Gingrich funder isn’t trying to ‘buy’ the presidency, aide says
Michael Isikoff, MSNBC, Jan 27 2012
Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino mogul bankrolling Newt Gingrich’s super PAC isn’t trying to “buy” a presidency, his top political consultant tells NBC News. He’s just following in the footsteps of another powerful business tycoon, Joseph Kennedy. Sig Rogich, a veteran Republican operative who serves as Adelson’s government affairs consultant, said in an interview about the massive donations that the casino mogul has made to Gingrich’s super PAC:
I don’t think it’s buying a presidency any more than it was when Joe Kennedy helped his son. Sheldon Adelson plays to win, and he puts his money where his mouth is.
In the last three weeks, Adelson and his Israeli-born wife Miriam have pumped $10m into the Winning Our Future Super PAC. Those donations provided a critical cash infusion that helped revive Gingrich’s candidacy, bankrolling attack ads against Mitt Romney in South Carolina and now Florida. They’ve also made the Adelsons the largest known donors so far in a presidential race awash with money under new rules allowing unlimited donations to so-called super PACs. But the contributions have also raised new questions about Adelson’s outside role in influencing the campaign. Those questions could intensify as a result of potentially provocative comments he has made about Israel uncovered by NBC News. Adelson owns the Israeli free sheet Israel HaYom, which backs Netanyahu, and adamantly opposes any peace settlement with the Palestinians. But while Adelson and Gingrich have bonded on the issue of a hawkish Mideast policy, especially over the threat of a nuclear Iran, some of the casino mogul’s comments could prove embarrassing. Adelson said at the event:
I am not Israeli. The uniform that I wore in the military, unfortunately, was not an Israeli uniform. It was a US uniform, although my wife was in the IDF and one of my daughters was in the IDF. Our two little boys, one of whom will be bar mitzvahed tomorrow, hopefully he’ll come back, his hobby is shooting, and he’ll come back and be a sniper for the IDF. All we care about is being good Zionists, being good citizens of Israel, because even though I am not Israeli born, Israel is in my heart.
Asked about those comments, Rogich cited major donations that Adelson has made to medical research and other philanthropic causes that were far bigger than his political contributions. He said:
No one could possibly ever think that he is anything but a loyal USAian. He’s shown that time and time again. I think that the fact that he is a Zionist and believes deeply in the preservation of Israel is so commendable.
“The Obama administration is denying reality. The refusal to confront evil could cause a second Holocaust.”
When Gingrich was questioned about the money from Adelson this week, he immediately cited the casino mogul’s backing of Israel as a major reason he had received his support. Gingrich said in an interview while on the campaign trail in Florida:
Sheldon Adelson is very deeply concerned about the survival of Israel and believes that the Iranians represent a mortal threat to Israel and the US. And he is deeply motivated by the question of having a commander-in-chief strong enough and willing to make sure the Iranians do not get nuclear weapons.
Asked if he had promised the casino mogul anything in exchange for the money to the super PAC, Gingrich replied:
I promised him that I would seek to defend the US and the US allies.
