What’s Good For General Super PAC is Good for the Country

When I was a kid my favorite comic strip was Li’l Abner, scripted by Cambridge’s own Al Capp. My favorite character was General Bullmoose, created by Capp as the epitome of the ruthless capitalist. Bullmoose was the comic strip version of Charles E Wilson who in 1952 as president of General Motors told a Senate subcommittee, "What is good for the country is good for General Motors and what's good for General Motors is good for the country.”

Johnny Mercer captured the spirit in his 1956 Broadway hit “Li’l Abner” with the lyrics: “He makes the rules And he intends to keep it thataway. What’s good for General Bullmoose Is good for the USA.”

Vying to become Generals Super PACs are a host of GOP donors who have showed their patriotism by contributing millions of dollars to those nasty Super PACs that keep befouling the language in the Republican Primaries. I’d like to introduce you to a few aspiring General Bullmooses (Or is that Bullmeeses?) as they attempt to buy themselves into power.

Meet Harold C. Simmons, a wealthy Texas businessman who apparently believes in playing the odds. Last June Simmons sent a $100,000 check to Americans for Rick Perry, a “super PAC” preparing for Mr. Perry’s entry into the presidential race. A few months later, he donated $1 million to a different pro-Perry group through his company. In December, as Mr. Perry’s fortunes waned, Mr. Simmons wrote another check, this one for $500,000, to Winning Our Future, a super PAC supporting Newt Gingrich.

But Mr. Simmons was not done. In mid-January, as Mr. Gingrich was headed toward a victory in the South Carolina primary, Mr. Simmons wrote a $100,000 check to Restore Our Future, the super PAC supporting Mitt Romney. And toward the end of the month, as Restore Our Future used his money to help bludgeon Mr. Gingrich with attack ads in Florida, Mr. Simmons sent yet another $500,000 check to Mr. Gingrich’s super PAC. All told he’s given over $14 million, so far, to GOP Super PACs.

The New York Times reports: “About two dozen individuals, couples or corporations have given $1 million or more to Republican super PACs this year, an exclusive club empowered by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision and other rulings to pool their money into federal political committees and pour it directly into this year’s presidential campaign. Collectively, their contributions have totaled more than $50 million this cycle, making them easily the most influential and powerful political donors in politics today.”

Who are they? “Most of these guys are serious business tycoons,” said Christopher J. LaCivita, a Republican strategist who helped advise Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a forerunner of this cycle’s super PACs.  Mr. LaCivita added. “They’ve built something big — usually something bigger than themselves.”

Several of them regularly attend the exclusive, secretive gatherings of wealthy conservative donors hosted twice a year by the billionaire Koch brothers.

But the superdonors all have one thing in common: they are by definition deep-pocketed, willing and ready to give far more than the $2,500 checks that donors to candidates are limited to writing. Some of them have almost singlehandedly financed super PACs that support favored candidates.

Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal, has given Endorse Liberty, a super PAC supporting Representative Ron Paul of Texas, at least $2.6 million, the bulk of the group’s donations so far.

Sheldon Adelson, a billionaire casino executive and his family have contributed over $10 million to Winning Our Future, the group supporting Newt Gingrich. “I might give $10 million or $100 million to Gingrich,” Mr. Adelson reportedly said in a coming profile in Forbes magazine.

That’s a lot of money to become “General Super PAC” !

Perhaps this time next year we will all be singing: “He makes the rules And he intends to keep it thataway. What’s good for General Super PAC Is good for the USA.”

 But how many General Super PACs will there be?