Courtesy of Matea Gold of the Washington Post:
* * *
* * *
The federal probe that resulted in a guilty plea this
week by a former Iowa state senator who was secretly paid to endorse two
Republican presidential candidates in the 2012 campaign is ongoing and could
implicate the political operatives who were involved in routing payments to
him, according to people familiar with the case.
* LET'S HOPE SO!
* ABSOLVE THE INNOCENT... PUNISH THE GUILTY... THAT'S MY
MANTRA!
Kent Sorenson, a one-time tea party star...
* NEVER HEARD OF HIM! (AND AGAIN... THERE IS NO "TEA
PARTY" - THERE'S A BASIC PHILOSOPHY AND EVEN WITHIN THAT THERE ARE
DISPUTES. MY IDEA OF WHAT THE TEA PARTY REPRESENTS... THAT'S THE RIGHT IDEA...
IN MY LESS THAN HUMBLE OPINION THAT IS!)
...and Iowa legislator, caused a stir in late 2011 when
he dramatically dropped his endorsement of Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota
to back former Rep. Ron Paul of Texas.
* I DECIDED BACHMANN WAS A FAKE, PHONY, FRAUD WHEN SHE
VOTED FOR BOEHNER TO RETAIN HIS SPEAKERSHIP IN 2013.
* I'M A HUGE RON PAUL FAN!
One focus by federal prosecutors now appears to be on
people involved in Paul’s 2012 operation.
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.
* WHY...???
David A. Warrington, who served as general counsel to
Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign, did not return requests for comment.
* WAS AN ATTEMPT MADE TO CONTACT RON PAUL DIRECTLY?
On Wednesday, Sorenson admitted in federal court what he
had long adamantly denied: that he took thousands of dollars in payments from
the campaigns of Bachmann and Paul in exchange for his endorsement.
* WHAT... A... DOUCHE...
* BUT... IS THIS ILLEGAL...? HOW SO...? UNETHICAL? YES!
BUT ILLEGAL...???
The former state senator pleaded guilty to one count of
causing a federal campaign committee to falsely report its expenditures...
* NOW THAT CERTAINLY SOUNDS LIKE A CRIMINAL ACT!
...and one count of obstruction of justice for giving
false testimony to a state independent counsel investigating the payments.
* DITTO!
Two sealed documents were filed in court as part of the
case, a possible indication that Sorenson is cooperating with federal
prosecutors as part of a broader investigation.
* "SEALED," HUH? (ALSO A POSSIBLE INDICATION
THAT HOLDER'S PEOPLE ARE PLAYING GAMES... POLITICALLY PARTISAN GAMES.) I SAY
LET'S HAVE TRANSPARENCY!
Sorenson’s attorney, F. Montgomery Brown, declined to
comment on whether the former state senator had such a deal. But he and others
involved in the matter said the case is continuing. “It’s my understanding that
this an ongoing investigation,” Brown said. Justice Department spokesman Peter
Carr confirmed that the investigation is ongoing.
(*RAISING ONE EYEBROW*)
Jesse Benton, a Republican strategist who is married to
Paul’s granddaughter, served as chairman of Paul’s 2012 campaign. He is now
running Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s re-election campaign and is
expected to play a significant role in a 2016 presidential bid by Sen. Rand
Paul (R-Ky.).
* THEY SAY "POLITICS MAKE STRANGE BEDFELLOWS."
LOOKS LIKE IN THIS CASE "MARRIAGE MAKES STRANGE POLITICAL ALLIANCES."
* I... DESPISE... MITCH... MCCONNELL...
It is unclear if Benton knew about the payments made to
Sorenson...
* HAVE ALLEGATIONS BEEN MADE THAT PAUL HIMSELF KNEW?
...but emails published last year by the
TheIowaRepublican.com and OpenSecrets.org show that Benton wrote to a Sorenson
associate in the fall of 2011, asking if the then-state senator would be
“joining our team.”
Neither Benton nor the McConnell campaign returned
requests for comment.
* AGAIN... DID THE REPORTER ATTEMPT TO SPEAK TO EITHER
BENTON OR MCCONNELL PERSONALLY?
A key point person from the Paul campaign who urged
Sorenson to defect was Dimitri Kesari, then Paul’s deputy national campaign
manager. At a December 2011 meeting at an Altoona restaurant, he gave
Sorenson’s wife a $25,000 check to secure the state senator’s support. The
check was never cashed.
* ARE... THERE... ALLEGATIONS... THAT... PAUL...
HIMSELF... KNEW...?!?!
Jesse Binnall, an attorney for Kesari, declined to
comment.
Two days after the check was written, Sorenson made a
surprise appearance at a Paul campaign rally in Des Moines and announced that
he was switching his endorsement. A furious Bachmann accused Sorenson of
switching to Paul for money.
Sorenson denied any payments. "I was never offered a
nickel from the Ron Paul campaign," he told Fox News's Megyn Kelly.
* THEN WHAT DID YOU PLEAD GUILTY TO...? (I'M CONFUSED!)
* TO REITERATE...
The federal probe that resulted in a guilty plea this
week by a former Iowa state senator who was secretly paid to endorse two
Republican presidential candidates in the 2012 campaign is ongoing and could
implicate the political operatives who were involved in routing payments to
him, according to people familiar with the case.
(*SHRUG*)
The state senator resigned from his post last year after
a four-month investigation by a state court-appointed independent counsel, Mark
Weinhardt, found probable cause that he violated the Iowa Senate Code of
Ethics.
Weinhardt’s investigation discovered that Bachmann’s
presidential campaign and leadership PAC routed nearly $60,000 to Sorenson
through a consulting firm owned by Guy Short, a political consultant working
for Bachmann’s PAC. The state investigation also determined that a consulting
firm owned by Sorenson had been paid $73,000 by a film production company
called ICT.
Federal court documents filed Wednesday confirmed that
the $73,000 originated with Paul’s campaign.
“We were deeply suspicious at the time of our report that
the money paid to Sen. Sorenson from the film production company was
compensation for his support for Ron Paul,” Weinhardt said. “Yesterday’s events
confirmed that suspicion.”
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