Karl Rove, co-founder and Adviser to American Crossroads, served as Senior Advisor and former White House Deputy Chief of Staff to George W. Bush before the Super-PAC was established in order to distribute money from anonymous donors to the Republican Party. The super-political action committee, which is allowed to accept donations in unlimited amounts, made the disclosure of the contribution by the aforementioned billionaires late yesterday.
Mid-term elections loom large
Hughes is the co-founder of Public Storage and contributed $500,000 to American Crossroads. Singer, who founded Elliott Management Corp. and Griffin, who is the CEO of Citadel Advisors LLC, each sent a check for $250,000. “There’s been a noticeable rise in enthusiasm among our donors, in part due to the impressive slate of candidates who are strengthening the opportunity to win a Republican majority in the Senate,” American Crossroads Chief Executive Officer Steven Law said in a statement. In November, the Democratic Party will be forced to defend 21 of its 55 Senate seats with a total of 36 races to be fought for in the mid-term elections. While the three donors are well known to those in financial circles, they were not the biggest donor. That distinction belongs to Jerry Perenchio, a former chairman of New York-based Univision Communications Inc., who padded American Crossroads’ coffers to the tune of $2 million. According to the Federal Election Commission, the group has raised over $9.1 million this year for the pivotal mid-term election that could see the Republican Party take charge of both houses of Congress. A victory would nearly guarantee that the Obama presidency remains unable to push through desired legislation in its remaining years in charge of the White House. By contrast, the group took in over $117 million in the year running up to the last presidential election, a number it certainly won’t reach this year despite the importance of the Senate race.
Formation of super-PACs
The super-PAC, or 527 organization, came to be following a number of regulatory decisions and court rulings in 2010. While, in theory, the groups aren’t allowed to coordinate directly with political campaigns, it is nearly impossible to separate the two. Singer had a busy first quarter with his donations to super-PACs. He donated $1.75 million to American Unity PAC in its quest for Republicans to embrace same-sex marriage and $350,000 to a super-PAC that promotes fiscal restraint. The group, Ending Spending Action Fund was founded by Joe Ricketts, a former TD Ameritrade exec.
