Sheldon Adelson Spent Far More On Campaign Than Previously Known (150 Million)
Source: Huffington Post
WASHINGTON -- Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson vowed to spend as much as $100 million to defeat President Barack Obama and help the GOP take control of Congress. According to two GOP fundraisers with close ties to the Las Vegas billionaire, he made good on that promise -- and then some. Adelson ultimately upped the ante, spending closer to a previously unreported $150 million, the fundraisers said.
Adelson, a fierce critic of Obamas foreign and domestic policies, has said that his humongous spending was spurred chiefly by his fear that a second Obama term would bring "vilification of people that were against him." As that second term begins, Adelson's international casino empire faces a rough road, with two federal criminal investigations into his business.
This coming week, Adelson plans to visit Washington, according to three separate GOP sources familiar with his travel schedule. While here, hes arranged Hill meetings with at least one House GOP leader in which he is expected to discuss key issues, including possible changes to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the anti-bribery law that undergirds one federal probe into his casino network, according to a Republican attorney with knowledge of his plans.
During the election, Adelson told Politico that the Justice Department investigation, and the way he felt treated by prosecutors, was a primary motivation for his investment in Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and other GOP candidates. He put his money where his mouth was. The two GOP fundraisers, both with strong ties to Adelson, said that the casino mogul dished out close to $150 million, including between $30 million and $40 million to the Karl Rove-founded Crossroads GPS and at least $15 million to grassroots efforts with financial links to Charles and David Koch. Among other major beneficiaries of Adelsons largess were the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which received almost $5 million from Adelson, and the Republican Jewish Coalition, which got the bulk of its $6.5 million budget from him, the fundraisers said.
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/03/sheldon-adelson-2012-election_n_2223589.html
Berlum
(7,044 posts)Sheesh. No wonder everyone recognizes by now that hypocrisy inhabits the rotting core of the Republican soul.
They wander the land preaching their so-called Republican Family Values, then slip into the alley for a quicke with a Las Vegas bagman. Again and again and again. As usual with republicans, their glorious moralizing words in no way match the degenerate reality they actually inhabit.
olddad56
(5,732 posts)marble falls
(56,359 posts)while he can.
blueclown
(1,869 posts)Raise the top marginal tax rate on incomes over $2 million to 75%. Double the long-term capital gains rate from 15% to 30%. It'll goa long way towards decreasing our deficit.
surrealAmerican
(11,340 posts)... of those bribery charges, doesn't it?
Could he wind up in jail over this?
bemildred
(90,061 posts)oberliner
(58,724 posts)If that.
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)What we really need are income redistribution mechanisms. I know, raise the minimum wage.
Oh yeah, and tax the rich
Island Deac
(103 posts)to OFA was a better investment.
catbyte
(34,174 posts)instead of pissing it away on his greedy, selfish attempt to influence peddle the Republican nominee. Oh well. I know it's just a drop in the bucket to that scumbag, but I'm still glad he wasted it.
blue_heron
(223 posts)There is an ironic sense of humor that he gambled SOOOOO big and totally LOST! What quintessential Vegas behavior. Karma at its best. Thank god he failed. Maybe this could be used to get Citizen's United overturned, that this unlimited political donations is really just bribery!
HughBeaumont
(24,461 posts)crazylikafox
(2,739 posts)Dog Gone at Penigma
(433 posts)They have a 90%+ success rate.
So while Adelson has not been convicted yet, it certainly LOOKS as if he is guilty as charged, and is using more domestic corruption to try to get out of his foreign corruption problems.
This man is no 'poor victim', he's a rich criminal.
Renew Deal
(81,802 posts)Ha!
byeya
(2,842 posts)Ligyron
(7,592 posts)It's time to replace him with someone like, dare I say it? Elliot Spitzer, F.I..
byeya
(2,842 posts)heaven05
(18,124 posts)A drop in the bucket for a sucker like this. What GOP leader is he meeting with? Will the corruption law be changed at his behest? I hope these investigations shed some light on the slime under his rock.
no_hypocrisy
(45,774 posts)for any republican.
JohnnyRingo
(18,581 posts)Look at all the jobs he created in attacking Obama. And they complained that the stimulus was inneffective and a waste of money.
Imagine if Shel's taxes went up $150b last year. He'd say he has to close down.
n2doc
(47,953 posts)starroute
(12,977 posts)This is the origin of the law that Adelson wants repealed -- from a fascinating article that just appeared at Salon on one of the weirder figures in CIA history.
http://www.salon.com/2012/12/02/better_than_bourne_who_really_killed_nick_deak/
Sen. Frank Church inflicted the first hit on Deaks public image in 1975. During the Idaho senators famous hearings into CIA black ops, it was revealed that Deaks Hong Kong branch helped the agency funnel millions in Lockheed bribe money to a Japanese yakuza don, political power broker, and former Class A war criminal named Yoshio Kodama. One of the most bizarre details involved a priest-turned-bagman who carried over 20 pounds of cash hidden under baskets of oranges on flights between Hong Kong and Tokyo, where he delivered the cash to Lockheed representatives.
Deaks firm was not penalized for its role in the scandal bribing foreign officials wasnt yet illegal in the U.S. but the damage to his firms image was real. The scandal brought down Japans government and governments in Western Europe; it also led to the passage of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the first serious attempt to criminalize overseas bribery.
FSogol
(45,360 posts)davsand
(13,420 posts)He needs an adviser from the Illinois school of graft and corruption. Everybody knows you have to give money to BOTH sides so you are "protected" no matter who wins. You'd THINK somebody from Vegas would know how to hedge his bets!
Laura
This was intended as sarcasm in case you couldn't tell...
Raine
(30,540 posts)jmowreader
(50,453 posts)Sheldon Adelson bet $150 million on a presidential election and lost. If he's this bad of a gambler, he must be making his money on food and beverage service and convention space.