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As casino billionaire and GOP mega donor Sheldon Adelson mulls his options for a “winnable” 2016 US Presidential candidate, Media Matters provided a glimpse into some of Adelson’s dark side – so to speak.
We all know he’s a staunch advocate for the protection of minors, or at least he would have the world believing this based on his assertion that children could gain easy access to online gambling websites. The result of his concerns has been to entice a few mostly Republican politicians to do his dirty work and quash efforts for legalizing of Web gambling.
Last week, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) joined forces to introduce an online gambling prohibition act that has Adelson’s fingerprints all over it.
But the perception of Adelson “buying off politicians” is just the tip of the iceberg.
Billionaire Sheldon Adelson has a history of illegal behavior and controversial comments -- facts that were left out of mainstream print reporting on GOP candidates trying to win his favor last week, Media Matters points out.
The Republican Jewish Coalition met March 27-29 in Las Vegas and potential 2016 were “sucking up to” Adelson left and right, as Michael Smerconish suggested Monday night on CNN.
Hannah Groch-Begley of Media Matters points out that none of the articles mentioning Adelson’s call to “kiss the ring” in The New York Times, Washington Post, Politico, or The Wall Street Journal mentioned that he has come under investigation for illegal business practices, including bribery, or his history of extreme remarks.
Two years ago, Adelson’s corporation came under three investigations from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Justice Department, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Sands Corp. was accused of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) for allegedly bracing the Chief Executive of Macau.
Adelson won’t win over any friends in the Muslim community.
"You don't have to worry about using the word 'Islamo-fascism' or 'Islamo-terrorist,' when that's what they are,” Adelson has been quoted as saying. “Not all Islamists are terrorists, but all the terrorists are Islamists."
If there is any group Adelson seems to dislike more than Muslims, its union members.
Groch-Begley writes that Adelson was went so far as to allegedly attempt to pay off a hospital when it announced it would honor the head of the Vegas hotel workers union.
- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com
