LAS VEGAS -- Before Venetian owner Sheldon Adelson and wife Dr. Miriam Adelson donated $10 million in January to a super political action committee supporting Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, three of their family members contributed a combined $1 million to the same PAC.
On Dec. 22 Sivan Ochshorn gave $500,000 to Winning Our Future while Yasmin and Oren Luketz contributed $250,000 each. Ochshorn and Yasmin Luketz are Miriam Adelson's daughters from a prior marriage and Oren Luketz is Yasmin's husband. The Lutketz couple and Ochshorn are self-employed Las Vegas residents.
Those contributions were reported today by OpenSecrets.org, a website maintained by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, D.C. The money from the Adelsons has been credited with helping former House Speaker Gingrich stay in the race, with much of the funding having been spent on television advertising in advance of the South Carolina and Florida primaries.
Contributions to super PACs, which are independent entities, can be used to support or oppose candidates but cannot be transferred to a candidate's campaign. Super PACs have become prominent this election cycle because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling stating that corporations, labor unions and individuals can give unlimited amounts of money to advocate causes because it constitutes free speech.
Restore Our Future, a super PAC that supports fellow Republican candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, received $100,000 in May from Las Vegas businessman Edward Smith, a partner of Smith-Christensen Enterprises, and $10,000 in November from Las Vegas banker Jerry Grundhofer.
The Red, White and Blue Fund, which backs Republican candidate and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, collected $25,000 from iMergent CEO Steven Mihaylo and $20,000 from FSH Capital's Frank Hannah in December.
Super PACs supporting President Barach Obama, a Democrat, and Texas Congressman Ron Paul, a Republican presidential candidate, didn't receive any donations from Nevadans in 2011.
