Five of the six top individual contributors this election season have given to one political action committee—American Crossroads—which Republican strategist Karl Rove helped launch to get conservative candidates elected to office.

 

According to Public Citizen, in 2010 these six donors have each contributed $1 million or more to American Crossroads.

 

The No. 1 contributor, real estate developer Bob J. Perry, has given $7 million to the “super PAC.” A longtime Republican donor, Perry also gave $3.5 million to the Republican Governors Association, and since 2000, he and his wife have donated $28.4 million to various campaigns.

 

The other million-dollar contributors to American Crossroads are Robert Rowling ($4.8 million, including the contributions of his firm, TRT Holdings); B. Wayne Hughes, founder and chairman of Public Storage ($2.3 million); Jerry Perenchio, former CEO of Univision ($1 million); and Trevor Rees-Jones, founder and chairman of Chief Oil & Gas ($1 million).

 

Another key conservative funder is Fred Eshelman, chief executive of Pharmaceutical Product Development, who has contributed $1.76 million to RightChange.com.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

2010 Independent Electioneering Activities (Public Citizen) (pdf)

Wealthy Political Bankrollers Favor Conservative 527 Groups (by Spencer MacColl, OpenSecrets.org)