Billionaire New York City vulture capitalist Paul Singer, who founded hedge fund management firm Elliot Management has long been a heavy-hitting contributor to Republican campaigns, donating thousands to both of George W. Bush's presidential campaigns and $1 million to the Restore Our Future Super PAC, which supported Mitt Romney's failed presidential bid in 2012. Now, apparently Singer plans to put even more of money where his mouth is.
The Republican Party's so-called "fundraising terrorist," Singer is currently in the process of building another political network modeled after the infamous Koch Brothers operation. This year, one of Singer's biggest initiatives is to elect more Republican women to Congress to counteract continued claims that the Republican Party is anti-female. Recently it was revealed that Elise Stefanik (R), who is running for Congress in New York's 21st Congressional District is one of three recipients of the largess of a new Singer committee known as "Winning Women." Stefanik received $110,917 in donations this year from Singer's new committee, which accounted for 41% of all the contributions she received from January through March, according to FEC records.
Two days ago, Mother Jones magazine had an interesting article profiling Paul Singer's recent fundraising activities and his attempts to elect more Republican women to Congress.
From Mother Jones, April 30, 2014:
"Paul Singer, the so-called "fundraising terrorist," is at it again."
"The founder of the multibillion-dollar hedge fund Elliott Management, Singer is a Republican mega-donor without peer. He cuts checks to candidates and political committees, mingles at the donor retreats convened by Charles and David Koch, and, more recently, has used his wealth to nudge the Republican Party into the 21st century. He bankrolls a super-PAC that supports pro-gay marriage Republicans, funds pro-immigration reform groups, and recently started his own club of donors, a la the Kochs, to join him in his efforts."
"Now, the most recent round of federal campaign filings has revealed a new cause of Singer's: Winning Women, a fundraising committee devoted to electing more Republican women to Congress and so countering the claim that the GOP is anti-women. Winning Women is funded largely by Singer, employees of his hedge fund, and donors with ties to Singer. In addition, Singer cohosted a fundraiser to help the female GOP candidates backed by Winning Women so far."
"Winning Women was formed in February, records show. In the first quarter of 2014, the committee funneled more than $320,000 to three candidates: Barbara Comstock, a former GOP consultant and opposition researcher vying to replace retiring Rep. Frank Wolf in Virginia's 10th congressional district; Elise Stefanik, a former Bush administration aide running to represent New York's 21st; and Martha McSally, a retired Air Force colonel in Arizona's second district trying for the second time to unseat Democrat Rep. Ron Barber."
"For each of three candidates, Winning Women's money provided a major cash infusion. In Stefanik's case, the $110,917 she received from Winning Women made up 41 percent of the donations to her campaign from January to March. The $109,832 McSally pocketed in the same period made up 25 percent of her first-quarter fundraising. Comstock, who won her fiercely fought GOP primary this past weekend, overall raised the most, $761,354, of the three candidates. More than $100,000 of that haul came from the Singer-linked committee."
Back in March, the New York Times also covered Paul Singer's activities as part of an article highlighting the ongoing attempts of big-money donors, including the Koch Brothers, to create their own political networks to help influence public policy and elect more Republican candidates to national and statewide positions.
From The New York Times, March 1, 2014:
"Donors like Paul Singer, the billionaire Republican investor, have expanded their in-house political shops, building teams of loyal advisers and researchers to guide and coordinate their giving. And some of the biggest contributors to Republican outside groups in 2012 are now gravitating toward the more donor-centric political and philanthropic network overseen by Charles and David Koch, who have wooed them in part by promising more accountability over how money is spent."
"David, and Charles Koch oversee a political and philanthropic network that promises donors more accountability. Credit Mark Lennihan/Associated Press
“People are really drawn to the Koch model,” said Anthony Scaramucci, a New York hedge fund investor and Republican fund-raiser, who attended the Kochs’ annual donor conference near Palm Springs, Calif., in January. “It’s adaptive, data-driven, and they are the most propitious capital allocators in political activism.”"
"...Through the end of last year, Mr. Singer and close to 60 other donors involved with the meetings provided about $528,000 to Republican candidates for the United States Senate."
"Those candidates — Representative Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Dan Sullivan, a former Alaska attorney general — all appeared at a private meeting of Mr. Singer’s group in Aspen, Colo., on Friday and Saturday. So did Elise Stefanik, who is running for an upstate New York congressional seat and whom many of the donors regard as an up-and-comer who can help broaden the party’s appeal to women."
Recently, the local media within the 21st Congressional District has started to highlight Stefanik's ties to Singer. The Watertown Daily Times, which is the most circulated newspaper in the northwestern corner of the district, published an article yesterday quoting the Mother Jones story.
From the Watertown Daily Times, May 1, 2014:
"Republican Congressional candidate Elise M. Stefanik has received more than $110,000 from a political action committee connected with billionaire hedge fund manager and Republican donor Paul Singer, according to Mother Jones magazine."
"The committee, Winning Women, was formed in February and has also given money to Barbara Comstock, a Republican candidate in Virginia, and Martha McSally, a Republican running for Congress in Arizona."
"Ms. Stefanik received two donations from the PAC in the first quarter of 2014, $90,646.02 and $20,271.17, both on March 31. The donations, totaling $110,917, comprised 70 percent of the money Ms. Stefanik’s campaign received in the first quarter."
"Mr. Singer has achieved a fair degree of notoriety among Republicans for his outspoken views on gay marriage and immigration that sometimes buck the party trend and for his willingness to support his convictions with large amounts of money."
"In early March, the New York Times reported that Ms. Stefanik had attended a meeting in Aspen, Colo., of advisors working with Mr. Singer."
The continued publicity over Elise Stefanik's ties to Singer may really help to undermine her ongoing claims of being an Upstate New York, small-business oriented candidate. Stefanik, a native of Albany County who declared her residency at her family's long-time vacation home on Lake Champlain last summer, has been a high-powered Washington D.C. political operative since graduating from Harvard in 2006. Stefanik has served numerous roles in the beltway Republican establishment, working as an aide to George W. Bush for three years before being hired as the communications director for the hawkish, neo-conservative Foreign Policy Initiative think tank. In 2012, Stefanik worked in the Romney campaign, prepping Paul Ryan for the vice presidential debate.
The 21st Congressional race is now much more winnable for the Democratic Party than earlier thought this year. With the recent entry of venture capitalist and perennial candidate Matt Doheny (R) into the race, Stefanik is now caught up in a bitter, nasty fight to win the Republican primary, and with both GOP candidates now guaranteed a third party line in the general election (Stefanik received the Conservative endorsement, while Doheny received the Independence endorsement), there may very well be another split of the right-leaning electorate within the district.
Upstart Democratic candidate Aaron Woolf, a small business owner and filmmaker, has so far proven to be an aggressive fundraiser, hauling in $405,000 during the first quarter of 2014, but he needs a base of progressive grassroots support in order to build the momentum for a victory this November. You can click here to visit Aaron Woolf's website to learn more about contact and donation information for his campaign.