Sheldon and Miriam Adelson - Mega GOP Money Couple - Give $250,000 To Governor Brewer's SuperPAC; Brewer Banks It

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer's (R) eponymous SuperPAC has a quarter-of-a-million dollars in the bank, ready for 2014 or 2016.  That cushion was provided by Republican mega-money couple Sheldon and Miriam Adelson.

On October 19*, the same day that the casino magnate and his wife gave $10 Million to GOP Presidential nominee Mitt Romney's SuperPAC, they wrote a check to Jan PAC to help Brewer work Arizona Congressional races, the Montana Senatorial campaign, and pro-Romney robocalls.

The Adelson contribution is easily the largest to the Governor's committee (no dollar limits for Super PACs), making up more than one-quarter of the $909,267.71 raised through November 26, per her new FEC filing.  Brewer's private meeting with Adelson one month later at the Republican Governors Association made national news, and it morphed into the primary piece of evidence that Brewer might consider herself a presidential aspirant in 2016.

The Adelsons spent approximately $150 Million during the 2012 campaign in their efforts to defeat President Barack Obama and other Democrats.  (Given that almost the entire amount spent on independent expenditures had been raised before the Adelson contribution, it is unclear whether the JanPAC contributions should be thought of as part of the 2012 effort, or an opening salvo for the future.)

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Other interesting notes from JanPAC's post-election filing indicate that - besides the mailers previously reported on - the committee spent $30,000 on Get Out the Vote calls on behalf of Romney.  JanPAC also acknowledge for the first time that it did spend money on robocalls on behalf of unsuccessful Montana Senatorial candidate Denny Rehberg.  Those robocalls received unwelcome attention because Montana law makes robocalls - even for political purposes - illegal.

In addition, JanPAC did not file the required FEC disclosures regarding the Montana calls.  Those same disclosures were required for the Romney robocalls.


*October 19 was a big day for last minute campaign contributions, because any monies given after October 18 did not need to be reported until one month after the election was over.

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