Friday, February 03, 2012 2:58:46 AM
Romney relying heavily on small group of super-rich donors
Super-donors supporting Romney
A super PAC, one of a new type of independent political group, supporting Mitt Romney has raised a lot of money from very wealthy donors to boost his candidacy. President Obama has taken a dual track of gathering money from small donors while also collecting big checks for the Democratic National Committee. Obama is well ahead overall, but the main super PAC supporting his bid has had anemic fundraising.
[ http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/super-donors-supporting-romney/2012/02/01/gIQAsAv7iQ_graphic.html ]
The big spenders behind the super PACs
A list of the biggest donors to super PACs backing each of the presidential candidates.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/super-pacs-2012/
By Dan Eggen and T.W. Farnam, Published: February 1, 2012
One of Mitt Romney’s strongest assets as the GOP presidential front-runner is also a potentially serious liability in the race: his heavy reliance on a small group of millionaires and billionaires for financial support.
A quarter of the money amassed by Romney’s campaign and an allied super PAC has come from just 41 people, each of whom has given more than $100,000, according to a Washington Post analysis of disclosure data. Nearly a dozen of the donors have contributed $1 million or more.
The preponderance of mega-rich supporters [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/pro-romney-super-pac-raised-179-million/2012/01/31/gIQA6kDzgQ_story.html ] poses a political challenge for Romney, who has struggled for weeks over questions about his vast wealth, his history as a private equity manager and a series of gaffes that seemed to highlight his privileged station. He stumbled again on Wednesday when he told a CNN interviewer that he was “not concerned about the very poor, because they have a safety net.”
Some of Romney’s biggest supporters [id.] include executives at Bain Capital, his former firm; bankers at Goldman Sachs; and a hedge fund mogul who made billions betting on the housing crash. These and other donor details follow the release last week of Romney’s tax returns, which showed millions held in the Cayman Islands and other overseas havens and a tax rate that is far lower than that paid by most American workers.
The revelations come at a time when President Obama and other Democrats are increasing their focus [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/mitt-romney-plays-into-democrats-looming-rich-guy-attacks/2012/02/01/gIQAla1yhQ_blog.html ] on economic fairness issues ahead of the 2012 elections, including calls to increase tax rates on millionaires and close tax loopholes on investment income. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) said at a news conference Wednesday that hedge-fund managers are helping Romney because he opposes higher tax rates for a type of investment income, known as “carried interest,” that primarily benefits the wealthy.
“Of course these guys are going to give a million dollars,” Franken said. “What a bargain — what a bargain to give that to a candidate who they know will veto a bill that makes the carried interest subject to the top” income tax rate.
Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul objected to such criticism and said 84 percent of the campaign’s donations in the fourth quarter last year were $250 or less. Meanwhile, the candidate sought to clarify his remarks to CNN [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/romney-im-not-concerned-with-the-very-poor/2012/02/01/gIQAvajShQ_blog.html (the post to which this is a reply)] about the poor, saying they were taken out of context.
“Wealthy people are doing fine,” Romney said. “But my focus in the campaign is on middle-income people. Of course I’m concerned about all Americans — poor, wealthy, middle-class — but the focus of my effort will be on middle-income families who I think have been most hurt by the Obama economy.”
The president has acquired nearly half of his campaign war chest from small-money donors, raising more from contributions of $200 or less than the Romney campaign has brought in overall, disclosure data show. Romney’s GOP rivals also have raised a larger proportion of their money from small donors.
Paul Begala, a longtime Democratic strategist who advises a pro-Obama group called Priorities USA [ http://www.prioritiesusaaction.org/ ], argues that Romney’s close connections to the super-rich exacerbate his problems relating to regular voters. Romney has generally fared poorly among lower-income voters in early GOP contests, particularly in his loss to Newt Gingrich in South Carolina on Jan. 21.
“He is of the rich, by the rich and for the rich,” Begala wrote in an e-mail. “He is Thurston Howell III: born rich and getting richer every day. .?.?. Mitt’s policies would definitely favor the over-privileged, and monarchs don’t start revolutions.”
GOP strategist Ed Rogers, who has not endorsed a candidate in 2012, said Romney’s stereotype as “a rich, detached banker” will have to be “managed, not solved.”
“Eventually, Romney’s private-business experience should be a net plus after having to watch Obama struggle with on-the-job-training and displaying no clue about how the private economy works,” Rogers said.
An Obama campaign spokesman declined to comment about Romney’s donors.
