“Mr Ted Cruz on the other hand, has taken 13 million from one guy...that is some serious influence peddling, right there.”
13 million from one guy? Are you sure about that? Federal limits on donations are only $7,000 or so a year.
The Citizens United case has ushered in the age of Single Donor Super Pacs. These are single person or family donations that fund or oppose a candidate. Contrary to what people think, the Super Pacs meet with the candidate of their choice. They are in communication.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/here-are-the-secret-ways-super-pacs-and-campaigns-can-work-together/2015/07/06/bda78210-1539-11e5-89f3-61410da94eb1_story.html
Cruz’ SINGLE DONOR (OR FAMILY) SUPER PACS
KEEP THE PROMISE I Location: PORT JEFFERSON STA, NY 11776 $11,007,096, Robert Mercer of Renaissance Technologies. Here is more on Renaissance Technologies
Self Interest in a Federal Election: Income Taxation
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-07-08/irs-moves-against-hedge-fund-maneuver-once-used-by-renaissance
Renaissance’s use of basket options was the subject of a U.S. Senate hearing in 2014. According to the panel’s report, Renaissance probably avoided more than $6 billion in U.S. income taxes over 14 years through transactions with Barclays Plc and Deutsche Bank AG.
The transactions allowed Renaissance to claim that it wasn’t the owner of securities inside the basket options, whose value would fluctuate based on the value of securities chosen by the hedge fund, according to the Senate report.
“Keep The Promise IIl” Super Pac, contributing $15 Million Wilks Brothers
Self Interest in a Federal Election: Federal Land Exchanges
http://billingsgazette.com/lifestyles/recreation/blm-willing-to-consider-controversial-missouri-breaks-proposal/article_68f8e505-b874-554b-bbfb-a8bc630b45fa.html
http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/wilks-brothers-blindsided-by-blm-decision-on-land-swap/article_73714a13-854e-52fe-8346-d0da6daf44ef.html
http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/contrib.php?cmte=C00575423&cycle=2016
“Keep The Promise II” Super Pac, contributing $10 Million, TOBY NEUGEBAUER representing one of the largest campaign donations ever made of this type donated on 4/09/15
Self Interest in a Federal Election: Oil and Gas
http://www.texasobserver.org/lifestyles-of-the-corrupt-and-elected/
ON OCT. 5, 2009, Gov. Perry and three aides boarded a private jet in Austin and flew to Biloxi, Mississippi. The jet belonged to Toby Neugebauer, an oil and gas investor. (As required by law, Perry’s campaign would report the $6,250 plane flight from Neugebauer as an “in-kind†campaign contribution.) Neugebauer and his wife have long supported Perry, donating more than $110,000 to him, according to Texans for Public Justice. Neugebauer may have been supporting Perry because he liked his ideological bent. But he also has a financial interest in backing the governor.
Neugebauer is a managing partner at Quantum Energy Partners, a Houston private equity firm that has invested millions in energy production in Texas. The firm invested heavily in the controversial natural gas drilling in North Texas’ Barnett Shale formation. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality—the state’s regulatory agency, whose leaders Perry appoints—regulates drilling in the Barnett shale.
When they boarded Neugebauer’s jet last October, Perry and his aides were traveling to Biloxi for a meeting of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, a governmental body made up of officials from energy-producing states. The commission advises states on energy production and regulatory policies. Perry addressed the commission as its incoming chairman for 2010—the first Texas governor to lead the commission since Mark White in 1985. In his speech, Perry emphasized the need for oil and natural gas production. “I believe that anyone discussing energy in our nation and world must begin by acknowledging the essential role that oil and gas have played throughout our history and the reality that they must continue as fundamental elements of our energy portfolio,†Perry said, according to Oil and Gas Journal, an industry publication.
As I keep saying, this is not philanthropy and it is well beyond the FEC limits. None of these Super Pac donors are using their money to build a Children’s Hospital. It is serious money and they are trying to influence the election for very specific reasons.
http://www.fec.gov/pages/brochures/citizens.shtml