Pro-Santorum super PAC gets $1 million donation

Introduction

A Louisiana energy executive has made a $1 million contribution to a super PAC supporting the surging campaign of Rick Santorum, according to disclosure records released Monday.

The donation came from William J. Dore of Louisiana, president of Dore Energy Corp. Dore’s contribution accounted for about half of the $2.1 million the “Red White and Blue Fund” raised for the month of January — that’s nearly triple the $730,000 it had raised through December.

The PAC also continued to rely heavily on checks from multimillionaire and retired mutual fund executive Foster Friess, a Wyoming-based, born-again Christian. Friess donated $669,000 in January and $331,000 in 2011, making his total donations an even $1 million.

The two men account for 71 percent of the contributions to the super PAC.

Dore of Lake Charles, La., is winner of the 2011 Horatio Alger Norman Vincent Peale Award, according to the Horatio Alger Association website. The award is given to those who have made “exceptional humanitarian contributions to society.”

Friess of late has conducted a one-man media blitz with numerous broadcast and print outlets touting Santorum’s conservative credentials. But his freewheeling style with the media drew some criticism when he remarked jokingly last week in an interview with MSNBC that “… back in my days, they’d use Bayer aspirin for contraceptives. The gals put it between their knees …”

After the comments sparked a backlash, Friess apologized in a blog post.

Last week, in the run-up to the hotly contested Feb. 28 Michigan primary where Santorum is hoping for an upset, his allied PAC spent almost $700,000 for television advertising. Santorum has been leading former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, according to some recent polls.

Still, the Romney campaign and his allied super PAC have vastly outspent the former Pennsylvania senator in Michigan.

Stuart Roy, a spokesman for the pro-Santorum super PAC, said it planned to announce another “significant” media buy in Michigan on Tuesday.