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Charles Dharapak / AP
Casino owner Sheldon Adelson attends a Mitt Romney fundraising event at the Red Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on Sept. 21.
Despite his vast wealth, Sheldon Adelson was not exactly a household name when the Republican presidential primary campaign got under way. But the casino magnate’s multimillion-dollar contributions to a pro-Newt Gingrich super PAC ended that.
Adelson’s support was linked to a shared stance with Gingrich as staunch supporters of Israel. Not quite so well publicized was Adelson’s financial stake in who wins the presidency.
A second Obama term, thanks to the incumbent’s proposed tax policies — could cost Adelson billions if he brought home profits earned at his overseas casinos, according to tax experts.
Since Gingrich flamed out in the primaries, Adelson and his wife Miriam have shifted their allegiance to GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, giving the pro-Romney super PAC Restore Our Future $20 million.
With Romney as president, Adelson, the billionaire chairman and CEO of the Las Vegas Sands Corp., could bring his profits home tax-free.
Your Election Day photos: Show us what you're seeing at the polls
The Las Vegas Sands’ overseas operations account for 86 percent of its revenue from casinos, hotels and shopping, according to its 2011 annual report to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Sands’ most lucrative holdings are in Macau, a special administrative region in China.
Super PACs like Restore Our Future can accept unlimited contributions from billionaires, corporations and unions and spend the money on ads helping their favorite candidates, thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision.
Adelson and family’s nearly $54 million in contributions through Oct. 17 to conservative super PACs puts the gambling industry at second place among super PAC donors’ corporate interests, according to the Center for Public Integrity’s analysis of data from the Center for Responsive Politics and the Federal Election Commission.
Reuters, Getty Images
In the final push in the 2012 presidential election, candidates Mitt Romney and Barack Obama make their last appeals to voters.
With no limits on giving, economic analysis of donations to super PACs are more about a few wealthy individuals’ interests than fulfilling an industry’s legislative goals.
Adelson and family are responsible for more than 98 percent of all casino industry contributions to super PACs — or $53.7 million out of $54.6 million — but his legislative agenda does not necessarily reflect that of the American Gaming Association, which lists as major issues online gambling and visa reform to allow more high rollers to come to American casinos.
Finance industry tops list
The top industry-donor to super PACs in the 2012 election cycle by far has been securities and investments at roughly $94 million, according to records.
The list of donors is dominated by a relatively small number of extremely wealthy hedge fund and private equity millionaires and billionaires. The top 10 individual donors to this industry are responsible for almost half of its super PAC contributions. Twenty-one people and two corporations have given $1 million or more.
The average itemized individual contribution to all super PACs is a little more than $23,000, according to the Center’s analysis. The average contribution to a super PAC from the investment industry is more than $96,000.
The third-leading industry-donor, chemicals and related manufacturing, accounts for $31 million of all super PAC contributions, and almost $27 million comes from Harold Simmons, his wife Annette and his company. Contran Corp. controls several subsidiaries involved in chemical manufacturing, waste disposal and other businesses.
Topping Simmons’ agenda is minimizing the regulatory reach of government, according to an interview he gave to The Wall Street Journal in March. Many of Contran’s subsidiaries are subject to environmental regulations that cut into profits.
The fourth-leading donor by industry is real estate at about $23 million thanks to seven-figure donations from the National Association of Realtors and Harlan Crow and Crow Holdings. The NAR favors access to credit and tax breaks so more people can afford to buy homes.
Election's enigmatic biggest corporate donor has contributed $5.3 million
Fifth is the homebuilding industry with about $22 million, again a category dominated by a single wealthy individual — Texan Bob Perry. He has given $21.5 million to conservative super PACs to date.
Perry is perhaps best known for financing the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads during the 2004 election that helped sink John Kerry’s presidential campaign, but he has been a major donor to Texas political campaigns since the 1980s. He favors limiting damages a jury can award plaintiffs in civil suits.
Romney is ‘one of them’
The largest donors from the investment industry are not investment banks but an exclusive sub-group known as “alternative investing” — hedge funds and private equity firms.
Among the 26 donors to Restore Our Future who have given $1 million or more, 11 are in the hedge fund or private equity business.
Among the alternative investment industry’s top donors are Robert Mercer, a co-CEO of the hedge fund Renaissance Technologies, who gave $1 million to Restore Our Future and $600,000 to Club for Growth Action, which favors eliminating the capital gains tax.
