Facing Dem Scrutiny, Alito Benefactor Paul Singer Donates $10 Million to GOP
The donation, to the Mitch McConnell-aligned Senate Leadership Fund, is Singer’s largest ever.
Paul Singer, the billionaire hedge fund manager who is under scrutiny for gifting conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito an undisclosed private flight, donated $10 million in June to the Senate Republicans’ top super PAC, according to a new Federal Election Commission filing. The donation was by far his largest federal political contribution ever.
The donation was given to Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), a super PAC with close ties to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) that backs Republican candidates in U.S. Senate races. Singer had donated $2 million to SLF earlier this election cycle, across two donations given in June and December of last year.
According to ProPublica, Singer in 2008 flew Alito to Alaska on a private jet for a luxurious fishing trip. ProPublica says that the flight would have cost Alito at least $100,000 if he had chartered it himself. Alito did not report the gifted flight on his annual financial disclosures, an omission that some ethics experts argue was a violation of ethics laws. Under the federal Ethics in Government Act, Supreme Court justices are free to use a disclosure exception known as the “personal hospitality clause” for gifts “received as personal hospitality of an individual” worth an unlimited dollar amount, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
