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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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Politics has caught the justice system flu. You can get all the justice, or representation by your leadership, that you can afford to buy.
So Will America send the message to these Mafia, Political Terrorists: "America is not for sale"?
Or will we go back to the days of gun slinging, mafia tactics? Make a wise choice America!
The boss Bruce Springsteen is campaigning in Wisconsin and guess what he is using air force one to travel.with our tax money.well i guess is alright because it a democrat doing it, but if republican musician did this hell would brake lose with the media talking about it.
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.
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.
Mr. Jefferson if a working republican want to pay $5.00 or more dollars for a pack of cigarettes that is his choice as your is voting for Obama who would like to see big corporation and company that gives Jobs destroy. What happen when all these company could no longer give you a job? Or could no longer continue to do business? were is the government going to get its tax money to continue helping you and many other like you with public assistance money?
gregorio057: Thank you for demonstrating the strength of my argument.
Says the lemming that can't manage to comment without double posting!
And FYI - You did not present an argument, just a silly and obtuse analogy. You low information voters really need to turn off MSNBC and educate yourselves on the facts before posting your Kool Aid induced endorsements of a leftwing propaganda piece.
True Reality Speaks: Thank you, too, for demonstrating the strength of my argument! The analogy between cigarette smokers and working class Republicans went right over your head, didn't it? The fact that the Republican Party does not represent the interests of working class Americans (except, of course, white racists and poorly educated, far right wing, extremist, Christian Evangelical, fanatics) is so well known it is considered common knowledge. So, thank you, again, for demonstrating the strength of my argument!
If you think obama is without his big donors think again. Investment bankers, and the like donate millions to him as well,
Wake up people, this has been the most negative campaign I have ever seen coming from the democrats. They have no record to run on, so they insult, kick and bully their voters to the polls, Lie after lie has been proven by website after website that Obama camp has mislead the people, with the help of this news outlet and others. You need to go to mitt romneys website and read it for yourselves what he stands for, what he wants to do for this country. Educate yourself and stop being led around by misleading headlines. I for one do not want a part in control of the great country that has to lie and twist things to get elected, if you have nothing good to say, Shut up, if you have no record to run on, then get out of this election. Bipartisan. HUH, really. I cannot tell you how many times reid and pelosi and obama have bragged about their my way or the highway approach, How many times they have shut the republicans out. There is not bipartisanship with the obama administration. You all know I am right, you watch and read, you have witnessed it for 4 years and now you say it isnt so, just so your PARTY can get reelected. come on, have more of a pare than that, Lets vote all incumbents out this election, no matter what the party. from the president down to the mayors. let us send a message to these politicians that they work for US, not their pocket books. It is time we take this country back from politicians. Vote them ALL out, replace them all.
Damdit61: The Economist and the New York Times are both supporting the President. The American Cancer Society, the American Medical Association, and the AARP are all supporting Obamacare! 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.
not only does Obama has investment company donors like wall streets but he has all of the big Media CNN,MSNBC,CBS,New York Time, HBO, you name it Obama has it. But the only thing is that the people who can actually open him up don't want to because they are in his favor. They could only open Romney because they don't like him. Anyway Obama Is the chosen one the that will put you and your family in the path of the NEW WORLD ORDER. You voted for him you will be responsible for the consequence because what in store for your future is monitoring devise that will have control of you and your family. Already is been tested in Texas. and IT IS WRITTEN OVER TWO THOUSAND YEARS AGO Obama is your man. There is no way that Romney will win and I Proudly voted for him.
gregorio57: Whaaaat?!?
Dandit61, Don't forget to cast your vote for Roseanne Barr.
This stuff is nothing new as I think we all knew what and who Willard Romney represents. Power and greed are at the top of the Romney agenda and its clear if elected Romney will be doing the bidding of corporate polluters and the wealthiest Americans who think they deserve a free ride.
I've said this before and I have even written to my elected "representatives" regarding this. Unlike other correspondence, they don't even bother to acknowledge this with the traditional form letter.