Full election coverage on NBCPolitics.com
Other top donors include TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts, PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, who now runs an investment firm, Paul Singer of Elliott Management, Wyoming investor Foster Friess and John Childs, chairman and CEO of a private equity firm.
Eighty percent of super PAC contributions from the investment community have gone to conservative super PACs, according to the Center's analysis.
James Simons, the founder of Renaissance Technologies, and George Soros*, the chairman of the hedge fund Soros Fund Management, have given a combined $10.1 million to pro-Obama and pro-Democratic super PACs.
Romney himself was a private equity man in his days at Bain Capital, which he co-founded.
“They view (Romney) as one of them,” said David Kautter, the director of the Kogod Tax Center at American University. “They tend to view him as someone who accumulated substantial wealth doing what they do, someone who understands what they do and someone who believes that what they do provides substantial value to the economy.”
Romney has said he would maintain, lower or eliminate the capital gains rate at various points during the race. Low rates benefit hedge fund and private equity managers, whose compensation comes primarily from investment returns.
Obama supports treating this type of compensation as regular income and subject to income tax rates up to 39.6 percent. In addition, Obama advocates raising the capital gains rate to 20 percent.
Adelson’s gamble on Romney
Romney was not Adelson’s top choice. Adelson invested $16.5 million in former House Speaker Gingrich via Winning Our Future, the primary pro-Gingrich super PAC, before the candidate dropped out May 2.
Now the top supporter of Restore Our Future, Adelson has said he is willing to spend $100 million electing Romney and a Republican Congress. The spending has made him newsworthy.
Adelson’s steadfast and occasionally controversial positions on Israel’s national security have also increased his profile in the national media and provided fodder for the opposition.
President Obama and Mitt Romney's travel schedules reveal the states that would help them attain the necessary amount of electoral votes to take the White House. NBC's Chuck Todd reports.
He opposes a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinian Authority, once calling it a “stepping stone for the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people.”
He was also once one of the biggest backers of AIPAC — the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. But Adelson broke off relations with the group in 2007, when it supported increasing U.S. economic aid to Palestinians.
Adelson shifted his financial support to the Republican Jewish Coalition, where he sits on the board. The politically active nonprofit has reported spending $4.6 million on ads attacking Obama.
In an op-ed for the JNS News Service, Adelson wrote that American Jews should not trust Obama when it comes to Israel.
“For Obama, the issue is only political; for Israel, it’s existential — a matter of survival,” he wrote.
On paper, both Obama and Romney have similar positions on Israel — they both are committed to having a “special relationship” with the nation.
“Where they differ is in the way the current president perceives Israel,” said Aaron David Miller, an Israel expert at the Woodrow Wilson Center. “Israel is more of a matter of national security interest than it is a values argument.”
While Romney has a more “spontaneous, emotional instinct” to identify with Israel, Miller said, Obama seems less emotionally connected.
“In part it’s a generational thing,” Miller said — Obama came of age after the Israeli occupation. “And in part it’s a matter of temperament.”
Idealism or self-interest?
It is impossible to say for certain whether Adelson’s support of Romney is based on idealism or self-interest or both. Adelson’s spokesman refused to comment for this report.
Romney’s tax policies and Adelson’s financial interests are aligned, especially when it comes to tax treatment of overseas profits.
The Romney-backed “territorial tax system” would allow the Sands to bring its future foreign profits back to the U.S. free from U.S. income tax. Romney’s plan also calls for a “tax holiday” that would allow American companies with profits stashed abroad to repatriate them tax-free.
Four nightmare scenarios for what could go wrong on Election Day
A 2004 tax holiday resulted in the repatriation of one-third of all offshore earnings, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service.
Experts predict a territorial system would have a similar effect.
“I think it is very likely that more foreign earnings will end up back in the U.S. than we would have under the current worldwide system,” said Kautter.
Obama opposes the territorial tax system and has proposed a minimum tax for multinational corporations’ overseas earnings.
Under the current system, American companies that have operations abroad pay income tax to the country in which they earn the money then pay U.S. income tax when they bring profits home. Income taxes paid to the foreign government are deducted from the U.S. income tax when the money is repatriated; earnings left abroad are not subject to U.S. taxes.
