A Super PAC supporting Mitt Romney called Restore Our Future raised an exorbitant $20 million last month—the highest total ever for a Super PAC in a single month—but published reports indicate that half the money came from one person, casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson.
The most money raised by a super PAC supporting President Obama was $6.1 million by Priorities USA Action.
“The Obama campaign, with no economic record to run on, is now resorting to lies and distortions,” Charlie Spies, treasurer of Restore Our Future, said in a statement. “Restore Our Future has Mitt Romney’s back and will keep raising the resources to fight back against the Obama attack machine until victory on November 7th.”
Restore Our Future refused to answer any questions about its donors—a primary benefit of the Super PACs is that they don’t have to reveal their donors. Adelson already spent millions to help Newt Gingrich, but after his campaign fizzled Adelson changed his allegiance to Romney. Adelson and his wife Miriam also donated $5 million last month to YG Action Fund, a Super PAC aligned with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a Virginia Republican.
The influence of Super PACs on the campaign has yet to be fully determined, but a fear among campaign finance reformers is that billionaires will flood money into the campaigns of politicians they want to control and thus could eventually have undue influence over the policies of the entire nation. Such an arrangement could be extremely beneficial for business leaders looking to reduce regulations and oversight in particular industries.
According to an investigation conducted by Propublica, federal and Nevada investigators are scrutinizing whether Adelson violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act when he was spreading money around Macau, the world’s new gambling capital in China, on his way to capturing a sizable share of that city’s gambling industry and accumulating a fortune estimated at $25 billion.
