Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Meet the Super PAC All-Stars
I have reviewed some data from the Center for Responsive Politics http://www.opensecrets.org; concerning 9 politically influential Super PAC’s in the 2012 Presidential election and identified their top donors.  The following offers a glimpse into who is donating more than $1million to Super PAC’s.  This list is about to grow as new disclosures are required on January 31,2012, but this is where the data stands as of today.  America, meet your Super PAC All-Stars: Steven J Lund, John Paulson, Edward Conrad, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Sheldon Adelson, Jerry Perenchio, Bob J Perry, Robert B Rowling and Foster Friess.  Unlike the country the seek to control, these men are all withering, white and wealthy enough to contribute $1million or more to their favorite Super PAC.
Romney - Restore Our Future, INC. - http://restoreourfuture.com; 
“The pro-Romney super PAC has far and away raised the most campaign cash for the 2012 election, pulling in more than $12 million so far. The group has spent the vast majority of that money tearing down other Republicans to help propel the former Massachusetts governor to the nomination. So far the group has spent more than $10 million on messaging against former House speaker Newt Gingrich and about $400,000 against former senator Rick Santorum,”  (The Daily Beast).  
Who are these people?  This is the Republican establishment.  Eleven donors, lets call them people since the Supreme Court enlightened us on the humanity of the corporation, have managed to contribute $500,000 or more to the Restore Our Future, INC., Super PAC.  Four of these eleven managed to contribute 1,000,000.  They are Eli Publishing INC of Provo, Utah, F8 LLC of Provo, Utah, John Paulson of New York, New York, and Edward Conrad of New York, New New York.
Eli Publishing INC of Provo Utah, is somewhat of a mystery.  Utah.gov reports that its registered agent is Steven J Lund.  The L.C. has been in active standing since 2004 with a renewal in February 2011 and a registration date of 1997.  PowerProfiles.com estimates Total Sales at $77,000.  It strikes me that this is a paltry sum for a company/person who contributed one million to a Super PAC.  It’s not a surprise that Eli Publishing isn’t Mr. Lund’s primary endeavor.  He served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Nu Skin Enterprises INC, where he currently serves as a Trustee of Trustees of Nu Skin International Inc.  The company makes anti-aging products and does quite a bit of business in China where it operates 40 stores. (Bloomberg Businessweek)
F8LLC, also of Provo, Utah, is also somewhat of a mystery but is thought to be tied to Nu Skin Enterprises, INC. in a way similar to that of Eli Publishing.  Both companies are believed to have zero employees.  Unlike Eli Publishing INC, F8LLC is not listed with Utah.gov.  
John Paulson is well known enough.  He is the billionaire hedge fund manager of Paulson & Co, a firm valued at $28 billion by SFGate with Bloomberg.  Paulson choses not to run for elected office himself, he can do more by making money & donations and by sending junior staffers to send his elitist message to Occupy Wall Street protesters who just aren’t thankful enough for the top 1%. He says that the top 1% bear 40% of the tax burden in New York City and demonstrators are lucky that the 1% don’t skip town for a more welcoming host  (Business Insider). The 99% and their sympathizers shouldn’t be too quick to judge Mr. Paulson. It seems his bets on the US economy went a bit “a ry,” (SFGate) Paulson’s Hedge Fund didn’t do as well as planned last year.  It looks like he won’t get his 20% performance fee and will have to rely on his 1.5% management fee.  Times are tough for everyone even the top 1%.
Edward Conrad, formerly an executive at Bain Capital, a private equity firm which Mr. Romney so famously founded.  Currently Bain Capital is reported to have $65billion in assets (Reuters).  Mr. Conrad tried to execute a procedural move to avoid having his name disclosed by the FEC by forming a shell company called W Spann LLC, in order to donate a million dollars to the Pro-Romney Super PAC.  What an executive pedigree!  “Conrad claims no knowledge that his actions were anything other than above reproach, saying he moved the money into the dummy company on the advice of his lawyers who assured him the maneuver was entirely legal,” (The Raw Story). Complaints filed by the Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21 prompted the disclosure.