Will McBride, the chief economist at the conservative Tax Foundation, calls the U.S. income tax on foreign profits a “repatriation tax.”
“Naturally that discourages business from bringing that money back home,” he said.
Obama and others argue that a territorial tax system would encourage American businesses to move overseas.
On social media, fakery muddies political discussion
The Sands holds $5.6 billion in in overseas profits, according to its 2011 annual report. Under Romney’s policy, Adelson and his company could repatriate it all for free.
The tax holiday combined with a switch to a territorial tax system would potentially provide a $1.8 billion tax break to the Sands the first year, according to a study from a liberal think tank, the Center for American Progress.
Adelson himself, as majority owner, stands to benefit.
“By a reasonable but conservative estimate, the tax cut he stands to get from Romney’s tax policies over a four-year term would be well over $2 billion,” said Seth Hanlon, the author of the study. “When you consider he’s going to spend $100 million on the presidential race, the return on investment is more than 2000 percent.”
*George Soros is the chairman of the Open Society Foundation, which provides funding for the Center for Public Integrity. For a list of Center donors, visit the website.
The Center for Public Integrity is a nonprofit, independent investigative news outlet. For more of its stories go to publicintegrity.org.
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From www.fsmitha.com/opinion/money_speech.htm :
"Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has said, "You can't separate speech from the money that facilitates the speech. It's utterly impossible."
To the contrary: we can if we like separate the two. It's a political issue, not an exercise in scholastic epistemology. Politics involves measure and choice. It involves choosing where we ought to draw lines. Drawing lines is an appropriate deterrence to useless absolutes. Politics involves ethics – not unlike another line we draw regarding freedom of speech. That is the ethics of not shouting fire in a crowded theatre.
Money is power. Or, more accurately, money gives one some power. A tiny amount gives one very little power. And money gives the super rich more political power than the rest of us – while we consider equality in political power ethical and therefore deny people the freedom of voting twice.
It's true that money allows news organizations more power to disseminate their views than the average citizen. With their money, people are free to create newspapers, websites, magazines or print fliers with which they express their views. This we put on one side of the free speech issue, with all of the rest of free speech that we value for our society.
The Constitution prohibits the making of "any law" that abridges "the freedom of speech." But It's a stretch to consider campaign contributions – money – as one and the same with free speech. Justice Scalia does so as a great abstract equation. We should be wary of simple equations purporting profundity: god equals nature; money equals free speech, et cetera. Such equations require a lot of explaining, to say the least.
Nowhere in the U.S. Constitution does it say money equals free speech. To express it as Scalia does as an absolutistic mathematics equation is to deny the nation the freedom of a very important expression: the freedom to draw a line in political ethics."
And nowhere in the U.S. Constitution does it say money DOES NOT equal free speech. That is why we have a Supreme Court to be the arbitrator of these kind of disputes.
Well actually you can't buy newspaper ads, internet ads and TV ads to get your message across without a lot of money. There is a limit to how much an individual can contribute to a political campaign, $2500. Private citizens and coalitions of private citizens (corporations, unions, Citizens United, Move on, etc can spend as much money as they like to support or oppose a candidate, policy or cause. Nothing wrong with that. Limitations on free speech is not the answer. Transparency and an informed electorate is the answer. Don't like drug companies? Vote against politicians who take campaign contributions from them. Don't like Wall st. or teacher's unions or Planned Parenthood or the NRA ditto.
We should all be afraid of americans wanting Israels interests put ahead of our nations interests...if this is what newt and adleson beleive let them go fight for israel...in israel...
See my comment above. Ditto ADL. By the way which Dem politicos are taking campaign contributions from pro-Israeli interests. Do you know?
J. Craig Venter has already tweeted he voted for Obama. He pays over 50% of his income to taxes. Who is Craig Venter? Only the first man to create the worlds first synthetic life form. He also single handedly mapped the human genome.
I find it a coincidence that this story comes out on election day instead of before giving enough time for the average voter to review this."Perfect" timing if all anyone cares about is the two-party horse race and blaming Romney for this outside money, in case he wins. Even if all this is true, timing is a bit pre-emptive strike.
