Subject: Politico: Trump aides' rivalries plague super PACs
From: "Miller, Lindsey" <[email-masked]>
To: Comm_D <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 18 May 2016 06:49:14 -0700

Sarge slacked but a couple flags below for if/when a new super PAC is created because they would probably be breaking the law
Trump aides' rivalries plague super PACs<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/trump-allies-rivalries-plagues-super-pacs-223300>

The power struggle inside Donald Trump's presidential campaign is spilling over into the world of his super PAC allies, freezing wealthy supporters who want to write big checks to boost the presumptive GOP nominee over likely Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.
Top Trump adviser Paul Manafort has privately expressed support for a yet-to-be-launched super PAC that would be affiliated with a close friend of the billionaire. Multiple sources familiar with the matter said Manafort's allies hope the PAC will become the favored vehicle for huge checks from mega-donors like Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, who is believed to be considering spending as much as $100 million boosting Trump.
But the sources said that Manafort's chief internal rival, Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, who is close to Adelson's advisers, is not on board with the plan for the new PAC. And they suggest that if Lewandowski doesn't like the set-up, he may signal his support for a totally different outside spending vehicle - possibly one that hasn't even been created yet.
An adviser to Adelson, whose donations are being closely watched as a bellwether to other donors, told POLITICO "we are not anywhere near a decision on who will receive money or how much we will give." Adelson will make his own decision independent of Trump campaign aides' signals, the adviser said.
Neither Manafort, Lewandowski, nor the Trump campaign responded to requests for comment about the lack of clear signals from the campaign about a preferred super PAC.
Trump allies fear that continued confusion could cripple their slow-starting big-money fundraising effort, which has been plagued by infighting. It's an especially acute problem for Trump, since he eschewed fundraising and openly antagonized the GOP donor class during his mostly self-funded primary campaign, allowing Clinton and her allies to build a massive cash advantage using a quartet of super PACs working closely together to fill well-defined roles.
The four main super PACs devoted to Clinton have combined to raise $89 million from the beginning of last year through the end of March, the period covered by the most recent FEC filings. And the leading pro-Clinton super PAC, Priorities USA Action, has already reserved $90 million in television ad time in key swing states for tough general election ads against Trump.
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By contrast, more than two dozen mostly unauthorized outside groups that claim to support Trump have raised a total of $3.7 million this cycle, but only six of the groups have actually bought ads supporting Trump. And because Trump had disavowed all super PACs until recently, his advisers haven't given donors much indication about which, if any, outside groups they prefer.
One of the few pro-Trump super PACs to gain any momentum, Great America PAC, was seen within GOP finance circles as having a tacit blessing from Lewandowski. While the group had struggled to raise cash and was $690,000 in the red at the end of March, it had begun establishing itself in recent weeks as the leading vehicle in a growing field of pro-Trump super PACs that features many entrants using the candidate's name to raise money while spending little in support of his campaign.
Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry is scheduled to participate in a donor conference call for Great America PAC on Wednesday, according to an invitation obtained by POLITICO, and the group announced a donor retreat at the ranch of billionaire Texas energy investor T. Boone Pickens.
But as Great America PAC has gained credibility and started winning support from key donors, Manafort's allies have stepped up their attacks on it as a scam, and some have expressed support for competing groups, including one launched last week called the Committee to Restore American Sovereignty.
The PACs that legitimately want to help Trump need to figure out a way to work together, or they will end up squandering cash on competing efforts, warned the influential GOP mega-donor Stanley S. Hubbard. The Minnesota broadcasting billionaire this month joined the advisory committee of Great America PAC, and on Tuesday he told POLITICO that he had written a six-figure check to the group. He added that he was open to giving more, but said he would not give to other pro-Trump super PACs.
"If they call me, they're wasting their time, because one is enough. Too many cooks in the kitchen ruin the stew," he said, suggesting that the super PAC competition is less about tactics and more about personality. "What you have to do is keep ego out of it. I think ego creeps into too many things."
Any attempts to create clarity in the super PAC derby - and to shut down scammers who are raising money off of Trump - are complicated by federal election rules barring super PACs and other big-money groups from coordinating with candidates and their campaigns or party committees.
