EXCLUSIVE: Freedom's Watch to close

By Jon Ward (Contact)

Originally published 03:57 p.m., December 8, 2008, updated 04:55 p.m., December 8, 2008

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UPDATED:

EXCLUSIVE:

Freedom's Watch, a conservative political advocacy group bankrolled mainly by casino magnate Sheldon Adelson that poured $30 million into this year's political races, is shutting down.

Multiple sources said the board of directors, which includes former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer and former Ambassador to Italy Mel Sembler, has decided to close down rather than just scale down post-election.

"There are no ifs or buts," said a Republican operative close to the situation. "The board has made the decision to shut the doors."

The group always had planned a reduction after the election, and up until the Thanksgiving holiday it was considering downsizing from its peak size of about 50 staff during the campaign to a few key positions. A skeleton crew could have focused on a few issues under debate in Congress.

Now, the organization will retain one or two persons to handle the process of winding down, but a Freedom's Watch official confirmed that operationally it will cease to exist.

The group's dependence on Mr. Adelson, one of the GOP's biggest donors, was in the end its undoing.

Only a year ago, Mr. Adelson was the third-richest man in America, with a net worth of $28 billion. Flush with cash, he was the driving force behind Freedom's Watch, which registered as a political lobbying group in September 2007.

Mr. Adelson's company, Las Vegas Sands Corp., has since then lost 95 percent of its stock value, reaching a low of $2.89 a share in November, down from $122.96 a share a year ago.

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