The president has plenty of wealthy benefactors as well, including 445 “bundlers” who have raised $50,000 or more for his reelection effort, stacked heavily with money from Hollywood, Silicon Valley and New York. The Priorities USA super PAC also has collected a handful of large donations from heavyweights, including $2 million from Dreamworks chief executive Jeffrey Katzenberg — a top Obama bundler — and $100,000 from movie director Steven Spielberg.
Romney has declined to name his bundlers, except for those required to be identified by law because they are lobbyists. But the roster of donors to a pro-Romney super PAC called Restore Our Future offers a revealing guide to some of his biggest financial supporters.
Ten donors to Restore Our Future gave $1 million to the group last year and another gave $2 million, accounting for 40 percent of the group’s $30 million in donations. The group’s treasurer declined to comment.
Four of the $1 million donors are New York-based hedge fund managers: Paul Singer, founder of Elliott Management; Robert Mercer of Renaissance Technologies; Julian Robertson of Tiger Management; and John Paulson, founder of Paulson and Co., who famously made $5 billion in one year by betting on the mortgage crisis.
If Romney becomes the GOP nominee, he will benefit from other Republican-aligned groups that have begun to attack Obama. One such group, American Crossroads, raised $51 million in 2011, including $7 million from Dallas billionaire Harold Simmons and his firm, Contran.
Romney’s super PAC has received a greater share of money from corporate coffers than his competitors have. The PAC reported raising $8.4 million from corporations in 2011, about 28 percent of its total fundraising.
Consol Energy, an $8 billion company publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange, gave $150,000 to Restore Our Future. The company’s chief executive is J. Brett Harvey, a member of Romney’s Pennsylvania finance committee.
“It is common practice for CONSOL Energy to support political candidates that share a similar philosophy as it relates to a domestic energy policy,” the company said in a statement, adding that “Mitt Romney has articulated and embraced such an approach.”
Staff writer Paul Kane contributed to this report.
© 2012 The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mitt-romney-relying-heavily-on-small-group-of-super-rich-donors/2012/02/01/gIQAFVB4iQ_story.html [with comments]
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Secrecy Shrouds ‘Super PAC’ Funds in Latest Filings
Mitt Romney campaigned Wednesday in Eagan, Minn. Mr. Romney has received heavy support from outside groups with limited accountability.
Ben Garvin/St. Paul Pioneer Press, via Associated Press
Interactive Graphic
Who’s Financing the ‘Super PACs’
The Times tracked donors to “super PACs” as they filed reports on Tuesday detailing their activities in the final three months of 2011. Unlike candidates, who can raise a maximum of $2,500 per person for each election, super PACs are independent from candidates and can raise unlimited amounts from individuals, corporations and labor unions, and spend unlimited amounts to support or oppose a candidate.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/01/31/us/politics/super-pac-donors.html
Interactive Graphic
The 2012 Money Race: Compare the Candidates
The presidential candidates have raised more than $186 million for their campaigns to date, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. Mitt Romney leads among Republicans, but Rick Perry had an aggressive entry. However, President Obama easily outpaced his rivals.
http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/campaign-finance
Harold Simmons donated to "super PACs" supporting Republican presidential candidates.
Flor Cordero/Reuters
John A. Griffin also donated to "super PACs" supporting Republican presidential candidates.
Scott Eells/Bloomberg News
By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE and MICHAEL LUO
Published: February 1, 2012
Newly disclosed details of the millions of dollars flowing into political groups are highlighting not just the scale of donations from corporation and unions but also the secrecy surrounding “super PACs” seeking to influence the presidential race.
Some of the money came from well-established concerns, like Alpha Natural Resources, one of the country’s largest coal companies, which is backing Republican-aligned American Crossroads, or from the Service Employees International Union, a powerful union allied with Democrats, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.
Some came from companies closely identified with prominent industrialists or financiers, like Contran, a mammoth holding company controlled by the Texas billionaire Harold Simmons, a patron of a number of conservative groups and candidates, and Blue Ridge Capital, a New York hedge fund founded by the wealthy investor John A. Griffin, a supporter of Mitt Romney.
But some checks came from sources obscured from public view, like a $250,000 contribution to a super PAC backing Mr. Romney from a company with a post office box for a headquarters and no known employees.
President Obama continues to outraise all of the candidates seeking the Republican nomination by large margins when it comes to money that goes directly into campaign coffers. But the money race is increasingly focused on outside groups that are legally not allowed to coordinate directly with campaigns but pay for advertising and other activities that support particular candidates.
Most of the money disclosed this week went to independent groups supporting Republicans, giving them an enormous money advantage over similar Democratic groups in the first phase of the 2012 election cycle. Such donations were made possible by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision in 2010 and subsequent court rulings, which opened the door to unlimited corporate and union contributions to political committees and made it possible to pool that money with unlimited contributions from wealthy individuals.
