The real story, the important story is that the overwhelming
majority of the money raised is coming from a handful of hyper millionaires and
billionaires. And these people are not spending this money wildly. Scott Brown,
who survived the recall selection in Wisconsin, raised $37 million, $8 million from
the Koch brothers and their front political organizations. Adelson kicked in at
least another $1 million. At least half a dozen other donors kicked in $500,000
or more, meaning half of the overwhelming war chest Brown commanded came from
maybe less than $10 donors. While Democrats raised plenty of outside money,
mainly from pissed off unions, Walkers opposition gathered no more than 1/3 of
what Walker himself spent .
Following are two articles. The first is the joint
Propublica/ Frontline report on Shelly Adelson, his recent legal concerns, and
the source of his money—Macau the largest gambling center in the world,
substantially larger than Vegas, thanks to Adelson. Macau is known as a playground
for rich Chinese and has a thriving and decades old gangster (Triad) culture. The
story makes clear that much of Adelson’s current fortune arises from his
activities in Macau. The history of how he gained his fortune there is now
under investigation. Whether or not he can be found guilty of criminal activity
is always problematic, but we can be sure that at minimum Adelson has looked
the other way and is sitting on a highly corrupt and corruptible pile of cash—which
he has not been afraid to spend. It is almost certain that Adelson approved
payments to surrogates in Macau and China in order to get favorable treatment
from Government officials.
The Bloomberg article is an excellent backgrounder on the
Koch empire, how it works, and more importantly why they are spending their
billions trying to influence elections and regulators.
Please remember these two people are looking to fund about
one of every ten dollars spent this election cycle. This is what Citizens United
has wrought.
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