Adelson: more money than successes

Maybe this time will be different.

In 1998, Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson spent more than $2 million trying to defeat a trio of Democrats running for election or re-election to the Clark County Commission. He failed miserably: Myrna Williams, Erin Kenny and Dario Herrera all defeated Republican challengers.

Ironically, all of those commissioners later were felled by scandal; Kenny and Herrera were defeated and later sent to prison in the G-sting investigation, and Williams lost a re-election bid to Chris Giunchigliani in a campaign that featured the hint — if not the reality — of the county’s most notorious scandal.

Even more ironic: Back in 1996, Adelson had a tiny success, helping to elect ex-Metro Police officer Lance Malone to the commission with money from his various corporations and some funneled through the state Republican Party. Malone would go on to become the bagman in the G-sting scandal.

Flash forward to this year, and not much has changed except the number of zeros: Adelson and his family donated more than $16 million to a super-PAC formed to support the presidential candidacy of Newt Gingrich.

Although Adelson’s initial donation of $10 million revived a moribund Gingrich candidacy and may have helped Gingrich win the state of South Carolina, Adelson last month declared Gingrich was “at the end of his line.”

But what Adelson obviously lacks in political judgment, he more than makes up for in cash. And he’s not done yet. Adelson has declared that he’s willing to put a whole lot more — maybe even as much as $100 million — into the campaign of whomever becomes the Republican nominee against President Obama. And since Forbes magazine ranks Adelson, with a net worth of $24.9 billion, the seventh richest man in the United States, it’s a threat he can make good on.

The question is, will he win this time? And if he does, what does that kind of spending mean if his favored candidate wins?

It’s not a new question: Back in 1996, then-Review-Journal political columnist Jon Ralston wondered, too: “So somewhere between half and two-thirds of Malone’s $381,000 war chest came from a single donor, which makes a mockery of the state’s contribution caps,” Ralston wrote. “And despite Malone’s feigned ignorance of the scheme, it raises questions about how independent he can be should he win, considering Adelson will all but have bought the seat for him.”

More recently, in a scathing cover story in Rolling Stone, Rick Perlstein wondered the same thing about Adelson and Gingrich: “And here’s the thing: What does it suggest when a man under … federal investigations [Adelson] can plan on spending up to $100 million to elect the man with authority over the agencies conducting those investigations?”

And here’s another question: Will Adelson’s political giving translate into the U.S. Senate campaign, where his hated former employee, Rep. Shelley Berkley, is politically vulnerable for the first time in years? Adelson has tried to defeat her before, but he’s always failed because of strong Democratic registration and Berkley’s remarkable work ethic.

But this year, she’s running against appointed incumbent U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, and the race is sure to be close. Even a little Adelson money could tip the balance, and perhaps advance a feud that’s been brewing since Adelson terminated Berkley has his vice president and general counsel. (A tape of Berkley advising Adelson to hire the relatives or sponsor the businesses of incumbent county commissioners surfaced in 1998, but failed to sink Berkley’s career.)

Adelson has what investigators call means, motive and opportunity. The only surprise will be if he doesn’t do it. And maybe this time, he’ll actually win one.

Steve Sebelius is a Review-Journal political columnist and author of the blog SlashPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter (@SteveSebelius) or reach him at 387-5276 or SSebelius@reviewjournal.com.