Author Topic: Some Iowa activists: Payoff scheme could hurt Rand Paul  (Read 364 times)

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Some Iowa activists: Payoff scheme could hurt Rand Paul
« on: August 06, 2015, 02:23:05 pm »
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2015/08/05/rand-paul-indictment-presidential-election-impact/31194757/

The latest news in an Iowa political payoff scheme is an unfortunate bank shot on Rand Paul's presidential election efforts, even though he was not part of the scandal, some Iowa conservatives said Wednesday.

Indictments against two of Paul's super PAC allies could potentially impair fundraising and organizing efforts for the Kentucky U.S. senator in the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses, they said.

"It gets his people off-message and distracted from doing the work they're supposed to be doing," said former state Rep. Kim Pearson, an Altoona Republican who endorsed Paul's father, Ron Paul, in 2012.

And the Paul name will be tarnished by the indictments, Pearson told The Des Moines Register. Jesse Benton and John Tate of America's Liberty PAC and a third former Ron Paul aide, Dimitrios Kesari, were charged Wednesday in connection with a scheme to cover up payments made to then-Iowa Sen. Kent Sorenson for endorsing Ron Paul.

Ron Paul's aides didn't tell him about the illicit payments, court documents state.

"I don't think anyone believes Rand Paul or Ron Paul is involved in any way with any illegalities," Pearson said. "However, I think there are times where there's perception."

RELATED: Officials: Indictments show anti-corruption rules work

Rand Paul campaign aides said this episode won't slow them down.

"We're building a large ground team across Iowa … and it will continue to grow," Steve Grubbs, Paul's Iowa strategist, told the Register. "The Rand Paul Iowa campaign will ultimately succeed, and the Washington machine can't stop us."

Some GOP insiders in Iowa said they think Rand Paul should be judged on his own merits and not for what his father's staffers did.

"I would hope that Iowans would separate a U.S. senator who has articulated his views very well and who has traveled the state and answered questions, and would not blame him for what happened in the past that he had nothing to do with," said Jeff Kaufmann, who became chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa when conservatives, after a bitter fight, ousted Ron Paul backers who took control of party headquarters in 2012.

"As for the campaign staffers," Kaufmann added, "they'll have to answer for themselves."

But some Iowa Republicans on Wednesday questioned why Rand Paul didn't do more to distance himself from staffers who worked for Ron Paul in 2012 the moment he knew serious allegations had been raised about possible payments to Sorenson, which were outlined in an investigative report to the Iowa Senate in October 2013.

Benton and Tate have not worked for Rand Paul's presidential campaign, but Benton worked for his U.S. Senate campaign in Kentucky, and both have been part of his super PAC, America's Liberty, records show. Although candidates can't legally control the super PAC working in their favor, it's usually their closest confidants who staff them.
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