It's worrisome, to say the least, that the top PAC donor reported in this aritcle is someone who wants to avoid taxes to support the USA but is willing to have a full-blown Middle East war in support of a country of which he is not a citizen. Mr. Adelson, I suggest that you take your money and yourself, move to Israel and pay them to fight their own war. Please take Mr. Gingrich with you. I'm sick of our money and, more importantly our men and women, being wasted so obscenely wealthy people can have even more. My God, how much money do you need?
I'm also greatly disturbed that the next two top PAC donors are industries that want to dismantle the regulatory commissions overseeing investments, finance and real estate. These sectors have done all they can to weaken or kill existing regulations and their support of Gov. Romney indicates that all they care about is gaining more wealth at the expense of our economy (see 2008 as an example). Again, how much money is necessary for these industries to be satisfied?
I have no statistics or deep analysis to offer, just a gut feeling. I am deeply afraid that no matter who wins the election, our country is about to suffer even more greatly than we have ever before. Unless and until those we elect (who just happen to be our employees) stop acting like immature children pointing at each other and saying "It's their fault" and start performing their jobs to protect the best interests of all Americans, we are in critical danger. And we, as citizens, have to do our part and demand those in power to grow the up, stop being idiots and work together to solve our problems. Start tomorrow. As soon as election results are known, write to your local, state and federal representatives and demand they do their job. It might be like shoveling sand against the tide, but at least we can all make the effort.
Continuing a shamelessly proud tradition of undermining democracy by serving the will of the CORPORATE CONSTITUENCY.
Romney's a$$ whoopin' today should make the message to republicans loud and clear that they need a real candidate with actual ideas and detailed plans on how to execute their ideas if they want educated voters to vote for them in 2016. Hillary Clinton won't be as easy to defeat as Al Gore.
This isn't an elections is a sale.
This article is written by
"The Center for Public Integrity" a biased liberal backwards organization
engaging in election day media biased journalism in an attempt to influence.
Based on this article it appears the Financial world has a huge investment in Romney. Anyone who thinks Romney will fight for the poor and the middle class is dilusional. Romney is all about ego, power and greed. How to best protect his millions at any cost.
The powerful and rich own our government. We are not making a difference. We think we are by voting but we truly are not. Congress is completely out of touch. Refuse to work together for the good of all.
God help us all. We are royally screwed.
Yea, Let's get rampping up for ALL THOSE BILLIONS OF CORPORATE DOLLARS That will go OUT of this COUNTRY and then BACK IN WITH NO TAXES ATTACHED. That is on TOP of ALL DOLLARS MADE OUTSIDE of this COUNTRY and COMING IN with NO TAXES ATTACHED.
Romney is PATHETIC, What the F"K Kind of FAIR TAX paying are these GREED MONGERS ALL UP TO????
NOT ONE DIME from All money going OUT and IN. Meaning NO TAXES AT ALL FOR THE TOP. What an "ENTITLEMENT" boy. It is SICK. They are ALL SICKOS.
And here we are the HARD WORKING CITIZEN who is PAYING his or her HONEST SHARE of TAXES. And ROMNEY wants us to SHOULDER THE LOAD HERE IN THE U.S. And he gets away by PAYING ZERO or SINGLE DIGIT TAX.
Are AMERICANS REALLY STUPID OR SICK MINDED, IS IT the LACK OF EDUCATION and READING articles like this THAT ARE NOT UNDERSTANDABLE to the AMERICAN. WHY are YOU VOTING FOR THIS F"K'G @!$%# BAG of any REPUBLICAN to have this GO ON???? WHY????
I always wondered what the price of a President was.
Another extremely biased article by MSNBC; let's hope they treat President Romney as well as they've treated Obama once Romney wins today.
Continuing a shamelessly proud tradition of undermining democracy by serving the will of the CORPORATE CONSTITUENCY.
I saw a young man drive up as I was going to vote, today.
He waited for a much older woman to drive up and get out
of her car, before he got out of his car and followed her
in, to vote. She showed him how to vote and stood over
him as he marked his ballot, then she ushered him to the
voting machine and directed him to feed his ballot into
the vote counter.
At first, I wondered if he was Old enough to vote, then I
wondered if he was getting Paid to vote. Now, I'm
wondering just how much Streisand, Clooney, Coombs,
Jordan and Winfrey, et al, are willing to Pay to win this
election; and how far they are willing to Go to win this
election? I hear Obama's team is Very confident of the
outcome, and I'm beginning to understand why.