What are they interested in?  In one word: Control like every other Super PAC or interest group.  The striking similarity between the top four donors would be their wealth, even if Mr. Paulson is having a rough go of it this year.  They want control of the offices that influence how much money they get to keep each year by pulling the strings of executive and legislative authority.  Nu Skin doesn’t want the dollars they generate overseas to be taxed any more than they already are and they would like for economic relations between the US and China to remain strong.  They fear protectionism in trade that might result from the re-election of Obama or perhaps a more populist Republican candidate like Santorum.  
Hedge fund managers like John Paulson have incentive to limit the amount of regulators in the very industry that they have worked so hard to dominate and write their own rules for.  They shouldn’t fear President Obama too much on this account as he balked at a chance to constructively reform the regulation of financial markets in 2009, but Mitt is still a much safer bet.  He is safer than the Tea Partiers that Gingrich and Santorum are fighting over.  They might demand accountability, which might be similar to regulation but I’d have to check my dictionary.  
Private equity firms like Bain Capital make money by managing investments in private equities and collecting a management fee.  It should be clear that Mr. Conrad is more concerned with protecting wealth and his strategies for growing and maintaining it than the employment numbers issues raised by the values voters of the Republican party.
How do they intend to shape the debate?  According to its website Restore Our Future is interested in Romney because of he is the Republican candidate that can put our country back on the right path as well as his  electability against President Obama.  Their ads highlight Romney’s role as a job creator, and rescuer of the Olympics, Massachusetts and potentially America.  
They are also responsible for negative ads designed to undercut Newt Gingrich’s potential supporters.  They tell voters that Obama hopes that Gingrich is his opponent and that voters should therefore support Romney.  What a ringing endorsement from your own Super PAC.  Oh yah, it isn’t legally Mitt’s.  Maybe the lukewarm endorsement is akin to a student who is cheating on a test purposefully getting one or two answers wrong to disguise their actions.  Or perhaps it just reflects on the strength of the candidate.  Their ads scold Mr. Gingrich for ethics violations, taking money from Freddie Mac and not being a real conservative.
Obama- Priorities USA - http://www.prioritiesusaaction.org; 
“Priorities USA is the Democrats’ answer to American Crossroads, but it is having trouble bringing in the money. The group raised just $5 million during the first six months of 2011. But even if it can’t keep up on the money front, Priorities USA thinks it’s got a winning strategy. It plans to play up Mitt Romney’s harsh immigration rhetoric and the GOP’s embrace of a plan that would gut Medicare as we know it,” (The Daily Beast).
Who are these people?  Three people to Priorities USA decided it was in there interest to donate $500,000 or more.  These people are Jeffrey Katzenberg of Universal City, California who contributed 2 million as well as SEIU COPE of Washington DC and Fred Eychaner of Chicago Illinois who each contributed $500,000.
Jeffrey Katzenberg is the CEO of DreamWorks Animation and an NYU dropout.  Forbes lists DreamWorks Animation as being worth 4 billion and Mr. Katzenberg is listed as worth over 1 billion (Forbes). I didn’t look in depth into any donor who donated less than $1million for Romney and I won’t for the other Super PAC’s.  People deserve to be treaty equally.
Motivations for political contributions are less clear for Hollywood executives than Wall Street types, but an easy commonality would be influence.  Any campaign donor seeks influence with the candidate.  Mr. Katzenberg is likely interested in limiting restrictions by the FCC but also protecting legal rights to media content in order to preserve his profitability.  
Priorities USA Action’s anti-Romney ads focus on the likelihood that he would enable Wall Street to avoid regulators.  The ad campaign also seeks instill fear into safety net dependent voters by highlighting that Romney could defeat the President.  
It is noteworthy that Priorities USA Action has only spent money against Mitt Romney.  They are largely saving their money for use at more effective times.  They are likely to add pro Obama spending to their current arsenal of attacking Romney.
Gingrich - Winning Our Future - http://www.winningourfuture.com/
“The super PAC dedicated to getting Newt Gingrich elected the next president of the United States is off to a good start, raising more than $10 million on the strength of two mega-donations from billionaire Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam. The organization is behind the controversial When Mitt Romney Came to Town video, which highlights the former governor’s tenure at Bain Capital,” (The Daily Beast).
