Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson has discussed directing $20 million to an outside group backing Newt Gingrich’s presidential campaign, multiple sources told POLITICO – a good sign for allies who have been pushing the former speaker’s longtime billionaire supporters to sign on.
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“I’ve made no commitment to anybody. Now, doesn’t mean I won’t in the future, but up ‘til now, no commitment has been made and no amount has been stated,” he said, refusing to answer questions about whether he’d met with representatives of the super PACs supporting Gingrich.
“I’m not telling you who I talked to,” he said, explaining that he “would prefer to stay under the radar,” despite his high-profile in the business world. “But when it comes to political issues, or my personal issues or my philanthropic issues, I only allow anything to be done, I never talk about what I’m going to do to anybody. All I just do is do.”
After leaving Congress, Gingrich cultivated a network of a few dozen uber-wealthy backers who poured tens of millions of dollars into a network of groups that helped him maintain a foothold in politics. Now, operatives supporting his presidential campaign are asking those same donors to write fat checks to a suite of new super PACs they hope can spend big on ads to offset Gingrich campaign fundraising that had lagged behind his rivals’.
Adelson is considered the prized get for pro-Gingrich groups.
Many major donors prefer to keep their activity low-profile, though federal rules require super PACs to disclose their donors in the coming weeks.
Sources with direct knowledge of the $20 million figure, who requested anonymity, told POLITICO that Adelson planned to cut a check to one of the PACs as soon as this week.
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That changed as Gingrich’s campaign started surging last month, prompting his allies to create new outside groups known as super PACs that can accept unlimited funds to air ads supporting him.
Perhaps the leading player in the pro-Gingrich super PAC space, Winning Our Future, was unveiled this week and is being headed by Becky Burkett, who was the lead fundraiser for Gingrich’s main political vehicle over the past few years, the fundraising juggernaut American Solutions for Winning the Future.
That group raised $54 million — including $7.7 million from Adelson — between its late 2006 creation and its collapse this year after Gingrich left it to run for president, according to Internal Revenue Service filings.
On Tuesday, Burkett declined to detail her relationship with Adelson, telling POLITICO, “I certainly know him through American Solutions,” but added, “I have not spoken to him” about Winning Our Future.
Charlie Smith, who runs another new pro-Gingrich super PAC called Solutions 2012, said the group’s fundraiser, Jerry Seppala, “does have a relationship with Sheldon,” but stressed he “won’t comment on our contacts with any specific donor or whether anyone particular person has given.”
And Craig Bachler, an official at a third super PAC called Spirit of America Solutions that is generally supportive of — but does not intend to endorse — Gingrich, also declined to discuss Adelson specifically. But he did add suggestively that his group got “a major commitment out of Nevada that the individual is big into donating money to Newt and I think is sharing the wealth with not just one PAC.”
While Burkett’s group is expected to emerge as the biggest pro-Gingrich super PAC, it’s unclear to which super PAC Adelson made the $20 million planned commitment, or how much money he intended to give directly versus raise through his network.
But a former official at one of Gingrich’s groups who is not involved in the presidential campaign or super PACs said that if Adelson “does end up giving big, he could really make a significant impact on this election.”
Asked why he wants Gingrich to be elected president, Adelson used a culinary analogy, asking POLITICO “Why do you want to have a steak for dinner? … Steak tastes good. OK, well who would be good for the country? That’s why I want him to be president.”
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