But the full scope of such giving is impossible to ascertain from federal campaign filings: Much of the money raised by the leading Republican and Democratic independent groups went into affiliated nonprofit organizations that are more restricted in how they can spend the money but do not have to disclose their donors.
The contributions have already helped the Republican Party’s elite donor class, who increasingly favor Mr. Romney, regain some control over the party’s nominating process. Many of the party’s top givers sent checks to Restore Our Future, the pro-Romney group, underwriting an advertising campaign that battered Mr. Romney’s Republican rivals even as Mr. Romney himself struggled to win the trust of the party’s restive conservative base.
Mr. Romney, who assailed Newt Gingrich in Florida last week for “working as a lobbyist and selling influence around Washington,” also got a major boost from some of the Republican Party’s top corporate lobbyists, who raised more than a million dollars in checks for Mr. Romney’s campaign during the last three months of 2011.
Patrick Durkin, a lobbyist for Barclay’s, raised over $400,000 in contributions. Bruce A. Gates, a lobbyist for Altria, the parent company of Philip Morris USA, raised $275,000. And Austin Barbour, a Mississippi lobbyist and nephew of the state’s former governor, Haley Barbour, raised $210,700 in contributions.
Restore Our Future raised at least $5.8 million from corporations during the last six months of last year, along with $12.2 million from individuals. American Crossroads raised $4.6 million from corporations and $7 million from individuals. Priorities USA and two other Democratic-leaning super PACs raised about $1,835,000 from individuals, $1.3 million from political action committees affiliated with labor unions and other groups, and about $415,700 from other organizations.
Groups supportive of each party employed a technique that allows them to cloak the identities of many of their donors. Those groups, including Crossroads and Priorities USA, have affiliates that are organized as nonprofit organizations known as 501(c)(4) groups, which can raise unlimited money but do not have to reveal their donors. Donors wishing to remain anonymous have the option of making their contributions to those nonprofit groups, which raised tens of millions of dollars in 2011, according to officials at the groups.
“While we now know some names of some people giving megabucks, we know nothing about the funders of the nonprofits,” said Ellen S. Miller, the executive director of the Sunlight Foundation, which advocates for greater transparency in political giving. “We don’t know what we don’t know.”
Even donors who chose not to give via nonprofit affiliates can find ways to guard their identities by giving through a limited liability corporation or other entity that is hard to trace.
For example, Restore Our Future received a $250,000 contribution last August from “Glenbrook LLC,” which listed an address on Lagoon Drive in Redwood City, Calif.
The suite number provided on Federal Election Commission records matches one occupied by a certified public accounting firm, Seiler LLP. But an official with the firm told a reporter who went to the address that it could not discuss its clients.
A search of corporate records revealed at least eight different Glenbrook LLCs around the country. The only one registered with the California secretary of state is located in San Francisco and is connected to a wealth management firm, Monte Vista Management. But Morton Pactor, who manages the firm, said in a telephone interview that his office was not connected to the donation.
The pro-Romney super PAC also accepted a $250,000 check last summer from Paumanok Partners LLC. The donor listed only a post office box in New Canaan, Conn., outside New York City, in campaign finance records.
A Paumanok Partners LLC is registered with the New York State Department of State with an address in East Northport, N.Y., but about a dozen different companies appear in phone listings for the address, none of them Paumanok Partners.
Other corporate donations, while initially appearing opaque, were easier to trace back to the probable source after combing through corporate records. A contribution of $100,000, for instance, came from “Slocum and Associates” in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Records filed with the Utah State Department of Commerce revealed the president of the entity to be Jonathan W. Bullen, a real estate investor who is also owner and president of Provo College, Eagle Gate College and Evolution Fitness. Mr. Bullen was a national finance co-chairman for Mr. Romney’s campaign in 2008. He did not return a call or e-mail seeking comment about his donation.
In another example, “Pita Raleigh LLC” in Salisbury, N.C., contributed $50,000 to the super PAC in late December. Corporate and campaign finance records show the company’s link to Bill Graham, a Salisbury lawyer who personally contributed $50,000 to the Restore Our Future in late June.
He did not return a call seeking comment about the donation.
Kitty Bennett, Griff Palmer and Katharine Mieszkowski contributed reporting.
