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(s)Elections See other (s)Elections Articles Title: 25% of super PAC money coming from 5 donors Super PACs, the political groups flexing their muscles in a presidential race for the first time, are disproportionately funded by a handful of donors. USA Today analyzed super PAC donations since Jan. 1, 2011, and found that one out of every four dollars came from just five spectacularly wealthy donors -- Harold Simmons, owner of Contran; Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam; Houston home builder Bob Perry and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. All of the donors donated to Republican-leaning groups. In a similar vein, the Associated Press found that of the $60 million collected by candidate-aligned super PACs, $33 million came from just 24 individuals. Every presidential candidate, including President Barack Obama, has a donor who has made a contribution of $1 million or more to his aligned super PAC. The findings are a stark showing of how Citizens United and subsequent lower court rulings have altered the campaign finance landscape. Super PACs are allowed to accept unlimited donations from individuals and corporations, of which they must disclose, but they are not allowed to legally coordinate with the candidates they support. For two of the GOP candidates, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, their respective super PACs have raised more money and had more cash left than the campaigns themselves in January. Overall in January, the four GOP candidate super PACs raised slightly more than the campaigns themselves. In January, those candidate-aligned super PACs blanketed airwaves with ads, throwing the GOP primary race into chaos. Huffington Post HIGHLIGHTS A 2010 Supreme Court case, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, gave PACs the authority to accept unlimited contributions from individuals, unions and corporations for the purpose of making expenditures with knowledge of a particular candidate or campaign. christianpost.com Given that the 2012 GOP presidential primary has seen the likes of Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum reach out to their wealthy friends; the impact of these super PACs is now being seen. christianpost.com By far the most generous contributor is Harold Simmons from Texas, though he has not played favorites during this election cycle. He gave more than $1 million to Rick Perry's super PAC last year (before he dropped out of the race), threw $500,000 to Newt Gingrich in December, quickly pivoted with a $100,000 to check to the pro-Mitt Romney "Restore Our Future" PAC, then went back to Gingrich with another $500,000 check. theatlanticwire.com President Obama's Super PAC raised just $59,000 in January, with $50,000 come from his friend, investor John Rogers. That will surely change from here on out, however, now that the president has abandoned the idea of avoiding the super PAC influence. theatlanticwire.com SM/HJ Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
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