There’s always another rightwing billionaire
by digby
… but there’s one less weirdo among them meddling in politics these days:
Robert Mercer, the publicity-shy hedge fund tycoon whose backing of Donald Trump earned him unwelcome fame, is stepping back into the shadows.
Mercer, 72, and his family spent just $2.9 million influencing federal elections this year, less than a third of their outlay in either 2016, when the last presidential election took place, or 2014, the year of the last midterms, according to Federal Election Commission data gathered through late December.
Combined with the demise of Mercer’s political-data firm, Cambridge Analytica, and the break with former adviser Stephen Bannon, the decline in spending suggests Mercer’s importance in conservative politics may be waning. According to two people who have worked closely with the family, Mercer and his daughter Rebekah, 45, were dismayed by the notoriety their role in Trump’s victory brought. Spokesmen for Robert and Rebekah Mercer declined to comment.
“They are very private,” said Dan Eberhart, an Arizona oil and gas investor who has backed many of the same Republican causes. “That is a negative on them getting more involved.”
Aw, what a shame. Apparently, some of the people they disdain fought back:
The past two years have seen liberal protesters march on Robert Mercer’s mansion on Long Island, New York; pressure university endowments to pull money from his hedge fund, Renaissance Technologies LLC; and demand that the American Museum of Natural History strip Rebekah Mercer of her board seat. The elder Mercer stepped down from leading Renaissance last year, although he remains a senior researcher there.
Rebekah is still active in charitable work and everyone suspects they are secretly funneling money to conservative causes via dark money donations. They will certainly find a way to follow their hate.
But this episode shows one good reason why transparency in politics, particularly money, is so important. These people love to have outsize influence on public policy but they don’t want to be held accountable for it.
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cheers — digby
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