WHO IS PAUL SINGER rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/singer_paul Billionaire investor Paul Singer is the founder and CEO of the Elliott Management Corporation, a hedge fund. He has used his largesse—some of it funneled through his eponymous family foundation—to finance a host of Republican, neoconservative, and more traditionally philanthropic causes. Depending on your view of campaign finance, observed a writer for the Washington Post, hes either an activist donor, or an example of how campaign finance has gotten out of hand.[1] Many reports on Singer emphasize his financial support for Republican political candidates, as well as his role as a high-profile GOP supporter of gay rights. But he is also deeply involved in a network of right-wing, pro-Israel organizations. He serves on the boards of Commentary magazine,[2] the Republican Jewish Coalition,[3] and the Manhattan Institute, where he chairs the board of trustees.[4] He is a former board member of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs,[5] has funded neoconservative research groups like the Middle East Media Research Institute and the Center for Security Policy, and—along with Home Depot founder Bernard Marcus and casino magnate Sheldon Adelson—is among the largest funders of the neoconservative Foundation for Defense of Democracies.[6] He was also connected to the pro-Iraq War advocacy group Freedoms Watch.[7] According to tax filings, Singers foundation has generously donated to the American Enterprise Institute, the Ethics and Public Policy Center, the Institute for the Study of War, the Claremont Institute, The Israel Project, and the Philanthropy Roundtable.[8] Interestingly, although Singer himself has donated large sums to pro-marriage equality campaigns—at least $10 million, according to an April 2014 report in the Washington Post[9]—his foundation has for years supported the socially conservative Witherspoon Institute, which is associated with the conservative Catholic natural law scholar Robert P. George.[10] Singer has also donated liberally to Republican political campaigns. During the George W. Bush years, Singer donated millions of dollars to the Bush-Cheney vehicle Progress for America and thousands to Swift Vets and POWs for Truth, the political action group that notoriously launched false and misleading attacks on the military service record of 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry.[11] He later served as a key policy adviser and fundraiser for former New York Mayor Rudy Giulanis 2008 presidential campaign.[12] During the 2012 cycle, Singer was a top contributor to Restore Our Future, the Republican Super PAC associated with the Mitt Romney presidential campaign.[13] According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Singer was the 19th-most prolific disclosed donor to Super PACS during the 2012 cycle.[14] An avid donor to the Club for Growth, a right-wing 501(c)4 that supports Tea Party candidates, Singer was reportedly a major supporter of the Romney campaigns decision to tap Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)—who made a name for himself proposing tax cuts for the rich along with deep cuts to the social safety net—as its vice presidential pick.[15] Much of Singers political activism concerns his wealth and his profession. As a member of the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation,[16] Singer has promoted certain forms of financial regulation in the wake of the 2008 financial crash, once writing in the Wall Street Journal, While many of [President] Obamas ideas warrant skepticism, conservative opposition to any expanded role for government is a mistake. There is an urgent need for a new global regulatory initiative that addresses the primary cause of the financial collapse: highly leveraged and concentrated positions.[17] Nonetheless, Singer has also complained about indiscriminate attacks by political leaders against anything that moves in the world of finance[18] and vigorously campaigned against tax hikes on Americas wealthiest earners. Resentment is not morally superior to earning money, he quipped in a private investment newsletter in 2012, complaining about critics of income inequality.[19] In a 2007 profile of Singer, the New York Times reported that Singer says his conservatism dates back to Barry Goldwater and is founded on free enterprise and a belief that the government should not be taking from one person and giving to another. He abhors what he calls social engineering and he has financially supported state propositions that advocate preventing state agencies from collecting racial information.[20] Compared to other avid pro-Israel donors like Sheldon Adelson, Singer has been less vocal about his foreign policy views—which is perhaps surprising given the amount of money he has donated to neoconservative organizations—but the Times profile noted that he believes in the doctrine of American exceptionalism and is wary about United States involvement in international organizations and alliances. As for the war in Iraq, he said, America finds itself at an early stage of a drawn-out existential struggle with radical strains of pan-national Islamists.[21] A subsequent 2010 story on Singers political activism reported that Singer once complained to a friend about what he regarded as the Obama administrations inadequate support for Israel.[22] On Wall Street, Singer is well known for his conservative investing style. In 1977, after he founded the Elliott Management Corporation—one of the oldest hedge funds in the United States, which at one point counted Dan Senor among its partners—Singer quickly gained a reputation for making risk-averse yet lucrative investments. From the early days, reported Fortune, Singer focused on distressed assets. He became adept at buying up the debt of bankrupt companies and gained a reputation for strong-arming his way to profit.[23] But some of Singers investment tactics have proven controversial. According to journalist Greg Palast—who calls the investor the Vulture Singer—Singers modus operandi is to find some forgotten tiny debt owed by a very poor nation. … He waits for the United States and European taxpayers to forgive the poor nations debts, then waits at bit longer for offers of food aid, medicine and investment loans. Then Singer pounces, legally grabbing at every resource and all the money going to the desperate country. Trade stops, funds freeze, and an entire economy is effectively held hostage. Singer then demands aid-giving nations pay monstrous ransoms to let trade resume. According to Palast, Singer once demanded $400 million from the impoverished Democratic Republic of the Congo for a debt he had acquired for less than $10 million, and on another occasion secured a $58-million payment from Alberto Fujimoris government in Peru in exchange for letting the dictator flee the country in a private plane Singer had seized.[24] Singers investment disputes have apparently influenced his support for right-wing politicians and foreign policy outfits. With millions at stake stemming from Argentinas 2001 debt default, for example, Singer has promoted a number of initiatives that have sought to link Argentina to Iran. Many letters expressing concern about Argentinas ties to Iran are signed by lawmakers who have received campaign cash from Singer and his close associates, including Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), reported theInter Press Service in July 2013. The Singer-backed Foundation for Defense of Democracies has also issued numerous reports accusing Argentina of aiding an Iranian cover-up of Hezbollahs purported role in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. And in 2013, Roger Noriega—a former Bush administration official and a fellow at the Singer-backed American Enterprise Institute—co-wrote an op-ed calling on the U.S. government to hold Argentina accountable for its failures to abide by its obligations to international financial institutions and troubling alliances with rogue governments. The Inter Press Service noted that Noriega himself was paid at least $60,000 in 2007 by Singers Elliott Management Corporation to lobby the U.S. government on Sovereign Debt Owed to a U.S. Company.[25] - See more at: rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/singer_paul#sthash.yF5s3lpm.dpuf
Posted on: Thu, 19 Jun 2014 23:35:19 +0000
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