Despite the knowledge that Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam are responsible for the  funding behind Winning Our Future, the Super PAC isn’t required by campaign regulators to disclose its contributors until January 31.  The same financial disclosures of $0 raised are also found in Make Us Great Again, Endorse Liberty, Our Destiny PAC, and Red, White, & Blue all of which are Super PAC’s supporting specific candidates.  Make Us Great Again and Our Destiny PAC have become less influential as their respective candidates have dropped out.  That is not to say that the money raised won’t go to a different candidate, it just hasn’t yet to the best of my knowledge.   
“Super PACs have the option of filing campaign finance reports either monthly or quarterly. Such reports detail all receipts and expenditures. Under a quirk of campaign finance law, in non-election years, PACs that opt to file quarterly are actually only required to file semi-annually, i.e., one mid-year report in July (covering Jan. through June) and one year-end report in January (covering July through Dec.). 
In addition to that filing requirement, there is a filing requirement for spending that expressly advocates for the election or defeat of a federal candidates. These filings report only the amount spent on these so-called independent expenditures. 
Thus, groups that have been quite active in the GOP presidential contests that were formed since July 1 have reported (often significant) amounts of spending but have not yet filed a report the details their receipts. All groups that raised any money in 2011 will be filing reports detailing that fundraising on Jan. 31.,” Michael Beckel Communications Department for the Center for Responsive politics informed me today.
Who are these people?  Sheldon Adelson is listed as the 8th wealthiest man in the US.  He resides in Las Vegas as generated much of his $21.5 billion net worth in casinos. In 2008 he opened the $1.9 billion Palazzo resort.  Like Katzenberg he is a college drop-out from the east coast except he dropped out of City College of New York not NYU.  His profits are closely tied to Asian markets.  I speculate that his wife Miriam’s sources of wealth and motivations are the same.
What are they interested in? Electing Newt Gingrich and the maintenance of the current financial order.  One could speculate that this PAC motivations are not all that different from Restore Our Future except they disagree on the candidate.  They appear interested in protecting wealth and enabling international trade.  
Winning Our Future has spent most of its money opposing Romney and more recently supporting Gingrich.  Their ads emphasize similarities between Romney and Obama and question his conservatism on issues such as gun control, health care, and abortion.  The ads are intended to highlight inconsistencies in Romney’s record.
House Majority PAC - Congressional Democrats- http://www.thehousemajoritypac.com; 
“The Democrats lost 63 House seats in 2010 in a historic election that handed control of the lower chamber to their Republican colleagues. But now the House Majority super PAC is trying to help liberals take back those GOP gains. So far this election season, the organization has spent more than $1.4 million against such high-profile Republicans as Tea Party favorite Rep. Allen West of Florida and Rep. Steve King of Iowa,” (The Daily Beast).
Who are these people?  Majority PAC has no contributors listed at any amount over $250,000.  The Majority PAC Super PAC’s contributors are largely from labor unions such as firefighters, teachers, and public employees.
The House Majority PAC is dedicated to the election of Democrats to the House.  They target Republican candidates with case specific attack ads.
House Majority PAC has spent all of its money opposing House Republicans.  They have spent the most money in Oregon’s District 1 in opposition to Robert Cornilles.  They have also spent against 18 other Republicans including: Chales Bass, Ann Marie Buerkle, Francisco Canseco, Jane Corwin, Chip Cravaack, Rick Crawford,  Sean Duffy, Blake Farenthold, Paul Gosar, Tim Griffom, Joe Heck, Bill Johnson, Steven King, Dan Lungren, Bobby Schilling, Scott Tipton, Robert Turner, and Allen West.
National Republicans - American Crossroads http://www.americancrossroads.org; 
“Led by Republican strategist Karl Rove, American Crossroads is hoovering up millions of dollars—close to $7 million—in donations to promote GOP candidates this election cycle. The organization is targeting President Obama specifically but is advocating for the defeat of Democrats across the country.,” (The Daily Beast).
American Crossroads has three contributors in the million plus bracket.  They are 
 Jerry Perenchio Living Trust of Los Angeles, California who managed to contribute $2million.  His contribution was matched by fellow supporter Bob J. Perry of Houston, Texas. Robert B Rowling of Irving, Texas forked over $1million.  
Who are these people?  Jerry Perenchio Living Trust, another example of a corporate person, is a TV tycoon who once represented Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor as a talent agent.  He made much of his fortune by selling Spanish-language broadcaster Univision for $13.7billion. He is the 177th riches man in the US by Forbes ratings.  Jerry Perenchio Living Trust is affiliated with Jerry Perenchio who is the chief executive of Chartwell Partners, an executive search firm.   
