Type of organization: Super PAC
Supports candidate: Ron Paul
Founded: Jan. 4, 2012
Website: www.santaritasuperpac.org
Social media: YouTube channel, Facebook page
Principals:
- Donald Huffines (founder and treasurer): Dallas-based billionaire real estate developer.
Profile:
The smallest of the three Ron Paul-alligned super PACs, Santa Rita PAC, which filed with the FEC in January of 2012, is a Texas-based organization named after the patron saint of the impossible. Its stated goal is to “assist Ron Paul in winning enough delegates to prevent any other Republican candidate from having a majority.” The PAC ran several ads ahead of the South Carolina primary and also intended to target the electorate in Nevada, Alaska, Maine, Wyoming, and North and South Dakota, according to its website.
At the end of 2011, the group managed to raise $234,000 in six days from just seven contributors, according to a filing with the Federal Election Commission. Among the contributors are Mark L. Hart III and Shannon Hart, who together gave $100,000. Mark Hart is founder of Corriente Advisers, a Fort Worth, Texas, global investment adviser. The Santa Rita Super PAC has spent nearly $318,000 supporting Paul, most of it on advertising in South Carolina.
Hart, according to Bloomberg, has the unusual distinction of betting the right way on both subprime mortgage bonds and European debt.
Since then, however, donations have been nearly non-existant. The group has received only two donations since the end of January - one in February for $250 from an individual, and one in March worth $3,333.92 from "Space and Time Media Services."
See more data on Santa Rita at OpenSecrets.org, or more background information at FactCheck.org.
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- Santa Rita aired several ads touting Ron Paul’s electability, including one that claims Paul is “the only candidate who can beat Barack Obama.”
Last Updated: April 23, 2012