PAC and support

Rick Santorum gets super PAC and early donor support

By Fredreka Schouten

A new super PAC is launching Wednesday to support Republican Rick Santorum’s second presidential bid, and one of his biggest financial backers said he’s planning write checks again.

Wyoming-based investor Foster Friess told USA TODAY in an email that he plans to back “Rick’s campaign financially” in 2016. Friess contributed $2.1 million to a pro-Santorum super PAC in the 2012 cycle. There’s no word yet on his financial commitment ahead of next year’s contest.

Friess suggested that he will give to other fundraising vehicles, rather than the new super PAC, in his push to help Santorum. Donations to super PACs must be publicly disclosed, unlike those to nonprofit groups that are active in politics.

Friess said the “the visibility created” by his donations to the pro-Santorum super PAC in 2012, “wound up generating calls from all  over the planet to donate to not only political campaigns but various charities.”

“I will find ways to support Rick financially that will be less visible,” he said.

The new super PAC, Working Again PAC, is filing its paperwork Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission, its organizers said in a news release. Santorum previously established Patriot Voices, a nonprofit group that can take unlimited, anonymous donations.

Nadine Maenza, the new super PAC’s executive director, also oversees Patriot Voices. Santorum resigned as Patriot Voices’ chairman when he announced his presidential bid in May.

The new PAC’s title reflects a major theme of Santorum’s campaign: highlighting the gap between the rich and poor and positioning himself as the “blue-collar conservative” in the GOP nomination battle. In a statement, Maenza called Santorum the “only candidate who is committed to finding solutions to improve the manufacturing sector in this country and restoring the American dream for those who have lost faith that they can achieve it.”

Maenza and the other super PAC staffers are veteran Santorum aides. Maenza, for instance, served as finance director of Santorum’s 2012 campaign.

Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, won 11 caucuses and primaries before withdrawing from the 2012 nomination contest eventually won by Mitt Romney.