Foreign Firm Gives $1 Million to Romney Super-PAC

Source: Mother Jones/Center for Public Integrity

This story first appeared on the Center for Public Integrity's website.

A million-dollar donation by a foreign-owned corporation to a Republican super-PAC has raised legal concerns and opened up the controversial Citizens United Supreme Court decision to new criticism.

Restore Our Future, the super-PAC supporting Republican Mitt Romney's run for president, received a $1 million donation in mid-August from reinsurance company OdysseyRe of Connecticut, a "wholly-owned subsidiary" of Canadian insurance and investment management giant Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited.

Fairfax Financial's founder is Indian-born V. Prem Watsa. Watsa serves as CEO and chairman and owns or controls 45 percent of the company's shares. He is also the chairman of the board of OdysseyRe, the American subsidiary.

The law says that any foreign national is prohibited from "directly or indirectly" contributing money to influence US elections. That means no campaign donations, no donations to super-PACs, and no funding of political advertisements.

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The company is the subject of an IRS whistleblower's complaint, according to the New York Times, alleging that it received an unwarranted tax break of $400 million between 2003 and 2006, a claim Fairfax disputes.

The $1 million donation will likely be used for attack ads against President Barack Obama. And with less than five weeks until Election Day, $1 million is no insignificant amount. It's enough to buy at least a week or two's worth of ads in critical media markets. It also represents one-seventh of the money Restore Our Future collected in August.

Lovell said the company decided to donate because it favors Romney's stance on tax policy.

Read more: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/10/canadian-foreign-donation-super-pac-restore-our-future