Newt Gingrich writes, in a Human Events column dated 2/20/13:
I am unalterably opposed to a bunch of billionaires financing a boss to pick candidates in 50 states. This is the opposite of the Republican tradition of freedom and grassroots small town conservatism.
No one person is smart enough nor do they have the moral right to buy nominations across the country.
From the Wikipedia article on
Sheldon Adelson:
Sheldon Gary Adelson is an American business magnate. He is the chairman and chief executive officer of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, the parent company of Venetian Macao Limited which operates The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino and the Sands Expo and Convention Center. He also owns the Israeli daily newspaper Israel HaYom. As of October 2012, Adelson is listed as the 24th richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of 21.8 billion. Previously, he was listed in the Forbes 400 as the 12th wealthiest American...
On January 7, 2012, Adelson bolstered Gingrich's then-faltering campaign with a $5-million donation to the pro-Gingrich super PAC Winning Our Future. By the next day, the super PAC had reserved more than $3.4 million in advertising time in the South Carolina primary, which included production and distribution of a half-hour movie that portrayed Gingrich's political rival Mitt Romney as a "predatory corporate raider". On January 23, Adelson's wife, Miriam, contributed an additional $5 million to the same organization with instructions to use it to advance a "pro-Newt message". Adelson told Forbes that he was willing to donate as much as $100 million to Gingrich.
So, just a reminder: Newt Gingrich is an opportunistic hypocrite.
Also, big money picking Republican candidates is not contrary to "freedom and grassroots small town conservatism". As we've seen with the Tea Party, whatever the GOP ideals of "freedom and grassroots small town conservatism", the actual practice of these professed ideals are usually funded by billionaires in astroturfing campaigns. So, in addition to being a hypocrite, Newt Gingrich comes off as deluded.