The Beltway And Beyond
Sheldon Adelson and the International Stage
04/08/2012--During this year's presidential campaign, Sheldon Adelson has gotten a lot of attention. He and his family have donated about $15 million to help Newt Gingrich's campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. He showed up in news accounts of the Republican caucus, and specifically the special caucus held after sundown on Saturday to enable orthodox Jews and others who commemorate the Sabbath on Saturday. He has been the subject of an extensive profile in The New Yorker, and mentioned in another New Yorker report on Macau.
On Sunday, he was part of the conclusion of a New York Times story that suggests the extent of Adelson's international involvement and importance.
The Times reported on a relationship known only to a few: Mitt Romney and Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli prime minister met the likely Republican presidential nominee when they briefly worked together at a Boston consulting firm. The Times report concluded, "And the prime minister keeps open lines of communication to the candidate. When it was Mr. Gingrich's turn to leap to the top of the polls, Mr. Netanyahu was startled in January by an article exploring why Sheldon Adelson, a billionaire casino executive and outspoken supporter of Israel, was devoting millions of dollars to back Mr. Gingrich. It described Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Adelson as close friends.
"Mr. Netanyahu's office quickly related a late-night message to a senior Romney adviser, Dan Senor: the prime minister had played no role in Mr. Adelson's decision to bankroll a Romney rival."
It's a small world, indeed, when a leading Las Vegas resort owner virtually bankrolls a presidential campaign, and another leading candidate receives reassurance from the leader of a major American ally. The world gets even smaller. Senor has had a successful career as a conservative commentator in print and on the air, and working for the federal government, including as spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. One of his first jobs was as an adviser and aide to a then-U.S. senator, Spencer Abraham, who as secretary of energy ordered the selection of Yucca Mountain for a nuclear waste dump.
None of which ties any of the candidates or Adelson to Yucca Mountain. It's just a reminder that, just as Las Vegas always has been the land of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, that tendency has spread to the world stage.