EUGENE -- A New York hedge fund manager who has donated heavily to campaign groups supporting Republican Art Robinson in the race for the U.S. House seat in southwestern Oregon also has been a major donor to Robinson's nonprofit institute, an examination of tax records shows.



The donor, Robert Mercer, contributed nearly $650,000 in 2010 to a group that used the money for attack ads against the Democrat who holds the seat, Peter DeFazio, The Register-Guard reported Tuesday.



Robinson lost but is in a rematch this year. Mercer has contributed $240,000 to a super PAC that has spent $280,000 on ads backing Robinson, according to campaign disclosure documents.



Going back to 2005, the Mercer Foundation, funded by Mercer and managed by his daughter, has made annual donations that range from $50,000 to $100,000 to Robinson's nonprofit Oregon Institute for Science and Medicine. As of 2010, the latest year for data, the contributions total $360,000.



The institute pays Robinson a salary, $100,000 in 2010, according to tax records that federal law requires to be made public. His son, Noah Robinson, is listed as a professor at $90,000 a year. They are the institute's only paid employees, according to the filings. Noah Robinson is also his father's campaign manager.



In 2010, the institute received $435,000 in revenue, much of it in large donations from a handful of donors including Mercer's foundation, the Register-Guard reported. The institute's net assets were listed at $4.3 million.



DeFazio says the political and institutional donations show a too-cozy relationship.



"It's interesting that in 2010, (Mercer) doubled his contribution (to the institute) to $100,000," DeFazio said.



No super PACs have reported spending on DeFazio's behalf. Under federal law, direct donations to his campaign are subject to a cap of $5,000 for groups with more than 50 donors and who are contributing to five or more candidates.



"My contributors are limited under law and they can't contribute to my salary," DeFazio said.



Robinson said Mercer has been a longtime subscriber to his energy newsletter, and may have become interested because of occasional funding solicitation letters the institute sends out.



"He's a scientist," Robinson said. "He's been reading my research for a long time."



Mercer once worked on voice recognition technology for IBM. Now he's co-CEO of Renaissance Technologies, a $15 billion hedge fund.



Responding to an Associated Press inquiry, a spokesman, Jonathan Gasthalter, said Mercer had no comment.



Robinson's institute has focused on so-called biological clocks and processes to get more health information from body fluids such as blood and urine.



-- The Associated Press