Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Adelson made $10 million, 11th-hour donation to Romney super PAC

Special Evening Caucus at the Adelson School

Paul Takahashi

Sheldon and Miriam Adelson attends a special “sundown” caucus at the Adelson Educational Campus that capped off the Nevada GOP presidential caucuses on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012.

Billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson kept giving and giving to the bitter end of Republican Mitt Romney’s doomed presidential campaign.

Adelson, along with wife, Miriam, poured $10 million into the account of pro-Romney super PAC Restore Our Future on Oct. 19, new documents filed Thursday with the Federal Election Commission indicate.

The massive donation represents nearly half the $21.15 million Restore Our Future raised between Oct. 18 through Election Day on Nov. 6 — an amount that exceeds what nearly every other super PAC in the nation collected during the past two years.

An eclectic mix of notable businesspeople also made big-dollar, 11-hour contributions to Restore Our Future, including Oracle Corp. Chief Executive Officer Lawrence Ellison ($3 million), Houston Texans Chairman Robert McNair ($1 million) and Jimmy John’s sub shop founder James Liautaud ($500,000).

Others include Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Publisher Richard Scaife ($417,500), former Price is Right game show host Bob Barker ($174,200), Dick’s Sporting Goods Chairman Edward Stack ($100,000) and Mary Brock, co-owner of the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream ($100,000).

Several corporate entities also made big-dollar contributions, including the New York City-based holding company Renco Group ($1 million), which is led by investor, miner and industrialist Ira Rennert, and auto sales, rental and service company Penske Corp. ($250,000).

Restore Our Future spent $45.5 million between Oct. 18 and Nov. 26. Most of that funded advertisements, although $1.33 million went to the Podium Capital Group for “fundraising consulting services.”

As of Nov. 26, the super PAC reported $842,061 left in its coffer and no debt, having extinguished nearly all of the $153 million it raised during the election cycle primarily on advertisements slamming President Barack Obama, or earlier, Romney’s Republican primary foes in Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum.

Overall, the Adelsons gave $30 million in the 2012 cycle to Restore Our Future. That doesn’t count tens of millions of dollars more the Adelsons gave to several other Republican-supporting super PACs, including $15 million to the previously pro-Newt Gingrich Winning Our Future committee.

Although the Adelsons’ massive amounts of cash largely went toward supporting candidates who lost, Sheldon Adelson is remaining quite visible, meeting this week with top Republican congressional and campaign leaders.

He told the Wall Street Journal this week that he’s considering spending at least $100 million or more during future campaigns.

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