The Rich Campaign Donors Behind America's Super PACs

The Super-Rich Behind America's Super PACs
TO GO WITH Lifestyle-Macau-gaming,INTERVIEW BY GUY NEWEY Sheldon Adelson, chief executive of the Las Vegas Sands, speaks to AFP at the Venetian Resort in Macau, 27 August 2007. A day before his 2.4 billion USD gamble in Macau opens to the public, Adelson, the world's sixth-richest man said his gargantuan Venetian casino resort is already another winner. AFP PHOTO/MIKE CLARKE (Photo credit should read MIKE CLARKE/AFP/Getty Images)
TO GO WITH Lifestyle-Macau-gaming,INTERVIEW BY GUY NEWEY Sheldon Adelson, chief executive of the Las Vegas Sands, speaks to AFP at the Venetian Resort in Macau, 27 August 2007. A day before his 2.4 billion USD gamble in Macau opens to the public, Adelson, the world's sixth-richest man said his gargantuan Venetian casino resort is already another winner. AFP PHOTO/MIKE CLARKE (Photo credit should read MIKE CLARKE/AFP/Getty Images)

Sept 20 (Reuters) - Individual donors to U.S. presidential candidates can contribute up to $2,500 for the state-by-state party nominating contests and another $2,500 for the general election. But independent groups called Super PACs have no limits on what they can raise from individuals, corporations or labor unions.

Here is a look at wealthy individuals who have contributed at least $1 million to the major political action committees, or PACs, as disclosed to the Federal Election Commission.

RESTORE OUR FUTURE

Total raised as of Aug. 31: $95.6 million

(Supports Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney)

* Bob Perry - Houston builder who was a major donor to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group that helped undermine 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry by attacking his Vietnam War record. Total donations: $8 million

* Sheldon Adelson - billionaire Las Vegas casino magnate who built the Venetian hotel and casino. Donation: $5 million

* Miriam Adelson - Sheldon's wife. Donation: $5 million

* Bill Koch - brother of conservative financiers David and Charles Koch. He runs Oxbow Carbon, a Florida-based firm that is also a donor and shares its address with another contributor, Huron Carbon. Total donations, including through firms: $3 million

* F8 LLC and Eli Publishing - Provo, Utah-based firms that share an address. Both have been linked to former executives of Nu Skin, a Utah-based skin care and cosmetics company. Total donations: $2 million

* Julian Robertson - hedge fund industry legend at Tiger Management. Total donations: $1.3 million

* Crow Holdings - Dallas-based investment firm managing the wealth of the family of the late Dallas real estate mogul Trammell Crow, whose sons Harlan and Trammell S. Crow are also donors. Total Crow Holdings and Crow donations: $1.3 million

* Frank VanderSloot - Idaho businessman who runs the nutritional and cosmetics company Melaleuca. The firm and its subsidiaries have also donated. Total donations: $1.1 million

* Kenneth Griffin - Chicago-based hedge fund manager and CEO of Citadel LLC. Total donations: $1.1 million

* Bob Parsons - billionaire founder of web hosting giant Go Daddy. Donation: $1 million

* Rocco Ortenzio - Pennsylvania healthcare executive and founder of Select Medical Corp. Total donations: $1 million

* John Childs - founder of private equity firm J.W. Childs Associates LP in Florida. Donation: $1 million

* Edward Conard - a New York investor and former executive at Bain Capital, a private equity firm co-founded by Romney. Donation: $1 million

* John Kleinheinz - Texas hedge fund manager for Kleinheinz Capital Partners Inc. Donation: $1 million

* J.W. Marriott Jr. - chairman and CEO of Marriott International, brother of Richard. Total donations: $1 million

* Richard Marriott - chairman of Host Marriott International. Total donations: $1 million

* Robert Mercer - New York hedge fund manager at Renaissance Technologies. Donation: $1 million

* John Paulson - a prominent New York hedge fund manager at Paulson and Co. Donation: $1 million

* Rooney Holdings Inc - private investment firm formed in 1980s to acquire the Manhattan Construction Co. and has since expanded into many areas. Total donations: $1 million

* Paul Singer - hedge fund manager who helped fund efforts to legalize gay marriage in New York. Donation: $1 million

* Paul and Sandra Edgerly - Paul Edgerly of Brookline, Massachusetts, is an executive at Bain. The Edgerlys each have given $500,000. Total donations: $1 million

* Steven Webster - private equity executive at Avista Capital in Houston. Total donations: $1 million

* Robert Brockman - executive at Reynolds and Reynolds, a Dayton, Ohio-based car dealership support company that shares a P.O. Box with CRC Information Systems Inc, Fairbanks Properties LLC and Waterbury Properties LLC, which split the donation three ways. Total donations: $1 million