A Trump campaign official said uncertainty about the universe of pro-Trump PACs and the "dark figures involved" is deterring major donors who previously supported Trump's vanquished GOP presidential rivals including Chris Christie, Jeb Bush and John Kasich. "They're all waiting for the right vehicle," said the official. "The fact of the matter is that we just have a hodgepodge. Nobody's eager to throw their money down a rat hole."
The official suggested that this problem could be solved by the entrance of a super PAC blessed by Manafort and affiliated with California real estate billionaire named Thomas Barrack. A close ally of Trump's, Barrack has had discussions with Manafort and others about becoming involved in a new super PAC, according to sources in and around the campaign.
Barrack, who has praised the presumptive GOP nominee's "charm and emotional intelligence" and is set to host a fundraiser for Trump this month in Los Angeles, was traveling internationally Tuesday and could not be reached for comment.
The Trump campaign official added: "Tom Barrack is one of Trump's friends and there's a lot of concerns about fingers that are in these pies . . . Nobody trusts anybody in these non-affiliated groups and Trump trusts Barrack implicitly."
But even if Barrack - who has not previously been a major donor, scattering $67,000 among Democratic and Republican campaigns over the years - puts his full weight into an outside spending effort that has Manafort's blessing, some Trump allies fear that may not quash the rivalries between the super PACs, which reflect deep personal tensions. Beyond the Manafort-Leandowski rift, Manafort and his allies have a tricky decades-long history with the leaders of Great America PAC and the Committee to Restore American Sovereignty.
During Ronald Reagan's 1984 reelection campaign, Manafort and his close ally Roger Stone worked together, sometimes uneasily, with Ed Rollins, the co-chairman of Great America PAC, and Doug Watts, the national executive director of the Committee to Restore American Sovereignty.
Stone's ex-wife Ann Stone also has discussed launching a super PAC that will work to win over women to vote for Trump, a source familiar with the effort told POLITICO. The source said Stone is working with Amy Kremer, who formerly was associated with Great America, and Kathryn Serkes, and that they have suggested their effort has an unofficial blessing from Trump's campaign.
Ann Stone, Kremer and Serkes did not respond to requests for comment, nor did a Trump campaign spokesperson.
After Watts announced the creation of his super PAC, Rollins pushed back, releasing a statement this week predicting that his Great America PAC will be "the best-funded, most effective independent committee supporting Trump's candidacy."
Roger Stone lashed back, calling Great America a "scam PAC," and pointing out that one of its advisers was convicted of a campaign finance violation this month, while Rollins had worked as an adviser to a firm started by a former Bill Clinton aide.
But Eric Beach, Great America's co-chairman, pointed to Trump's praise of Rollins as "tremendous" earlier this month as a sign that the businessman views the group favorably, while the mega-donor Hubbard said having Rollins on board is a selling point. "He's certainly had a lot of experience."
A Rollins ally suggested that Stone helped create the Committee to Restore American Sovereignty as a way to undermine Great America PAC. And Rollins himself suggested that Stone is obsessed with him, asserting "I don't spend my life tracking Roger Stone. He may spend his life tracking me but I don't spend my life tracking him."
Stone did not directly respond to questions about his role in the Committee to Restore American Sovereignty, but he did say he planned to contribute $1,000 to the group, and he questioned the depth of Rollins' commitment to Trump. Rollins will "end up attacking Trump," Stone predicted.
Watts laughed off the suggestion that Stone had put him up to creating the PAC as a means of undermining Rollins. "Ed and I are friends of 40 years and were business partners for a few year so I wouldn't do something that was predicated on that basis," Watts said. "Both Ed and Roger have had an obsession with one another over the years. I'm not sure what the genesis is but it has a life of its own."
Watts countered that his PAC's fundraising approach was superior to Great America's. "They're already in debt and I have no idea what their designs are," he said.
But he also said there was room for multiple pro-Trump outside groups and that Barrack's group could be a positive addition to the crowded space. "Three to five super PACs in support of the same candidacy is not a bad thing. It means you have a wider net that you're casting for contributions," Watts said. "So I welcome it, sure."