A number of donors to Jeb Bush’s campaign were reportedly jittery about sticking by him even before Wednesday’s lackluster performance in the Republican debate, but in the fierce competition among GOP presidential candidates to win seven- or eight-figure checks from multibillionaire businessman Sheldon Adelson, Marco Rubio has already emerged as the frontrunner, the Guardian can reveal.
That is due in no small part to the Florida senator’s championing of some of the casino owner’s top policy concerns, including Israeli security, and Rubio’s frequent outreach to the mega-donor, say GOP operatives and donors.
Adelson looks poised to make a multimillion-dollar donation to the pro-Rubio Conservative Solutions Project nonprofit or an allied Super Pac, also called Conservative Solutions, say three GOP sources familiar with Adelson.
Rubio and his political allies have gone the extra mile to appeal to Adelson, Republican sources say. Over the summer, Rubio and the Conservative Solutions nonprofit backing him both took action on issues of paramount concern to the casino tycoon.
Rubio co-sponsored a bill that would ban internet gambling, something Adelson once said he would “spend whatever it takes” to pass.
And the Conservative Solutions Project spent at least $4.5m from July onwards on TV spots featuring the senator that called for killing the Iran nuclear deal, an important issue for Adelson. Adelson – who has a net worth close to $27bn – has deep ties to Israel’s conservative leader, Binyamin Netanyahu, and has historically given tens of millions to groups that share his hawkish views on Israeland national defense.
Rubio has met with Adelson a few times in Washington DC and Las Vegas in recent months, and they reportedly speak fairly often on the phone: this month, the two met during a retreat for scores of Rubio fundraisers and donors in Las Vegas, where Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands casino empire is based.
Super Pacs are organizations independent of the candidates’ campaigns which, unlike the campaigns, may raise unlimited amounts of money from individual donors. It is fairly common for a Super Pac to have an allied nonprofit. These nonprofits may also raise unlimited amounts from individuals, but unlike with Super Pacs their donations do not have to be disclosed. Super Pacs and nonprofits are barred from coordinating spending with campaigns.
Donald Trump attacked Super Pacs at Wednesday’s Republican debate, telling his fellow GOP candidates: “A lot of bad decisions … are being made for the benefit of lobbyists and special interests … You better get rid of them.”
Rubio also mentioned Super Pacs – but only to turn the focus on the media,claiming: “The Democrats have the ultimate Super Pac – it’s called the mainstream media,” asserting that Democratic rival Hillary Clinton has been given an easy ride over theBenghazi attack in 2012.
Jeff Sadosky, a spokesman for the Conservative Solutions Project nonprofit and its allied Super Pac, would not comment on whether Adelson had donated to either. Andy Abboud, Adelson’s political aide, declined to comment on his plans but said no donations had yet been made to the two pro-Rubio groups.
The recent Rubio retreat in Las Vegas drew his campaign’s state finance chairs and numerous “bundlers” who round up donations from individuals, who can only give $2,700 each per election.
Warren Tompkins, who runs the pro-Rubio Conservative Solutions Super Pac and sits on the board of the allied nonprofit, hosted a meeting attended by wealthy donors and Super Pac strategists to discuss its needs and plans, one donor told the Guardian.
Two of Rubio’s key Republican rivals, former Florida governor Bush and Texas senator Ted Cruz, have also met several times with Adelson, and worked hard to convey their strong support for Israel, but neither one seems to have so far generated the rapport that Rubio has with the business mogul, who like him is the son of immigrants.
Since the supreme court’s Citizens United decision in 2010 jettisoned decades of campaign finance laws and opened the door for corporations, individuals and unions to give unlimited sums to outside groups such as Super Pacs backing candidates, Adelson has become a go-to guy for Republican candidates. In 2012, Adelson and his wife gave close to $150m to a mix of Super Pacs and nonprofits, including $15m for a pro-Newt Gingrich Super Pac and $30m to a pro-Mitt Romney Super Pac.
Now the Conservative Solutions Project nonprofit has come under fire from campaign finance watchdogs and legal experts who say it appears the group does not meet the IRS criteria for a tax-exempt “social welfare” outfit.
Critics note that the Conservative Solutions Project nonprofit’s tax-exempt status hinges on adhering to an IRS standard that “social welfare” be its primary purpose (generally these groups can spend as much as 49% on political activities) and that it must not operate for the private benefit of a group or individual. The pro-Rubio nonprofit raised $15.8m at mid-year and has spent close to $6m on ads attacking the Iran nuclear deal, advocating for tax reforms and more, which prominently feature Rubio.
“Everything I’ve seen indicates that the group’s overwhelming purpose is to benefit Rubio,” said Lloyd H Mayer, a law professor at Notre Dame and nonprofit expert.
“If there’s a high degree of concurrence between the nonprofit’s positions and the position of the candidate, who is prominently featured in the media messages, and the [nonprofit] doesn’t discuss any alternative views, that suggests they’re simply promoting the candidate,” said Marc Owens, a DC lawyer at Loeb & Loeb, who used to run the IRS’s tax-exempt division.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a liberal-leaning watchdog group, this month filed a complaint with the IRS asserting that the Conservative Solutions Project nonprofit is functioning basically to benefit the Rubio campaign and abusing IRS rules for “social welfare” groups.
Sadosky, the spokesman for the Conservative Solutions Project, rejects the arguments of the critics, stressing that the nonprofit is promoting conservative stances on key issues, including tax reform and the Iran nuclear deal, and not Rubio’s candidacy. Many of the group’s ads, he noted, link to its website, which cites other GOP senators such as Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Mike Lee of Utah.
Rubio’s move to co-sponsor the bill banning internet gambling, which Adelson has pushed by hiring expensive lobbyists, has also come under scrutiny.
Rubio did not sponsor the bill when it was introduced in 2014, although he has previously voiced concerns about online gambling. “Rubio’s political history does include opposition to internet gambling but it also includes strong support for states’ rights,” said one GOP operative who is not backing any candidate. “So it’s a little surprising that Rubio would come down on the side of federal regulation … It’s a hell of a coincidence that at the same time he was courting Sheldon, Rubio went on the bill.”
Another GOP operative claimed: “It’s pandering to the one guy that matters most.”
Given Adelson’s comments about spending “whatever it takes” to enact an internet gambling ban, “it would be no surprise if he viewed campaign donations as one tool in that campaign”, added Sheila Krumholz, who leads the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
Rubio has dismissed such criticism. On the campaign trail in New Hampshire, he said: “When someone supports me, they buy into my agenda, I’m not buying into theirs.”
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