A major booster for the Romney campaign is Woody Johnson, the 65 year old owner of the NY Jets and a long-time Republican loyalist who raised money for both John McCain and George W. Bush. Like Adelson and Simmons, Johnson may be more energized by the idea of getting Obama out of office than by the vision of getting Romney in. He is an heir to the Johnson & Johnson family fortune, valued at $13 billion. Six years ago, Johnson was identified by a Senate Committee as one of four individuals well connected in high places who engaged in a tax-avoidance scheme that diverted $40 billion annually from federal coffers. The scheme involved a complex web of secretive corporations and trusts in the Isle of Man. Johnson blamed his involvement on bad tax advice.
Today, Johnson heads Romney's fundraising in Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York, where he's known to travel from place to place on a Razor scooter. In May, during Donald Trump's "birther" phase, he organized a "Dine with the Donald" fundraising promo for Romney. Recently, he announced that the Romney campaign has reached the half-way point in its projected fundraising goal of $800 million. Who but a pharmaceutical heir could re-energize donors and bundlers by saying that "if you feel tired now, you gotta go take a couple vitamins because we're gonna really have a strong push to the finish line."
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