A handful of wealthy Floridians are among the top donors to Restore Our Future, a Super PAC associated with Mitt Romney.
The latest quarterly funding reports were released by the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday and, perhaps unsurprisingly, the Romney campaign is far outpacing its competitors. The pro-Romney Restore Our Future brought in nearly $18 million in the second half of 2011, for a grand total of $30,179,260 raised in 2011. The Super PAC has poured more than $17 million into the primary races so far, outspending the pro-Newt Gingrich group Winning Our Future nearly two-to-one.
The list of donors to Restore our Future includes a few familiar names.
Miami health care entrepreneur Miguel Fernandez, chairman of MBF Healthcare Partners, gave $500,000. MBF Holdings gave an additional $500,000.
Oxbow Carbon, an international coal and petroleum company, gave Restore our Future $750,000, while Oxbow Corp. gave $250,000. Oxbow is owned by William Koch, brother to the notoriously anti-regulation billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch.
No strangers to political spending, the Koch brothers are key players in bankrolling conservative political action groups, think tanks and individual politicians. Though he is less talked about than his brothers, William is listed as No. 310 on the list of Forbes‘ billionaires, and has an estimated net worth of $4 billion.
Restore Our Future also received a hefty amount from the retirement community, The Villages. The community itself donated $250,000, while Villages resident Renee Morse donated an additional $250,000. The Villages has become a common stop for conservative politicians, as it has a high voter turnout rate and lies within Sumter County, home to 34,239 registered Republicans.
Bain Capital, co-founded by Romney, was the top organization donating to Restore our Future, with individuals working for the company giving $2 million. At least one of those individuals, Domenic Ferrante, resides in Florida.
