Vulture capitalist Paul Singer, Martha McSally and same-sex marriage, oh my!

You are all familiar with the billionaire bastard Koch brothers and their “Kochtopus” web of dark money organizations operating out of the state of Maricopa.  And you are familiar with the corrupt casino magnate Sheldon Adelson who uses the house winnings from his casino in Macao to try to buy elections here in America.

Now its time to get to know a lesser-known cohort of theirs, billionaire vulture capitalist Paul Singer. Paul E. Singer – SourceWatch:

Paul E. Singer, a former corporate lawyer, is “the founding partner of Elliott Associates . . . a hedge fund in business since 1977.

Mr. Singer is a self-described conservative libertarian who has given millions of dollars to Republican organizations that emphasize a strong military and support Israel.”

Singer is a member of the Board of Trustees of the neo-conservative think tank the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research; a “member of the boards of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs and of Commentary Magazine, and is on the Board of Advisors of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University”, and a member of the Board of Fellows of Harvard Medical School.

Recipients of Singer’s contributions “include Progress for America ($1.5 million in contributions), a political advocacy group set up to advance the policies of the Bush administration; Swift Vets and P.O.W.’s for Truth; and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, which includes Vice President Dick Cheney and Richard N. Perle, an adviser to the former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, among its past and current advisory directors.”

Singer was acknowledged at the privately held Koch seminar in June 2011 in Vail, Colorado for donating at least $1 million to Koch-related causes.

Paul Singer is a complex guy. He also supports pro-gay marriage Republicans, funds pro-immigration reform groups, and recently started his own club of donors, a la the Koch brothers, to join him in his efforts. (That sound you heard is Cathi Herrod’s head exploding).

Singer is also a supporter of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Wealthy, Influential, Leaning Republican and Pushing a Christie Bid for President:

There is Kenneth G. Langone, the billionaire Home Depot founder who is perhaps Mr. Christie’s most fervent booster; Paul E. Singer, the publicity-shy hedge fund magnate and Republican activist who is among the most-sought-after Republican donors in the country; and David H. Koch, the industrialist, Tea Party benefactor and, according to Forbes, the richest man in New York.

Charles R. Schwab, the personal investment guru, is also among those who have shown interest in seeing a Christie presidential bid, according to published reports and people familiar with the discussions, as is the financier Stanley F. Druckenmiller. So are the hedge fund managers David Tepper and Daniel S. Loeb, a onetime supporter of President Obama.

Singer’s latest project is “Winning Women,” a fundraising committee devoted to electing more Republican women to Congress. Andy Kroll at Mother Jones investigates Singer’s latest project. The GOP’s “Fundraising Terrorist” Has a New Cause:

[T]he most recent round of federal campaign filings has revealed a new cause of Singer’s: Winning Women, a fundraising committee devoted to electing more Republican women to Congress and so countering the claim that the GOP is anti-women. Winning Women is funded largely by Singer, employees of his hedge fund, and donors with ties to Singer. In addition, Singer cohosted a fundraiser to help the female GOP candidates backed by Winning Women so far.

Winning Women was formed in February, records show. In the first quarter of 2014, the committee funneled more than $320,000 to three candidates: Barbara Comstock, a former GOP consultant and opposition researcher vying to replace retiring Rep. Frank Wolf in Virginia’s 10th congressional district; Elise Stefanik, a former Bush administration aide running to represent New York’s 21st; and Martha McSally, a retired Air Force colonel in Arizona’s second district trying for the second time to unseat Democrat Rep. Ron Barber.

For each of three candidates, Winning Women’s money provided a major cash infusion. In Stefanik’s case, the $110,917 she received from Winning Women made up 70 percent of the donations to her campaign from January to March. The $109,832 McSally pocketed in the same period made up 36 percent of her first-quarter fundraising. Comstock, who won her fiercely fought GOP primary this past weekend, overall raised the most, $660,809, of the three candidates. More than $100,000 of that haul came from the Singer-linked committee.

Winning Women raised $361,000 in the first quarter of 2014, and much of that money came from Singer, his family, and donors with ties to the Singers. Sixteen employees of Elliott Management and its London office, Elliott Advisers, contributed $104,250, including Singer and his son, Gordon. Thirteen attorneys at Kleinberg Kaplan Wolff Cohen, a law firm close to Singer and Elliott, chipped in $7,850. And other Singer-affiliated donors included employees of Singer’s family office and foundation, hedge fund investor Clifford Asness (a GOP ally of Singer’s in the marriage equality push), and consultant Phil Musser, a former executive director at the Republican Governors Association. (Singer did not respond to a request for comment.)

Singer’s role with Winning Women underscores the growing clout of wealthy donors in the post-Citizens United era. Another federal PAC tied to Singer, Friends for an American Majority, has raised $1.2 million and handed out six figures in donations to Senate candidates including GOPers Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Steve Daines of Montana. In February, Singer’s donor club, the American Opportunity Alliance, debuted with an Aspen retreat reportedly featuring House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.).

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Bill Allison, the editorial director at the Sunlight Foundation, a nonpartisan transparency group, says Singer’s efforts to aggressively shape the direction of the Republican Party by providing cash infusions to preferred candidates and causes illustrate the impact of recent court decisions regarding campaign finance. “Now you have the ability to set up these networks of influence separate from the parties,” he says. “It creates these power centers outside the traditional two-party system, and these can pull the candidates in directions that are not necessarily where the party wants to go.”

Winning Women also bears the imprimatur of the Chicago-based Ricketts family, another powerful force in Republican money circles led by Joe Ricketts, the billionaire founder of TD Ameritrade. Sylvie Légère Ricketts, the wife of Chicago Cubs owner Todd Ricketts (Joe’s son), co-hosted the Winning Women fundraiser with Singer for Comstock, Stefanik, and McSally. Four members of the Ricketts family—Sylvie, Todd, Marlene, and Cecelia—also gave a combined $45,000 to the committee. (Interesting side note: Although much of the Ricketts family leans Republican, Laura, the daughter of patriarch Joe Ricketts, is a major fundraiser for Democrats and LGBT organizations.)

The Ricketts clan has plans for a donor alliance of its own. As Bloomberg reported last month, Joe Ricketts hopes to expand his political operation, Ending Spending, to include more activist donors like him. Already, Ricketts has recruited Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, the biggest donor in modern history, to give to Ending Spending. “It has become clear to me that policy is made by the people who show up,” Todd Ricketts, who is Laura’s sister, told Bloomberg. “We’re showing up.”