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Related
Downturn and Upstarts Transform Nevada’s G.O.P. Caucuses (February 2, 2012)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/us/politics/hardship-has-changed-nevada-since-2008-caucuses.html
‘Poor’ Quote by Romney Joins a List Critics Love (February 2, 2012)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/us/politics/poor-quote-by-romney-seized-on-by-his-critics.html
Obama’s Oblique Attacks Hint at Romney as Expected Rival (February 2, 2012)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/us/politics/obama-proposes-mortgage-relief-with-romney-in-mind.html
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© 2012 The New York Times Company
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/us/politics/super-pac-filings-show-power-and-secrecy.html [ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/us/politics/super-pac-filings-show-power-and-secrecy.html?pagewanted=all ] [with comments]
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Watch Donald Trump Endorse Mitt Romney for GOP Presidential Candidate
Uploaded by PBSNewsHour on Feb 2, 2012
Business magnate Donald Trump endorsed former governor Mitt Romney for president Thursday afternoon In Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Mitt Romney And Donald Trump: They Both Like Firing People
Uploaded by DemRapidResponse on Feb 2, 2012
DNC Video: "Mitt Romney And Donald Trump: They Both Like Firing People"
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Not Concerned
Uploaded by DemRapidResponse on Feb 1, 2012
DNC Web Video: "Not Concerned"
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What Romney meant to say
Oops.
(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) (Ethan Miller - GETTY IMAGES)
By Alexandra Petri
Posted at 07:15 PM ET, 02/02/2012
Mitt Romney, in an interview airing tonight, now claims that his already infamous “I’m not concerned about the very poor” was a misstatement.
“It was a misstatement [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/romney-says-he-misspoke-about-lack-of-concern-for-poor/2012/02/02/gIQAAH8IlQ_blog.html ],” he told Jon Ralston. “I misspoke.”
I think Romney needs a refresher on what “misspeaking” means.
See, there's a subtle but meaningful distinction between “misspeaking” and “wishing you hadn’t said anything at all.”
Or maybe this is a problem he has a lot.
“Honey,” Ann asks, “do I look fat in this dress?”
“Yes,” Romney says. “You look fat.”
Ann looks at him, bewildered.
“Sorry,” Romney says, after a pause. “That was a misstatement. I misspoke. I meant to say, ‘Absolutely not, you are as beautiful as the day I married you.’ But somehow it came out as, ‘Yes, you look fat.’”
“Ah,” Ann says, looking unconvinced.
“Hey, Mitt, how’s it hanging?” Rick Perry asks.
“Fine, Rick, because unlike you, I am a human being with more than a teaspoonful of brain, and I know how to put together complete sentences!”
“Gee, that seems uncalled for,” Perry says, after a moment.
“Sorry,” Romney says, blinking repeatedly. “That was a misstatement. I misspoke. I meant to say, ‘Hi.’”
Perry edges uncomfortably away.
“Mitt is tough, he's smart, he’s sharp, he’s not going to continue to allow bad things to happen to this country that we all love,” says Donald Trump.
“OH MY GOD! WHAT HAVE I DONE! THIS IS A TRAVESTY OF THE POLITICAL PROCESS! I AM ASHAMED TO BE ON THIS STAGE!” Mitt screams.
“Huh?” Donald mutters.
“That was a misstatement. I misspoke. I meant to say, ‘Thank you, Donald, for the endorsement.’”
And so on.
Generally, when people misspeak, they have something else in mind that they wanted to say, something similar that’s easy to get tripped up by as it rolls off the tongue, not just a vague and generalized regret that they opened their mouths.
“I’ve said something that is similar to that but quite acceptable for a long time,” Romney notes [another flat-out lie, by the way; at least one of the MSNBC shows Wednesday evening showed video of Romney saying EXACTLY the same thing, word for word, as part of his canned stump talk at multiple recent campaign appearances; what happened on CNN was that for the first time someone actually asked him what he meant by it when he said it, from memory, again].
“When I said I was not concerned about the very poor,” Romney should explain, “I misspoke. I only meant to think it. It was the speaking part that was the mistake area.”
Can we do this now?
This reminds me of those Autocorrect stories found on the Web.
“Hey bro… can you help me move?“ one guy texts.
“Maybe you should get your act together and get a job…then you wouldn’t be stuck in your parents’ basement,” replies his friend. “Sorry. Autocorrect. I meant to write, sure, I’d be glad to.”
That’s not quite how talking works.
Misspeaking and wishing you hadn’t opened your mouth are not quite the same.
“I misspoke,” Romney said. To borrow a phrase from Mike Birbiglia, “what I should have said was nothing.”
© 2012 The Washington Post (emphasis in original)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/post/what-romney-meant-to-say/2012/02/02/gIQA5YkSlQ_blog.html [with comments]
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(linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=69610380 and preceding and following
Super-donors supporting Romney
A super PAC, one of a new type of independent political group, supporting Mitt Romney has raised a lot of money from very wealthy donors to boost his candidacy. President Obama has taken a dual track of gathering money from small donors while also collecting big checks for the Democratic National Committee. Obama is well ahead overall, but the main super PAC supporting his bid has had anemic fundraising.
