http://thehill.com/...
The bribery scandal surrounding former Rep. Ron Paul’s (R-Texas) 2012 presidential bid is threatening to damage his son’s 2016 White House prospects.
The saga took down Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) likely campaign manager, Jesse Benton, who was running Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) reelection bid. And the implications of wrongdoing two years ago could still further trickle down and hobble the younger Paul’s developing presidential campaign apparatus.
Don't get me wrong. Being a
certified nutcase doesn't have to
run in the family. But the relationship of father and son to one Jesse Benton, a
"longtime confidante of the Paul family" -- sort of Robert Duvall's Tom Hagen character to Vito and Michael Corleone, as it were, now accused of spearheading a sordid vote-buying scandal as the head of Ron Paul's 2012 campaign for President, is
more than worth looking into:
Benton, a longtime aide to both Pauls, resigned Friday from the GOP Senate leader’s campaign amid controversy sparked by former Iowa state Sen. Kent Sorenson’s admission in court that he accepted tens of thousands of dollars from representatives associated with Paul’s and Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-Minn.) campaigns for his endorsement.
Benton ran Ron Paul’s campaign at the time of the alleged bribe, and emails and a phone conversation leaked earlier this year suggest he was aware of, and even engaged in, the scheme. At one point, Sorenson said, “I know Jesse knows.”
In fact, after a 31 month-long investigation Sorenson named Benton as the point man from the Ron Paul campaign from whom he sought a $75,000 payment for jumping ship from the Bachmann campaign.
The larger point here isn't whether Rand Paul did or didn't know anything about his Dad's interesting campaign apparatus (although a legitimate question no one seems to be asking is how much Ron Paul knew; perhaps the FBI is looking into that), but the fact that the two are apparently joined at the hip by not just their DNA, but by the people they choose to run their political operations:
A week ago, before the Sorenson charges, Benton told The Hill when asked about his plans for 2016 that “whatever happens, I’ll be there for Paul.”
But don't ever take sides with anyone against the family again. Ever.
On Tuesday, Benton didn’t respond to questions about whether those plans had changed, and Doug Stafford, who heads up Rand Paul’s political operation and political action committee, also wouldn’t say whether Benton would stay on the Paul political team.
The Paul "political team" is a close-knit family bunch
spanning the generations:
Paul’s close relationship with Benton is common knowledge — the latter reportedly moved into Paul’s basement in 2010 to run his Senate campaign, and is married to the senator’s niece, Valori Pyeatt, also a former campaign aide.
Ron Paul’s daughter Lori Pyeatt was his 2012 campaign treasurer, and is now Benton’s mother-in-law.
Taken together, the family ties mean the scandal isn’t likely to go away.
Just out of curiosity, how many campaign managers live in their bosses' basement? With their bosses' niece? Did she have her own entrance? Did she have to get past the guards to see her husband?
Hey! We weren't expecting you, Kay you should call.
Yes, well...I have. I mean I've tried writing and calling. Now I want to reach Michael. Nobody knows where he is. We know that he's alright, but that's all.
Uh…(after noticing a wrecked car behind her) What was that?
Well that's an accident, but nobody was hurt...
This is not the first time Rand Paul has been associated with, how should I say, unsavory people. In fact, Benton was working for Rand Paul when Tim Profitt, a Paul county coordinator, stomped on a young woman's head during Paul's Senate campaign ostensibly because she dared to criticize his Master. The campaign tried to then tried to distance itself from Profitt, calling him a mere "volunteer," even though:
Paul [had taken] out a full-page ad on Tuesday in the Lexington Herald-Leader that listed Profitt as an important Kentucky supporter, according to the newspaper. The ad was taken out before the alleged assault.
Even the Hill doesn't call Paul's cronies "aides." They're "associates:"
Associates of Paul defended the candidate and argue the situation has unfolded long before the 2016 campaign.
“I think it’s far enough out that it’s not going to be a big factor,” said Fritz Wenzel, Paul’s pollster. “From a polling perspective, the voters of Iowa and the voters of this country are not concerned about that as a top issue, and they won’t be when they go to choose a Republican nominee.”
The fact that the
situation is unfolding in 2014, less than two years after the alleged bribes occurred, is actually the problem, though, isn't it? Benton was widely expected to be Rand Paul's campaign manager for his 2016 run.
Kentucky's Courier-Journal adopts the same type of terminology when describing the Pauls:
[O]ne Republican told me the biggest problem is that the matter raises concerns among establishment Republicans, who have long had worries about the Paul family operation. It has historically been populated by libertarian-leaning people not schooled in party politics who bristle at following rules with which they don’t agree, he said.”
The kind of people who stomp on women's heads and bribe public officials, apparently. Or as
The Hill terms it, the "Libertarian Network." These folks are an insular bunch, in all their Ayn Randian, know-it-all smugness. But they are the types of people who after running the campaign typically get named to high Administration positions. So now that Rand is running for President the American people have a right to know if they can expect these type of low-rent thugs in positions of Executive power.
In addition to Benton, the bribery scandal involves Ron Paul's former deputy campaign manager, Dimitri Kesari. Kesari wrote a 25,000 check from his wife's jewelry business and passed it to Republican state senator Kent Sorenson, just days before Sorenson inexplicably switched from supporting Michele Bachman to supporting Rand Paul's daddy for President.
Kesari gave the check to Sorenson's wife during a dinner meeting while Sorenson was in the bathroom, Sorenson's lawyer, Theodore Sporer, said.
I have to go to the bathroom. Is that all right?
Evidently it was.
Fresh out of Rand's basement, Benton was running his daddy's, Ron Paul, campaign at the time all this went down. While he has repeatedly denied knowing anything about it, something apparently snapped last week and he is now persona non grata.
Tell Mike it was only business. I always liked him.
He understands that.
[removing Tessio's gun] Excuse me, Sally.
Can you get me off the hook, Tom? For old times' sake?
[shakes his head] Can't do it, Sally.
This problem isn't going away for Rand Paul:
.
Allegations that Benton and former Ron Paul 2012 Iowa vice chair AJ Spiker may have been involved in the scandal throw a wrench into the younger Paul’s campaign structure, as he had hoped to inherit much of his father’s political network. But there may be another shoe yet to drop. The federal investigation into the pay-for-endorsement scheme continues, and may seek to target other former Paul staffers involved. Repeated requests for comment from Paul’s Iowa staffers went unanswered.
* All italicized quotes are from The Godfather, unless otherwise noted.