If WE THE PEOPLE want to regain control of our government, the only way is to eliminate ALL special interest money and power from the election process. It takes nothing more than legislation to accomplish.
For the position of "Representative", be it State or Federal, the only contributions to a campaign should come from LEGAL VOTERS within the district the representative is to represent. NO PAC, Corporate, Union or other "special interest" money. ONLY the VOTERS within that district.
For the position of "Senator", be it State or Federal, the only contribution to a campaign should come from LEGAL voters within the Senatorial District on a state level and the entire state on a federal level. NO PAC, Corporate, Union or other "special interest" money. ONLY the VOTERS within that district or state.
For Presidential elections, a "pool" of federal money provided to candidates EQUALLY. This will assist third party candidates level the playing field. All other contributions to the Presidential campaign are to come from LEGAL VOTERS only. NO PAC, Corporate, Union or other "special interest" funds are allowed.
Regardless of the "Citizens United" decision of the Supreme Court, if legislation was passed allowing contributions to election campaigns to come from LEGAL VOTERS only, it eliminates all other funds from non-voting entities.
The additional benefit of the above would be limiting the campaign cycle. If they don't have the funds, they can't campaign 24x7 and we might actually get factual information instead of hyperbole, innuendo, superfluous back patting, political rhetoric and the continual degrading of the voters intellect by ego maniacs.
Who knows, we might even get people willing to run that are more concerned with the country than their own narcissism.
This should have been an interactive infographic with a short article attached. Words don't compare numbers well.
Adelson, what a POS that thing is. Supports Gingrich simply because Gingrich supports Israel. Maybe Adelson should just go back there and stop polluting USA air with his biased, criminal activities.
Great investigative reporting NBC!
Now, if this had come out two weeks ago, it might have had some impact.
But election DAY? Too little, too late!
The British Economist Magazine has endorsed Obama, not without criticism, but it said he is much better than Romney. Some excerpts:
“America was in a downward economic spiral when he took over, with its banks and carmakers in deep trouble and unemployment rising at the rate of 800,000 a month. His responses – an agrgressive stimulus, bailing out General Motors and Chrysler, putting the banks through a sensible stress test and forcing them to raise capital (so that they are now in much better shape than their Euroipean peers) – helped avert a Depression.”
“Even to a newspaper with no love for big government, the fact that over 40 m people had no health coverage in a country as rich as America was a scandal. Obamacare will correct that, but Mr Obama did very little to deal with the system’s other flaw – its huge and unaffordable costs.”
..”Mr Romney wants to start with huge tax cuts (which will disporportinately favor the wealthy….Mr Romney is still in the cloud-cuckoo-land of thinking you can do it entirely through spending cuts: the Republican even rejected a ratio of ten parts spending cuts to one part tax rises. Backing business is important but getting the macroeconomics right matters far more.”
“For all of his businesslike intentions, Mr. Romney has an economic plan that works only if you don’t believe most of what he says. … For all his shortcomings, Mr. Obama has dragged America’s economy back from the brink of disaster and has made a decent fist of foreign policy. So this newspaper would stick with the devil it knows, and re-elect him.”
Tompom: I take the Economist and I was delighted to see their editorial this week on why they support the President for re-election. Equally important, the American Cancer Society, the American Medical Association, and the AARP strongly endorse Obamacare.
...and you think AARP is really looking out for us? Making money off the elderly and call it "looking out for you", how about disclosing the real reason they support it?
All I read was blah blah blah, blah blah blah, rich people run America.
Mr Obvious says that Romney is not in this race for middle class Joe Lunchbucket, he wants the rich to get richer and to convince the other 52% that he is working for them. The Wall Street and vulture capital guys have figured it out so why would anyone else vote for the guy who takes down companies for profit.Cut taxes for the rich and it will trickle down. Right! He is your other choice. As for you other 47%, too bad for you if Romney is elected
Rachel, I like your article but you should have titled it "How America's super rich are trying to rob an election." (Hiding behind Super PACs). For their own selfish interests of course. The robber barons are back and in control. The American Oligarchy. Cheers to all.
