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During the 2012 Iowa Republican Caucus a State Senator named Kent Sorenson switched his endorsement from Michele Bachmann to Ron Paul. It now turns out that he was paid $73,000 by the Paul campaign to do this.quote:Paul's campaign committee doled out $80,000 in legal fees this spring, according to federal campaign finance reports -- nearly twice as much as it spent on legal costs in all of 2013. Paul would go on to come in a close third place in the caucus. He was on pace to receive the most votes until a surprise New Years Day surge by Rick Santorum in a CNN poll just a few days before the event. Paul's campaign would stick around in Iowa, get its delegates elected to subsequent rounds and eventually have the majority of the Iowa delegation (futilely) vote for him in nomination at the convention. The state party was taken over by his allies for several years, finally being ousted last winter. Ron Paul's grandson-in-law, Jesse Benton led Paul's 2008 and 2012 campaigns, as well as Rand Paul's 2010 Senate campaign. This year he was running Mitch McConnell's Senate campaign, a move that he privately admitted was purely in service of Rand's Presidential ambitions: get Mitch on your good side, hope he's the new Senate Majority Leader, and see what favors accrue to Rand in the coming years. That would probably include favorable scheduling for Rand's pet bills and fundraising support. quote:“Between you and me, I’m sort of holding my nose for two years because what we’re doing here is going to be a big benefit to Rand in ’16, so that’s my long vision,” Benton said in the call. Paul is believed to be gearing up for a run for president in 2016. The other problem for Benton is that Sorenson says that "Jesse definitely knew" about the payment to switch his endorsement. As a result, Benton resigned today from the McConnell campaign. quote:Recently, there have been inaccurate press accounts and unsubstantiated media rumors about me and my role in past campaigns that are politically motivated, unfair and, most importantly, untrue. I hope those who know me recognize that I strive to be a man of integrity. While Demitri Kesari is no longer associated with the Pauls, Benton was the clear choice to run the Rand 2016 Presidential/Senate campaign. That's probably still the case, but there are documents still sealed in the Sorenson investigation that may implicate him further. The question now is what effect this will have on Mitch's re-election and Rand's political ambitions.
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Aug 30, 2014 02:11
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| # ¿ May 8, 2024 17:09 |
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He's not being prosecuted for the bribery either. The problem is that the Paul campaign mis-reported the spending as "legal fees" and the FEC wondered why they suddenly needed $73,000 more in legal fees one month.
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Aug 30, 2014 16:32
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