Casino mogul fills Gingrich's South Carolina war chest

Casino mogul fills Gingrich's South Carolina war chest
By Suzette Parmley, Inquirer Staff Writer

When casino mogul Sheldon Adelson wrote a $5 million check this month to a super PAC backing his close friend Newt Gingrich, it was the largest donation the executive had ever made to a candidate in an election cycle.

Aides close to the 78-year-old billionaire, whose company, Las Vegas Sands Corp., owns the Sands Bethlehem Casino Resort, about an hour's drive from Philadelphia, say the contribution reflects Adelson's penchant for making high-risk bets - with high payoff.

It also showcases the growing influence of super PACs on the presidential campaign. This Saturday the critical South Carolina GOP presidential primary will be held. And it marks the second anniversary of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, which allows billionaires, such as Adelson, corporations, unions, and other special-interest groups to spend unlimited amounts on political advertising through super PAC money.

The money seems to be having an effect in South Carolina. Polls show that Gingrich, who had poor showings in Iowa and New Hampshire, is running second to Mitt Romney in a state that has often played a decisive role in the GOP nominating process.

Placing a substantial bet on Gingrich might be the kind of crapshoot that Adelson's customers take every day in one of his casinos. But high risk suits Adelson's personality, said Michael Leven, chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp., who is Adelson's No. 2.

"In his case, being safe is a prescription for failure, and taking a risk is a prescription for success," he said. "Combined with his entrepreneurial spirit - it is loyalty, friendship, and a belief in some of the same principles that he decided to support Newt."

Leven recalled a conversation the two had in Adelson's Las Vegas office just days before the commitment.

"I said to him, 'Why don't you do $2.5 million in South Carolina, and $2.5 in Florida?' " Leven said. "He said: 'No. Newt's got to win in South Carolina. We have to go all in in South Carolina. If I do $2.5 million, it might not be enough.' So he gives it - the $5 million."

The contribution Jan. 7 went to Winning Our Future, the super PAC behind the TV ads attacking Gingrich's rivals, mostly Romney, during his days at Bain Capital, the private equity firm he founded.

One ad, "The King of Bain," depicts Romney as a ruthless Wall Street corporate raider who fires people.

Another ad spoofs a "debate" between two cartoonlike figures resembling President Obama and Romney. Obama goes after Romney, and Romney can't get a word in. The Obama figure jokes how he and Romney were "just alike" on the issues - abortion, gun control, health care - until Romney decided to run for president.

Critics say the 2010 Supreme Court ruling reversed decades of campaign-finance reforms and weakened the power of all but the wealthiest individuals to determine the outcome of elections.

"Super PACs offer a new avenue for wealthy individuals to inject unlimited amounts of money into the political system," said Viveca Novak, spokeswoman for the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign contributions. "Adelson's money came along at a time when Gingrich's campaign was low on cash. The newly flush super PAC was able to go on TV attacking Romney, making it a little easier for Gingrich to gain some traction."

John Grimaldi, a spokesman for Winning Our Future, declined comment.

Of course, the super PAC supporting Romney, Restore Our Future, did all it could in Iowa to damage Gingrich, who finished fourth there. Romney won both Iowa and New Hampshire.

Common Cause, the nonpartisan watchdog group, launched a national campaign Tuesday to reverse Citizens United and rein in super PACs.

"The Adelson super PAC is the future of politics," said James Browning, regional director of state operations for Common Cause in Pennsylvania. "The storm of Citizens United is so great that the candidates are drowned, sunk, and forgotten, and it's all about these big donors."

Adelson is among the uber rich. Forbes Magazine listed him as the 16th-richest person in the world last year with a net worth of $21.5 billion.

He derived his wealth from casinos. Las Vegas Sands Corp. is among the biggest gambling companies in the world with properties in Las Vegas; Macau; Bethlehem, Pa.; and Singapore.

Adelson declined to be interviewed, stating through aides that he preferred to keep his political activities private. State and federal campaign finance reports show he has had a history of giving almost exclusively to GOP causes.

In 2006 - the year when casinos started opening in Pennsylvania - he gave $9,504 to the Republican Governors Association's Pennsylvania PAC. He has not given to state Democrats, reports show.

That same year, Adelson donated $1 million to a political committee founded by Gingrich, called American Solutions-Winning the Future. Adelson gave another $1 million to American Solutions and $1 million to the Republican Governors Association in 2010. (American Solutions was replaced with the Winning Our Future super PAC last month.) Adelson was the seventh-largest individual contributor to such groups in 2010, according to the Center for Responsive Politics' website, OpenSecrets.org.

The same website listed Adelson and his physician wife, Miriam Adelson, as seventh among the nation's 100 biggest individual contributors. He had given $224,800 in the 2012 election cycle, with 96 percent to Republicans, 4 percent to "other," and 0 to Democrats.

Adelson first met Gingrich, according to close business associates, in October 1995 when the Adelsons were in Washington to support a bill that would move the Israeli capital from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

"Their friendship grew from there," said one associate, who asked to remain anonymous to avoid upsetting Adelson. "They enjoy each other's company and have shared views on foreign policy and economic issues."

Sheldon Adelson turned to Gingrich in the late 1990s, when a culinary union tried to organize his employees during the building of the Venetian Casino Resort in Las Vegas. Gingrich, then House speaker, helped Adelson craft his antiunion pitch, say those close to the CEO. Adelson, in return, invited Gingrich to speak and honored him with a fund-raiser.

Gingrich went on to support legislation in Nevada that Adelson backed to curtail the ability of labor unions to automatically deduct money from members' paychecks for political activities.

Associates say Gingrich has used Adelson's private aircraft and the two men talk often by phone.

Both share a belief that Palestinians have no historical claim to their own state, and both are staunch allies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Adelson owns a free daily newspaper in Israel supportive of Netanyahu, and his wife runs drug-treatment centers in Las Vegas and Tel Aviv.

Leven said Adelson has given more than $100 million to Birthright Israel, a group that sends young Jews, ages 18 to 26, on free visits to Israel.

The son of a Boston cabdriver, Adelson - a college dropout - created the computer industry's marquee event, Comdex, in the mid-1980s. He sold it to Japan's Softbank for $862 million in 1995, and used the proceeds to build the $1.5 billion Venetian and the 1.2-million-square-foot Sands Expo and Convention Center in 1997 in Las Vegas. He is credited with bringing conventions there.