The Millionaires Who Pull the Election Strings

Money has always played an important role in American politics. But a change in campaign finance law now allows a handful of billionaires to give substantial amounts of money to their favorite candidates. Without their help, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich would probably not be able to participate in further elections during the course of the Republican primaries, which will take place today in Kansas and on Tuesday in Mississippi and Alabama.

Savoring his victory in the Georgia primary on Super Tuesday, Newt Gingrich did not fail to thank, as he should have, the voters of that state. However, he did fail to thank the most important person, without whom he probably would never have participated in that day’s elections. No, it’s not his wife Callista, but rather the casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, the eighth-wealthiest person in the U.S., whose family gave $11 million to a “super PAC” supporting the former speaker of the House of Representatives.

A super what? A “super PAC” is a political action committee that can raise unlimited amounts of money from corporations, unions and individuals to support a candidate. The only catch: These committees cannot coordinate their activities with the campaigns of their favored candidate. A condition that doesn’t mean much: the “super PAC” supporting Gingrich, called “Winning Our Future,” is, for instance, headed by the candidate’s former spokesman.

A controversial decision

Born in the wake of a controversial decision rendered by the Supreme Court in 2010, the “super PACs” are profoundly changing the way in which election campaigns are financed in the United States. The “Super PACs” make it possible to circumvent the law that puts a $2,500 limit on direct donations to a candidate. The result: One person with a lot of money, such as Sheldon Adelson, can have a considerable impact on the race for the GOP’s nomination.

“I’m against very wealthy people attempting to or influencing elections. But as long as it’s doable I’m going to do it,” Adelson recently confided to Forbes Magazine before adding: “I might give $10 million or $100 million to Gingrich.”

But Adelson isn’t the only billionaire to play this game. Foster Friess, manager of a mutual fund in Wyoming, also signed an enormous check for the “super PAC” supporting Rick Santorum.

Just like Gingrich, Santorum would probably have ended his campaign without the help of this “super PAC,” called “Red, White and Blue Fund,” which financed advertising campaigns that contributed to his victories in three out of 10 Super Tuesday states.

A weakness for the GOP

Mitt Romney and Barack Obama can also count on the help of a “super PAC.” But the billionaires seem to have a weakness for Republicans. Out of a total of 14 billionaires who have given money to “Super PACs,” 12 have supported candidates or groups associated with the Grand Old Party.

The most influential of these “super PACs,” American Crossroads, founded by Republican strategist Karl Rove, raised $51 million in 2011. Its largest donor is Texas billionaire Harold Simmons, who donated at least $10 million to the committee.

A Las Vegas casino magnate and fervent Zionist, Sheldon Adelson has put a small part of his immense fortune to the service of a “super PAC” supporting an old friend, Newt Gingrich, who takes particular pride in describing Palestinians as “invented” people. But the 78-year-old billionaire repeats that he has nothing against Mitt Romney, the favorite to compete against Barack Obama. It is suspected that his aid to Gingrich is a way of preventing Rick Santorum, whose much exacerbated Catholicism is not appreciated, from becoming the only alternative to Romney.

Foster Friess

A mutual fund manager in Wyoming and a fundamentalist Christian, Foster Friess found in Rick Santorum a presidential candidate who shares his ideas on the role of religion in politics. The 71-year-old billionaire also thinks that the former Pennsylvania senator would be a better candidate than either Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich to face Barack Obama. He recently had to apologize for a dubious joke about contraception. “Back in my day, they used Bayer aspirin for contraception,” he said. “The gals put it between their knees.”