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In reply to the discussion: Clintonians Join Vulture Flock Over Argentina [View all]suffragette
(12,232 posts)He profits from human misery, globally as well as here.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/07/paul-singer-elliott-republican-fundraiser
The trifecta of big checks, high-powered connections, and influence in GOP policy circles has made Singer a kind of triple threat. "Singer is the big power broker in the Republican financial world," says one operative who knows him. "He's involved with almost everything." Fortune described him as "a passionate defender of the 1%." In practical terms, notes one conservative donor, "if you write checks as big as Singer's, you can be close to anyone."
Singer got his start as a megadonor in the 2004 campaign cycle, when he helped raise Wall Street cash for Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group that attacked John Kerry's war record in Vietnam. In 2007 he backed Rudy Giuliani's presidential bid, including loaning the former New York City mayor his plane. Singer also secretly funneled $175,000 into a California ballot measure to allocate the state's electoral votes on a proportional basisa strategic ploy designed to move some of the blue state's votes to the GOP. Singer was instrumental in the selection of Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, a fellow fan of laissez-faire capitalism, as Mitt Romney's 2012 running mate; Dan Senor, now a senior adviser at Elliott, was one of the campaign's top foreign policy staffers. (Senor served as the Coalition Provisional Authority spokesman during the early days of the occupation of Iraq, where he once said, "Well, off the record, Paris is burning. But on the record, security and stability are returning to Iraq."
Recently, Singer has given sizable sums to the billionaire Koch brothers' dark-money projects as well as to the Club for Growth, an anti-tax group that has helped tea partiers oust several mainstream Republicans. He's also donated generously to Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS, and has tapped Susan Ralston, a former aide to Rove and disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, for fundraising help. Elliott Management employees are major backers of virtually every top Republican in Washington, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, as well as 2016 presidential prospects like Ryan and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.
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Among Elliott's allies is Rep. Scott Garrett, the New Jersey Republican who chairs the House subcommittee that oversees the Securities and Exchange Commission. Garrett has fought to slash the SEC budget and calls Dodd-Frank "unconstitutional." In 2010, Elliott executives ponied up nearly $200,000 for two campaign committees that helped Garrett and also boosted his stature with fellow Republicans; a large chunk of one of the committees' funds went to assist other members. Singer and other Elliott execs have also opened their wallets wide for Cantor, who has led efforts to protect a massive tax break, known as carried interest, that allows hedge funders to pay very low capital-gains rates on their income.