So you watched it all from start to finish? I think you're lying.
Jerry-450822 banned, comment spamming this and another comment. Try writing an article instead of doing this, folks.
94% of the time the candidate with the most money wins! Since the super pacs for Romney received about 85 % of all donations (from special interest groups) it follows that Romney will probably be elected and serve to protect their interests, not the peoples interest. Whose ox do you think is going to get gored?
I thought this was an article about what industries funded the presidential race, not solely Romney's campaign. Where's the segment on Obama's superpac buddies? Let's not deceive ourselves into thinking he doesn't have any.
Adelson and the Koch Bros will OWN Romney if he's elected!That's enough to scare me to death. They don't make investments unless there's substantial return on their investment.
Who's going to pay them back and how?
Romney has enough money not to be bought, unlike Obama who is owned by Soros.
This list of top donors, who they contributed to and why, and their special interests should scare the bejesus out of ordinary citizens and the middle class.
Obama/Biden 2012
Kansas is a well known staunch republican state. With that said, Kansas is also a right to work state. Meaning? My husband was let go one month prior to his ten year anniversary. When he asked why he was being let go he was told that the company does not have to disclose the reason because Kansas is a right to work state. A Kansas employer can let a person go for any reason whatsoever. My husband was recently the employee of the month, received 20 gold movie passes for AMC theatres, gift cards for Target and numerous awards for his efforts at his job. So why would this company let the employee of the month go? The owner of the company lives in a beautiful gated community with an indoor basketball court in his house, a golf course in the back yard. Surely my husband had value as an employee and was an asset. Now he is unemployed. Scouring the internet for jobs.
For my district, there were no others running against the Republicans in Senate or Congress. Why? Kansas is Republican.
My nose did not grow in the time that I typed this comment.
I hope that Republicans get a message today... Bipartisanship is worthy and valuable. Blocking legislation for the last two years is childish and puts all of America in jeopardy. Compromise is not all bad.
Republicans & Foxnews = Fear Factory
Land of Oz---- is correct. I suggest you click your heels three times and return to Kansas.
hmm, not shocking..rich turds that took their business overseas are the ones Romney will help..and somehow middle class families think hes going to help them??! boy are they in for a surprise lol..
As you read this you know where Romney stands on taxes, where his loyalites are. Not with you and me baby, my $100 I gave Obama for his campaign can not buy the election but these cats can. If Romney wins today, and based on what I'm seeing today, he might, he well have bought the election and he is a product not a person. Bought for the highest bidder. Our country well see the the top 1% get more powerful, laws are going to be pro business and not for the little guys. What he said about the 47% is how he feels, and so do his buddies. Paul Ryan is a full on nut case with his social issues and Slick is all about the rich getting richer.
How well has Obama's help been for the Middle Class?
7.9% Unemployment.
8.6 Million working Part Time.
Income down about $4500 per year.
5 Million Unemployed for 26 weeks or longer.
23 Million unemployed or under employed.
Working hours down to 35 hours per week.
Increased Income Tax starting Jan.1,2013
47 Million on Food Stamps.
15% in Poverty.
YEP! Obama sure has helped the Middle Class.
Correction. Obama has helped the Middle Class SHRINK!!
slodon: There is nothing on this planet dumber than a working class Republican---bar none. The most incredible thing is they know they are voting against their own self-interests, and they still vote Republican! They're very much like cigarette smokers who know why they shouldn't smoke cigarettes, but will continue to defend cigarette smoking, continue to pay over $5.00 a pack, and smoke them anyway! geeeeeezzzzzzzzzzz............ We just have to listen to their BS and let 'em die. There is nothing dumber and more poorly educated than a working class person who votes Republican.
Think about it.
Obama's re-election is essential insofar as the Supreme Court's make up must be changed to prevent the world elitist from total domination of the masses. If we are not already there, America and the world will soon return to a mid-evil times culture of Lords, Barons and subjects, a culture where all the wealth and power are reserved to the few and a days pay is equal to a pound of rice.
This is Obama's election to lose. If Romney doesn't get Virginia... see ya...
It must suck to live and vote on the west coast. This election is all but over by the time you're getting home from work and sitting down to dinner.
Well,in a few genrations those big boys and their cronies will have ruined this country.My great great great great grandkids will then hang all of their heirs on wall st and pennsylvania avenue