Nevada Attorney General and Republican gubernatorial candidate Adam Laxalt received $10,000 in campaign contributions from a Missouri billionaire who advocates for dismantling the public school system and once quoted a judge who says the school system is a creation of the Ku Klux Klan.
Rex Sinquefield is the founder of the Show-Me Institute, a conservative think tank “dedicated to free markets and individual liberty.”
Via the Show-Me Institute, Sinquefield is advocating for conservative policies. He’s also throwing his substantial personal wealth around in Missouri races and beyond, including $50,000 to the New America PAC, which is closely tied to Florida Republican Senate candidate Rick Scott.
In 2005, Sinquefield contributed $2,100 to Sharron Angle’s 2006 congressional primary, which she lost to Dean Heller by 428 votes.
Sinquefield’s website says he and his wife, Jeanne, are proponents of school choice.
According to the site, in 2009 Sinquefield helped defend the State of Missouri against a lawsuit filed by 271 of it 524 school districts, which claimed the state was not adequately funding schools. The state prevailed in the suit.
A spokesman for Laxalt’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
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