[ http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/super-donors-supporting-romney/2012/02/01/gIQAsAv7iQ_graphic.html ]
The big spenders behind the super PACs
A list of the biggest donors to super PACs backing each of the presidential candidates.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/super-pacs-2012/
By Dan Eggen and T.W. Farnam, Published: February 1, 2012
One of Mitt Romney’s strongest assets as the GOP presidential front-runner is also a potentially serious liability in the race: his heavy reliance on a small group of millionaires and billionaires for financial support.
A quarter of the money amassed by Romney’s campaign and an allied super PAC has come from just 41 people, each of whom has given more than $100,000, according to a Washington Post analysis of disclosure data. Nearly a dozen of the donors have contributed $1 million or more.
The preponderance of mega-rich supporters [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/pro-romney-super-pac-raised-179-million/2012/01/31/gIQA6kDzgQ_story.html ] poses a political challenge for Romney, who has struggled for weeks over questions about his vast wealth, his history as a private equity manager and a series of gaffes that seemed to highlight his privileged station. He stumbled again on Wednesday when he told a CNN interviewer that he was “not concerned about the very poor, because they have a safety net.”
Some of Romney’s biggest supporters [id.] include executives at Bain Capital, his former firm; bankers at Goldman Sachs; and a hedge fund mogul who made billions betting on the housing crash. These and other donor details follow the release last week of Romney’s tax returns, which showed millions held in the Cayman Islands and other overseas havens and a tax rate that is far lower than that paid by most American workers.
The revelations come at a time when President Obama and other Democrats are increasing their focus [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/mitt-romney-plays-into-democrats-looming-rich-guy-attacks/2012/02/01/gIQAla1yhQ_blog.html ] on economic fairness issues ahead of the 2012 elections, including calls to increase tax rates on millionaires and close tax loopholes on investment income. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) said at a news conference Wednesday that hedge-fund managers are helping Romney because he opposes higher tax rates for a type of investment income, known as “carried interest,” that primarily benefits the wealthy.
“Of course these guys are going to give a million dollars,” Franken said. “What a bargain — what a bargain to give that to a candidate who they know will veto a bill that makes the carried interest subject to the top” income tax rate.
Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul objected to such criticism and said 84 percent of the campaign’s donations in the fourth quarter last year were $250 or less. Meanwhile, the candidate sought to clarify his remarks to CNN [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/romney-im-not-concerned-with-the-very-poor/2012/02/01/gIQAvajShQ_blog.html (the post to which this is a reply)] about the poor, saying they were taken out of context.
“Wealthy people are doing fine,” Romney said. “But my focus in the campaign is on middle-income people. Of course I’m concerned about all Americans — poor, wealthy, middle-class — but the focus of my effort will be on middle-income families who I think have been most hurt by the Obama economy.”
The president has acquired nearly half of his campaign war chest from small-money donors, raising more from contributions of $200 or less than the Romney campaign has brought in overall, disclosure data show. Romney’s GOP rivals also have raised a larger proportion of their money from small donors.
Paul Begala, a longtime Democratic strategist who advises a pro-Obama group called Priorities USA [ http://www.prioritiesusaaction.org/ ], argues that Romney’s close connections to the super-rich exacerbate his problems relating to regular voters. Romney has generally fared poorly among lower-income voters in early GOP contests, particularly in his loss to Newt Gingrich in South Carolina on Jan. 21.
“He is of the rich, by the rich and for the rich,” Begala wrote in an e-mail. “He is Thurston Howell III: born rich and getting richer every day. .?.?. Mitt’s policies would definitely favor the over-privileged, and monarchs don’t start revolutions.”
GOP strategist Ed Rogers, who has not endorsed a candidate in 2012, said Romney’s stereotype as “a rich, detached banker” will have to be “managed, not solved.”
“Eventually, Romney’s private-business experience should be a net plus after having to watch Obama struggle with on-the-job-training and displaying no clue about how the private economy works,” Rogers said.
An Obama campaign spokesman declined to comment about Romney’s donors.
The president has plenty of wealthy benefactors as well, including 445 “bundlers” who have raised $50,000 or more for his reelection effort, stacked heavily with money from Hollywood, Silicon Valley and New York. The Priorities USA super PAC also has collected a handful of large donations from heavyweights, including $2 million from Dreamworks chief executive Jeffrey Katzenberg — a top Obama bundler — and $100,000 from movie director Steven Spielberg.
