, which are
required to disclose donors, and nonprofits, which are not.
Adelson and his wife, Miriam, along with other family donations, have
already reached $36 million, including $10 million to the Romney-backing super
PAC Restore Our Future that was reported this week. But two GOP fundraisers
familiar with his plans say that Adelson has given or pledged at least $35
million more to three conservative nonprofit groups: the Karl Rove-linked
Crossroads GPS, another with ties to billionaires Charles and David Koch and a
third with links to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.).
Adelson, 78, is a staunch supporter of the Israeli right and a strong
foe of American unions. In recent years, Adelson has been a major financier of
GOP-allied groups, but has emerged this year as the consummate super donor in
the wake of 2010 court rulings that permitted corporations, unions and
individuals to supply unlimited amounts of money, sometimes anonymously, to
independent groups that can advocate directly for candidates.
The two fundraisers who spoke with The Huffington Post requested
anonymity because they're not authorized to discuss publicly the donations of
Adelson, whose net worth is just shy of $25 billion according to Forbes, placing
him at number eight on the list of the
richest Americans and 14th richest in the world.
Adelson is chairman of the Las Vegas Sands, a sprawling casino empire
with a hugely lucrative gambling operation on the Chinese island of Macau, the
only legal hub for gambling in that country. huffingtonpost.com
Mr. Adelson has told friends that he intends to give at least $100
million to conservative causes and candidates this election cycle. He
contributed some $250,000 to Republican Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who just
won against a labor union-forced recall election there. wsj.com But he has also told his friends and colleagues that he would prefer
to keep his contributions under wraps in order to avoid controversy, and will
likely focus donations mostly on non-profits affiliated with political PACS,
which don’t have to disclose the names of donors
wsj.com The fundraisers said that Adelson also recently committed to sending
$10 million to a nonprofit with links to the billionaires Charles and David
Koch. In January, Adelson for the first time attended one of the semi-annual
conferences that the billionaire brothers host for wealthy conservatives to tout
their favorite political projects. It's not known which of several
Koch-affiliated nonprofits Adelson is expected to support, but the two biggest
this year are expected to be the Koch-founded group Americans for Prosperity and
the Arizona-based Center to Protect Patient Rights, which in 2010 was used as a
conduit to send tens of millions to other conservative bastions, according to
tax records filed with the IRS. politico.com
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