Reporter William March has covered state and national politics since 1994. Email
Reporter Mike Salinero has covered Hillsborough County government for The Tampa Tribune since 2007. Email
Reporter Lindsay Peterson has been a general assignment reporter at the Tampa Tribune since 2005, focusing on higher education since 2009. Email
Posted Aug 1, 2011 by William March
Updated Aug 1, 2011 at 12:44 PM
The Wall Street Journal posted a blog item today about a small group of major donors putting big money—in some cases $1 million or more each—into an independent political committee backing Mitt Romney for president.
One of the million-dollar donors, New York hedge fund manager John Paulson, might be familiar to Florida political junkies, particularly those who followed the self-funded Senate campaign of real estate billionaire Jeff Greene last year.
According to a widely reported story told by Greene, Paulson is the man who gave Greene the idea to sell sub-prime mortgage bonds short, thereby making Greene a billionaire when those bonds defaulted in the 2007 real estate meltdown. Paulson also made megabucks shorting sub-prime mortgages.
Reportedly, the two ceased to be friends because Greene made the trade on his own rather than going through Johnson’s fund.
According to the Journal blog, the pro-Romney group just reported having raised $12.2 million, nearly all in very large donations.
Two contributions of $1 million each came from companies associated with an executive and former CEO of Nu Skin Enterprises, a Utah-based, Amway-style, multi-level marketing company selling skin products. Texas homebuilder Bob Perry gave $500,000.
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