Bob Perry is a Texas real estate mogul who is best known for financing the Swift Vote Veterans for Truth group that ran attack ads agains John Kerry in 2004 (Reilly). He also owns Perry Homes.  
Robert B. Rowling whose net worth is valued by Forbes at 4.7billion and is the 82nd richest man in the US.  He inherited TRT Holdings from his father and is currently rebuilding an oil company called Tana Exploration as well as owning Gold’s Gym.  
This is Karl Rove’s Super PAC where former RNC Chairman Mike Duncan spends his time as Chairman of the Board.  Duncan owns two community banks and has deep ties with the Banking industry. 
American Crossroads rivals Restore Our Future for the title of the Republican Establishment.  If you ask me they are both winners.  Both are made of extremely rich men who agree on the need for Republican victories but not necessarily the candidate.
What do they hope to accomplish? They claim to be concerned with unemployment, national debt, federal spending, and challenges to American military power.  Somehow I doubt that the media mogul, the real estate mogul and the oil man are that deeply concerned with anything but themselves.  They seek to elect national Republicans to both the White House and the legislature because they want to protect their money.     
American Crossroads uses both pro-candidate ads for Republicans as it has with Mark Amodei, Jane Corwin and Jack Davis, as well as attack ads against opposing Democrats such as Barack Obama, Claire McCaskill, Kate Marshall and Kathleen Hochul. 
Ron Paul - Endorse Liberty http://www.endorseliberty.com; 
Endorse Liberty’s ads claim that they are Anti-tax, Isolationist, anti-welfare state, small government, anti excessive Washington spending, anti federal reserve and enjoy a widespread support among military veterans.  Endorse Liberty’s donors will not be disclosed until January 31.  This makes it difficult to consider their motivations other than what they have stated.  I would suggest that when their names are revealed, differences between their stated interests and the interests implied by their income sources will become apparent.  
Endorse Liberty’s ads have been spent on entirely supportive ones in favor of Ron Paul.    Endorse Liberty has chosen not to use its influence to run negative ads.  
Red White & Blue Rick Santorum 
Like Endorse Liberty, Make Us Great Again, Winning Our Future, and Our Destiny, Red White & Blue will not be disclosing it’s donors until January 31.  Billionaire Foster Friess is known to have donated a “good chunk” of the Super PAC’s money.  He is from Rice Lake, Wisconsin.  He sold Friess Associates, his investment management firm in 2001.  
“Friess made his fortune running mutual funds and is a keen stock picker. He's a veteran supporter of conservative causes, a born-again Christian and an ally of the much-richer Koch brothers, wealthy industrialists who bankroll many conservative causes. Friess said he'd called several wealthy friends to urge them to back Santorum, a former Pennsylvania congressman and senator, by helping the super PAC,” (Stone).
Red White & Blue has spent the majority of its funds in support of Rick Santorum while more recently buying an ad opposing Gingrich.  I would guess that they feel that they can beat Romney in a head to head contest but there is a big Newt standing in their way.  
Make us Great Again Rick Perry and Our Destiny- John Huntsman 
Both of these Super PAC’s have lost their steam with their candidate’s respective withdrawals.  Luckily they aren’t in any way coordinated and its possible that any left over money could still be used to help Republicans.  Our Destiny only spent in support of Huntsman just as Make Us Great Again only spent in support of Rick Perry.
Make sure to take the time to thank the Supreme Court for freeing billionaires from restraints on campaign spending.  The executive’s who make up the Super PAC All-Stars really needed new ways to throw away their pocket change.  If you have political feelings you should hope that the billionaires who think most like you support the best candidate and hire the best ad firm to get them elected.
This data should be a little troubling for Mr. Romney as he has to date presented the best campaign that money can buy.  He has lost two of three contests.  It is quite possible that rank and file Republicans will reject the establishments candidate in Romney, making his leading Super PAC funds a waste.  Luckily I think that the contributors will be able to soldier though any potential financial losses.
Utah.gov, Entity Details for Eli Publishing, L,C.  https://secure.utah.gov/bes/action/details?entity=2035057-0160; 
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