* Miguel Fernandez - chairman of MBF Healthcare Partners, a private equity firm. MBF Family Investments also donated to the Super PAC. Total donations: $1 million

* Renco Group Inc. - owned by New York billionaire Ira Rennert, another frequent contributor to Republicans this year. Donation: $1 million

* OdysseyRe Holdings Corp - reinsurance underwriting company in Stamford, Connecticut that is a U.S. subsidiary of Toronto-based Fairfax Financial. Donation: $1 million

PRIORITIES USA ACTION

Total raised as of Aug. 31: $34.8 million

(Supports Democratic President Barack Obama)

* Steve Mostyn - Houston attorney. Donation: $2 million

* Jeff Katzenberg - chief executive of DreamWorks Animation. Donation: $2 million

* Irwin Mark Jacobs - former CEO of Qualcomm Inc. Donation: $2 million

* James Simons - billionaire hedge fund manager, founder of Renaissance Technologies Corp. Donation: $2 million

* Jon Stryker - activist and heir to the medical supply company fortune of his grandfather. Forbes puts his net worth at $1.2 billion. Donation: $2 million

* Fred Eychaner - founder of Newsweb Corp. Donation: $1.5 million

* Anne Cox Chambers - billionaire daughter of James M. Cox, founder of Cox Enterprises. Total donations: $1.5 million

* Barbara Stiefel - retiree in Coral Gables, Florida. Donation: $1.1 million

* Kareem Ahmed - chief executive at Landmark Medical Management in California. Donation: $1 million

* Morgan Freeman - Hollywood actor. Donation: $1 million

* Amy Goldman - writer and heiress to the New York real estate fortune of Sol Goldman. Donation: $1 million

* Franklin Haney - owner and CEO of FLH Company, a Washington-based real estate company. Donation: $1 million

* Bill Maher - stand-up comedian. Donation: $1 million

* Mel Heifetz - real estate developer and gay activist. Donation: $1 million

* Service Employees International Union Committee on Political Education - union representing more than 2 million workers. Donation: $1 million

* National Air Traffic Controllers Association - union representing more than 16,000 workers. Donation: $1 million

* United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry - union representing some 340,000 workers. Total donations: $1 million

AMERICAN CROSSROADS

Total raised as of Aug. 31: $56.6 million

(Supports Republican candidates for federal offices)

* Harold Simmons - billionaire Dallas banker and CEO of Contran Corp who has contributed to PACs supporting Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich. Total donations: $11 million

* Bob Perry - Houston homebuilder. Total donations: $6.5 million

* Joe Craft - billionaire coal executive from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and CEO of Alliance Holdings, which is also a donor. Total donations: $2.1 million

* Contran Corp - Simmons' Dallas-based maker of titanium components. Total donations: $2 million

* Jerry Perenchio Living Trust - a trust of billionaire television tycoon A. Jerrold Perenchio, who is a former chairman of Spanish-language broadcaster Univision. Donation: $2 million

* Crow Holdings - Dallas-based real estate investment firm. Total donations: $1.5 million

* Robert Rowling - an Irving, Texas, businessman and a conservative and active Republican donor. Total donations: $2 million

* TRT Holdings, Inc - Rowling's company that runs Omni Hotel and Gold's Gym chains. Total donations: $2 million

* Robert Brockman - executive at Ohio-based Reynolds and Reynolds. Similarly to Restore Our Future, three firms sharing a P.O. Box - CRC Information Systems Inc, Fairbanks Properties LLC and Waterbury Properties LLC - split the donation three ways. Total donations: $1 million

* Stephens Inc - a Little Rock, Arkansas, broker dealer. Total donations: $1.3 million.

* Weaver Holdings and Weaver Popcorn - Indiana-based company specializing in popcorn. Total contributions: $1.9 million

* John Childs - Chairman and CEO of Boston-based JW Childs Associates. Total donations: $1 million

* Wayne Hughes - Founder of Public Storage. Total donations: $1 million

* Whiteco Industries - Indiana-based company involved in advertising, construction, entertainment and hotels. Donation: $1 million

* Clayton Williams Energy of Midlands, Texas. Total donations: $1 million

* Philip Geier - New York executive. Total donations: $1 million

* Irving Moskowitz - a Florida bingo magnate who runs a charity in California and is known for his support of Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem. Donation: $1 million

* Kenneth Griffin - Citadel Investment Group chief executive. Total donations: $1 million

* Robert Mercer - co-CEO of hedge fund Renaissance Technologies. Donation: $1 million (Reporting by Patrick Temple-West, Alexander Cohen and Alina Selyukh; Editing by Sandra Maler)

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