Romney has declined to name his bundlers, except for those required to be identified by law because they are lobbyists. But the roster of donors to a pro-Romney super PAC called Restore Our Future offers a revealing guide to some of his biggest financial supporters.
Ten donors to Restore Our Future gave $1 million to the group last year and another gave $2 million, accounting for 40 percent of the group’s $30 million in donations. The group’s treasurer declined to comment.
Four of the $1 million donors are New York-based hedge fund managers: Paul Singer, founder of Elliott Management; Robert Mercer of Renaissance Technologies; Julian Robertson of Tiger Management; and John Paulson, founder of Paulson and Co., who famously made $5 billion in one year by betting on the mortgage crisis.
If Romney becomes the GOP nominee, he will benefit from other Republican-aligned groups that have begun to attack Obama. One such group, American Crossroads, raised $51 million in 2011, including $7 million from Dallas billionaire Harold Simmons and his firm, Contran.
Romney’s super PAC has received a greater share of money from corporate coffers than his competitors have. The PAC reported raising $8.4 million from corporations in 2011, about 28 percent of its total fundraising.
Consol Energy, an $8 billion company publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange, gave $150,000 to Restore Our Future. The company’s chief executive is J. Brett Harvey, a member of Romney’s Pennsylvania finance committee.
“It is common practice for CONSOL Energy to support political candidates that share a similar philosophy as it relates to a domestic energy policy,” the company said in a statement, adding that “Mitt Romney has articulated and embraced such an approach.”
Staff writer Paul Kane contributed to this report.
© 2012 The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mitt-romney-relying-heavily-on-small-group-of-super-rich-donors/2012/02/01/gIQAFVB4iQ_story.html [with comments]
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Secrecy Shrouds ‘Super PAC’ Funds in Latest Filings
Mitt Romney campaigned Wednesday in Eagan, Minn. Mr. Romney has received heavy support from outside groups with limited accountability.
Ben Garvin/St. Paul Pioneer Press, via Associated Press
Interactive Graphic
Who’s Financing the ‘Super PACs’
The Times tracked donors to “super PACs” as they filed reports on Tuesday detailing their activities in the final three months of 2011. Unlike candidates, who can raise a maximum of $2,500 per person for each election, super PACs are independent from candidates and can raise unlimited amounts from individuals, corporations and labor unions, and spend unlimited amounts to support or oppose a candidate.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/01/31/us/politics/super-pac-donors.html
Interactive Graphic
The 2012 Money Race: Compare the Candidates
The presidential candidates have raised more than $186 million for their campaigns to date, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. Mitt Romney leads among Republicans, but Rick Perry had an aggressive entry. However, President Obama easily outpaced his rivals.
http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/campaign-finance
Harold Simmons donated to "super PACs" supporting Republican presidential candidates.
Flor Cordero/Reuters
John A. Griffin also donated to "super PACs" supporting Republican presidential candidates.
Scott Eells/Bloomberg News
By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE and MICHAEL LUO
Published: February 1, 2012
Newly disclosed details of the millions of dollars flowing into political groups are highlighting not just the scale of donations from corporation and unions but also the secrecy surrounding “super PACs” seeking to influence the presidential race.
Some of the money came from well-established concerns, like Alpha Natural Resources, one of the country’s largest coal companies, which is backing Republican-aligned American Crossroads, or from the Service Employees International Union, a powerful union allied with Democrats, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.
Some came from companies closely identified with prominent industrialists or financiers, like Contran, a mammoth holding company controlled by the Texas billionaire Harold Simmons, a patron of a number of conservative groups and candidates, and Blue Ridge Capital, a New York hedge fund founded by the wealthy investor John A. Griffin, a supporter of Mitt Romney.
But some checks came from sources obscured from public view, like a $250,000 contribution to a super PAC backing Mr. Romney from a company with a post office box for a headquarters and no known employees.
President Obama continues to outraise all of the candidates seeking the Republican nomination by large margins when it comes to money that goes directly into campaign coffers. But the money race is increasingly focused on outside groups that are legally not allowed to coordinate directly with campaigns but pay for advertising and other activities that support particular candidates.
Most of the money disclosed this week went to independent groups supporting Republicans, giving them an enormous money advantage over similar Democratic groups in the first phase of the 2012 election cycle. Such donations were made possible by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision in 2010 and subsequent court rulings, which opened the door to unlimited corporate and union contributions to political committees and made it possible to pool that money with unlimited contributions from wealthy individuals.
