Casino Billionaire Not Donating $20 Million to Gingrich’s Super PAC
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Adam Gault/Thinkstock(LAS VEGAS) — A spokesman for a Las Vegas casino billionaire and a super PAC official are denying a published report that the billionaire, Sheldon Adelson, has committed $20 million to the super PAC, Time for Newt, which supports Newt Gingrich.
Charlie Smith, founder and president of Time for Newt and the group behind it, Solutions 2012, denied Thursday morning’s report of the commitment by Politico.
Though Adelson and his wife did give the maximum $2,500 each to the Gingrich campaign, Smith said it would be “very out of character for Mr. Adelson to announce something like this to the press.”
“We certainly weren’t involved in putting any information out there,” Smith said.
A spokesman for Adelson, Ron Reese, told ABC News the report of the $20 million donation is false and he does not know the source of the claim.
Reese added, however, that Adelson has been a longtime Gingrich supporter.
The pro-Gingrich Super PAC was launched in November by a graduate student and raised $10,000 within the first few hours of being live.
A super PAC is a less regulated form of a political action committee. People can give freely to the super PAC and the group can raise as much money as it wants. The only catch is it cannot have any connection to the candidate’s campaign or a political party.
Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio