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Donald Trump's campaign is getting a lift from Robert Mercer.
Mercer, a billionaire hedge fund manager, just donated $2 million to a Super PAC supporting the Republican presidential candidate. It's also speculated that the Mercer family was involved in the recent appointment of Stephen Bannon, Breitbart's executive chairman, as Trump's campaign manager.
But shaking up Trump's campaign isn't the only thing Mercer money goes to.
The Intercept, an investigative news website, reported today that Mercer is a significant funder of Oregon congressional candidate Art Robinson's urine collection.
In 2010, Robert Mercer emerged as a donor to the campaign of Robinson, a Cave Junction scientist and former Oregon GOP Chair, in his congressional race against Peter DeFazio. But the billionaire is also a major donor to the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine (OISM), Robinson's research institute that collects urine for analysis.
Robinson tells WW his relationship with Mercer is based on a shared interest in science.
"Robert is a scientist and an exceptional one," Robinson says. "We always talk about the science. We have almost nothing to say to each other about politics."
"His contributions have been a great help."
The Intercept reports:
Among Robinson's professed views are beliefs that nuclear waste should be diluted and sprinkled from airplanes, and public education is "the most widespread and devastating form of child abuse and racism in the United States."
Robinson hopes to unseat Rep. DeFazio in 2016.
Read the full Intercept story here.
And read WW's past coverage of Art Robinson's exploits here and here.
Willamette Week