But the full scope of such giving is impossible to ascertain from federal campaign filings: Much of the money raised by the leading Republican and Democratic independent groups went into affiliated nonprofit organizations that are more restricted in how they can spend the money but do not have to disclose their donors.
The contributions have already helped the Republican Party’s elite donor class, who increasingly favor Mr. Romney, regain some control over the party’s nominating process. Many of the party’s top givers sent checks to Restore Our Future, the pro-Romney group, underwriting an advertising campaign that battered Mr. Romney’s Republican rivals even as Mr. Romney himself struggled to win the trust of the party’s restive conservative base.
Mr. Romney, who assailed Newt Gingrich in Florida last week for “working as a lobbyist and selling influence around Washington,” also got a major boost from some of the Republican Party’s top corporate lobbyists, who raised more than a million dollars in checks for Mr. Romney’s campaign during the last three months of 2011.
Patrick Durkin, a lobbyist for Barclay’s, raised over $400,000 in contributions. Bruce A. Gates, a lobbyist for Altria, the parent company of Philip Morris USA, raised $275,000. And Austin Barbour, a Mississippi lobbyist and nephew of the state’s former governor, Haley Barbour, raised $210,700 in contributions.
Restore Our Future raised at least $5.8 million from corporations during the last six months of last year, along with $12.2 million from individuals. American Crossroads raised $4.6 million from corporations and $7 million from individuals. Priorities USA and two other Democratic-leaning super PACs raised about $1,835,000 from individuals, $1.3 million from political action committees affiliated with labor unions and other groups, and about $415,700 from other organizations.
Groups supportive of each party employed a technique that allows them to cloak the identities of many of their donors. Those groups, including Crossroads and Priorities USA, have affiliates that are organized as nonprofit organizations known as 501(c)(4) groups, which can raise unlimited money but do not have to reveal their donors. Donors wishing to remain anonymous have the option of making their contributions to those nonprofit groups, which raised tens of millions of dollars in 2011, according to officials at the groups.
“While we now know some names of some people giving megabucks, we know nothing about the funders of the nonprofits,” said Ellen S. Miller, the executive director of the Sunlight Foundation, which advocates for greater transparency in political giving. “We don’t know what we don’t know.”
Even donors who chose not to give via nonprofit affiliates can find ways to guard their identities by giving through a limited liability corporation or other entity that is hard to trace.
For example, Restore Our Future received a $250,000 contribution last August from “Glenbrook LLC,” which listed an address on Lagoon Drive in Redwood City, Calif.
The suite number provided on Federal Election Commission records matches one occupied by a certified public accounting firm, Seiler LLP. But an official with the firm told a reporter who went to the address that it could not discuss its clients.
A search of corporate records revealed at least eight different Glenbrook LLCs around the country. The only one registered with the California secretary of state is located in San Francisco and is connected to a wealth management firm, Monte Vista Management. But Morton Pactor, who manages the firm, said in a telephone interview that his office was not connected to the donation.
The pro-Romney super PAC also accepted a $250,000 check last summer from Paumanok Partners LLC. The donor listed only a post office box in New Canaan, Conn., outside New York City, in campaign finance records.
A Paumanok Partners LLC is registered with the New York State Department of State with an address in East Northport, N.Y., but about a dozen different companies appear in phone listings for the address, none of them Paumanok Partners.
Other corporate donations, while initially appearing opaque, were easier to trace back to the probable source after combing through corporate records. A contribution of $100,000, for instance, came from “Slocum and Associates” in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Records filed with the Utah State Department of Commerce revealed the president of the entity to be Jonathan W. Bullen, a real estate investor who is also owner and president of Provo College, Eagle Gate College and Evolution Fitness. Mr. Bullen was a national finance co-chairman for Mr. Romney’s campaign in 2008. He did not return a call or e-mail seeking comment about his donation.
In another example, “Pita Raleigh LLC” in Salisbury, N.C., contributed $50,000 to the super PAC in late December. Corporate and campaign finance records show the company’s link to Bill Graham, a Salisbury lawyer who personally contributed $50,000 to the Restore Our Future in late June.
He did not return a call seeking comment about the donation.
Kitty Bennett, Griff Palmer and Katharine Mieszkowski contributed reporting.