I don't care about all that, I say tax all Add's on TV at 50%! I am all for lower taxes for everyone but for political Add's I say tax 50%! That way at least when we have to watch 500 Add's a day that these PAC and Speacial Interest groups spend it goes to the Schools or to that states Debt. At least we get something out of it, Who knows it may even stop a few of those Add's. Because here in Michigan they spent over 150 Million on all the proposals Add's and that just Crazy! PLEASE, STOP IT! We need Campain reform so bad!!!!!
I'm not real excited about either choice, so I have to go with what I feel in supporters, anybody that has millionaires, billionaires, hedge funder's, banks and the financial industry on their side and drooling, can not be for the people or our country, only for the wealthy – the choice is clear…besides - Adelson's beady little eyes irritate the hell out of me…pay your taxes you greedy old prick...I think the POTUS we have now will serve us better than the new guy...besides the new guy has beady eyes too - so does his wife...and the dog...
You're sooo funny! I love it!
And the 5 beady eyed sons from plural marriages!
54 million given by one person. Please dont tell me he is not buying.
He would rather funnel gadzillions of dollars into a campaign, than use those same dollars to pay taxes....with the hope that the end result is that he won't have to pay taxes, with money he would never be able to spend in his lifetime no matter how hard he tries. He is so afraid that his tax dollars might go for some social program that he doesn't agree with, like maybe a program that would benefit a poor person. The poor just might be a minority or someone else he doesn't like. Because if you help "those people" they might actually succeed and then where would old, white men be? Women and people of color might take over the world. They are sooooo afraid. That's what the war on women, and this hate for social programs is really all about. Keep everyone we don't like, oppressed and down at the bottom of the subserviant ladder. They use hate and fear to sway the masses of other like-minded, bigoted, uneducated people who flock to the polls enmasse to vote for someone who doesn't care squat about any of them. Wake up already.
$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
And there you have it folks...what this election has REALLY been about for Willard and the GOP from day one...protecting profits. This is one of the 3 M's they teach at Harvard Business (Making Money, Counting Money, and Keeping it away from the government).
Willard isn't gong to give you a job...Willard isn't going to make your life better. Willard will (if by some curse of Satan he actually DOES get elected) deregulate the same thieves who robbed your 401K and your home equity in 2008, so they can have another crack at you. He'll help his Corporate vulture capitalist buddies shut down even MORE American industries and ship the jobs to China. He'll take away your protections under the law (Consumer financial protections, Minimum wage and equal pay), and end the social benefit programs you've paid into all your working life (Social Security, Medicare, Unemployment Insurance, etc).
No more GI bill for our veterans, no more VA disability (guess they can pay for their OWN wheelchairs), Pell Grants, Dept of Education, Public Schools, HUD, Dept of Energy, Dept of the interior, or FEMA. All of that will all simply be...GONE.
That's what he and Eddie Munster promise. They both stand convicted out of their own lying, scheming, conniving mouths. And the GOP is just chomping at the bit waiting for it. So do yourselves (And your Children) a favor today, go out and vote for Obama and Biden, because what's at stake here is literally nothing less than your future (or lack thereof).
It's articles such as this that show that America is no longer for the people, by the people...instead it's more like buy some people for some people (no comma intentionally).
The ultimate irony............. Sheldon the casino owner put $56M on Mittens to win........... Opps!
Just hope Adelson keeps making bad bets. He would do better to take that money to one of his casinos and visit the roulette wheel.
Is anyone out there really surprised that the rich fat cats want to elect someone just like themselves? They want another rich white guy who will give them whatever they want: tax cuts, no regulations, and no messy fair pay for women or bothersome health insurance for the employees. The rich and powerful are trying to stage a coup in this country and there is only one thing standing in their way: we the people. Get out and vote. Show the world that elections cannot be bought.
That warning is a little too little a little too late. they have been bought and paid for for yrs. We have ALL three branches of the gov on the payroll of the wealthy and turned against us.