Wealthy Individuals Who Have Contributed to the Major PACs
Democratic Strategist Chris Hahn and FBN’s Lori Rothman on the Obama campaign suggesting you make donations for wedding gifts and the Administration announcing rebates from health insurance companies.
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 July 31: $88.6 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
* 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
* Oxbow Carbon - a Florida-based firm run by Bill Koch, a brother of conservative financiers David and Charles Koch and also a donor. Total Oxbow Carbon and Koch donations: $2 million
* Julian Robertson - hedge fund industry legend at Tiger Management. Total 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
* Huron Carbon - a private firm that shares its address in Florida with Oxbow Carbon. Donation: $1 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
* John Paulson - a prominent New York hedge fund manager at Paulson and Co. Donation: $1 million
* John Kleinheinz - Texas hedge fund manager for Kleinheinz Capital Partners Inc. 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
* 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
* Robert Mercer - New York hedge fund manager at Renaissance Technologies. Donation: $1 million
* Paul Singer - hedge fund manager who helped fund efforts to legalize gay marriage in New York. 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
* Richard Marriott - chairman of Host Marriott International. Total donations: $1 million
* J.W. Marriott Jr. - chairman and CEO of Marriott International, brother of Richard. Total donations: $1 million
* Steven Webster - private equity executive at Avista Capital in Houston. Total donations: $1 million
* John Childs - founder of private equity firm J.W. Childs Associates LP in Florida. Donation: $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
PRIORITIES USA ACTION
Total raised as of July 31: $24.7 million
Supports: Democratic President Barack Obama
* Jeff Katzenberg - chief executive of DreamWorks Animation. Donation: $2 million
* Irwin Mark Jacobs - former CEO of Qualcomm Inc. Donation: $2 million
* Fred Eychaner - founder of Newsweb Corp. Donation: $1.5 million
* Bill Maher - stand-up comedian. Donation: $1 million
* Morgan Freeman - Hollywood actor. 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
* Kareem Ahmed - chief executive at Landmark Medical Management in California. Donation: $1 million
* Amy Goldman - writer and heiress to the New York real estate fortune of Sol Goldman. Donation: $1 million
* Steve Mostyn - Houston attorney. Donation: $1 million
* Franklin Haney - owner and CEO of FLH Company, a Washington-based real estate company. Donation: $1 million
* Barbara Stiefel - retiree in Coral Gables, Florida. Donation: $1.1 million
* Mel Heifetz - real estate developer and gay activist. Donation: $1 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: $1.5 million
AMERICAN CROSSROADS
Total raised as of July 31: $47.2 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: $4.5 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: $1.4 million
* Whiteco Industries - Indiana-based company involved in advertising, construction, entertainment and hotels. Donation: $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