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Related
Downturn and Upstarts Transform Nevada’s G.O.P. Caucuses (February 2, 2012)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/us/politics/hardship-has-changed-nevada-since-2008-caucuses.html
‘Poor’ Quote by Romney Joins a List Critics Love (February 2, 2012)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/us/politics/poor-quote-by-romney-seized-on-by-his-critics.html
Obama’s Oblique Attacks Hint at Romney as Expected Rival (February 2, 2012)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/us/politics/obama-proposes-mortgage-relief-with-romney-in-mind.html
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© 2012 The New York Times Company
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/us/politics/super-pac-filings-show-power-and-secrecy.html [ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/us/politics/super-pac-filings-show-power-and-secrecy.html?pagewanted=all ] [with comments]
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Watch Donald Trump Endorse Mitt Romney for GOP Presidential Candidate
Uploaded by PBSNewsHour on Feb 2, 2012
Business magnate Donald Trump endorsed former governor Mitt Romney for president Thursday afternoon In Las Vegas, Nevada.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmwzGMmGcJw [also at e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGJt88ItGC8 ]
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Mitt Romney And Donald Trump: They Both Like Firing People
Uploaded by DemRapidResponse on Feb 2, 2012
DNC Video: "Mitt Romney And Donald Trump: They Both Like Firing People"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W3L7Z2Cn4Q
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Not Concerned
Uploaded by DemRapidResponse on Feb 1, 2012
DNC Web Video: "Not Concerned"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T34KR02E7O8
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What Romney meant to say
Oops.
(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) (Ethan Miller - GETTY IMAGES)
By Alexandra Petri
Posted at 07:15 PM ET, 02/02/2012
Mitt Romney, in an interview airing tonight, now claims that his already infamous “I’m not concerned about the very poor” was a misstatement.
“It was a misstatement [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/romney-says-he-misspoke-about-lack-of-concern-for-poor/2012/02/02/gIQAAH8IlQ_blog.html ],” he told Jon Ralston. “I misspoke.”
I think Romney needs a refresher on what “misspeaking” means.
See, there's a subtle but meaningful distinction between “misspeaking” and “wishing you hadn’t said anything at all.”
Or maybe this is a problem he has a lot.
“Honey,” Ann asks, “do I look fat in this dress?”
“Yes,” Romney says. “You look fat.”
Ann looks at him, bewildered.
“Sorry,” Romney says, after a pause. “That was a misstatement. I misspoke. I meant to say, ‘Absolutely not, you are as beautiful as the day I married you.’ But somehow it came out as, ‘Yes, you look fat.’”
“Ah,” Ann says, looking unconvinced.
“Hey, Mitt, how’s it hanging?” Rick Perry asks.
“Fine, Rick, because unlike you, I am a human being with more than a teaspoonful of brain, and I know how to put together complete sentences!”
“Gee, that seems uncalled for,” Perry says, after a moment.
“Sorry,” Romney says, blinking repeatedly. “That was a misstatement. I misspoke. I meant to say, ‘Hi.’”
Perry edges uncomfortably away.
“Mitt is tough, he's smart, he’s sharp, he’s not going to continue to allow bad things to happen to this country that we all love,” says Donald Trump.
“OH MY GOD! WHAT HAVE I DONE! THIS IS A TRAVESTY OF THE POLITICAL PROCESS! I AM ASHAMED TO BE ON THIS STAGE!” Mitt screams.
“Huh?” Donald mutters.
“That was a misstatement. I misspoke. I meant to say, ‘Thank you, Donald, for the endorsement.’”
And so on.
Generally, when people misspeak, they have something else in mind that they wanted to say, something similar that’s easy to get tripped up by as it rolls off the tongue, not just a vague and generalized regret that they opened their mouths.
“I’ve said something that is similar to that but quite acceptable for a long time,” Romney notes [another flat-out lie, by the way; at least one of the MSNBC shows Wednesday evening showed video of Romney saying EXACTLY the same thing, word for word, as part of his canned stump talk at multiple recent campaign appearances; what happened on CNN was that for the first time someone actually asked him what he meant by it when he said it, from memory, again].
“When I said I was not concerned about the very poor,” Romney should explain, “I misspoke. I only meant to think it. It was the speaking part that was the mistake area.”
Can we do this now?
This reminds me of those Autocorrect stories found on the Web.
“Hey bro… can you help me move?“ one guy texts.
“Maybe you should get your act together and get a job…then you wouldn’t be stuck in your parents’ basement,” replies his friend. “Sorry. Autocorrect. I meant to write, sure, I’d be glad to.”
That’s not quite how talking works.
Misspeaking and wishing you hadn’t opened your mouth are not quite the same.
“I misspoke,” Romney said. To borrow a phrase from Mike Birbiglia, “what I should have said was nothing.”
© 2012 The Washington Post (emphasis in original)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/post/what-romney-meant-to-say/2012/02/02/gIQA5YkSlQ_blog.html [with comments]
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(linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=69610380 and preceding and following
Greensburg, KS - 5/4/07
"Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty."
from John Philpot Curran, Speech
upon the Right of Election, 1790
F6
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