$650,000 Left in Ron's Presidential Campaign

[Sally08]

I'm still not doing very well with the nurturing, am I?

You're not making many debate points, either.

 

[libertarian4321]

Sounds like money laundering to me under those circumstances.

There definitely is/will be a "paper trail" as to which money transfers move from/to which bank accounts and when.

And wouldn't it have been nice to have received an e-mail explaining the intended allocation of those excess funds, as well as a link to the newly released FEC reports vs. finding out in a newspaper article?



I believe the original article is quoting the published FEC reports.

Do those FEC reports represent reliable information as to how monies "are actually used" as legally reported by HQ?

They will have to detail what they do with the money, though they are free to do virtually anything they want with it. The point is, all we know now is that it was moved from one campaign war chest (presidential) to another (congressional). That doesn't necessarily tell us a thing about how it will ultimately be spent.

Keeping a campaign going is a paperwork nightmare and costs money. Given that the Presidential campaign is over, they probably just want to "close the books" on it. Before they could close the books, they had to do something with the money. Its entirely possible that he just temporarily "parked" the money in the congressional campaign fund (which stays open as long as he's in congress) because he had to get it out of the Presidential campaign in order to shut that campaign down.

In other words, just because it was moved to the congressional campaign does NOT mean its going to be spent running for congress- he can still shift it to the CFL next week or next month if he chooses to do so. Or he can spend it on booze and strippers. Or he can spend it on booze and strippers for the CFL rally (best of both worlds).

 

[libertarian4321]

You should probably start by making some damned sense before you bother with nurturing.

I'm not nurturing, nor am I a teacher. If you have a reading comprehension problem, ask your teacher to help you.

 

[Kalifornia]

I'm not nurturing, nor am I a teacher. If you have a reading comprehension problem, ask your teacher to help you.

before a writing can be comprehended, it must first be cohesive and attempt to communicate an actual idea. You Fail in both the cohesion and actual idea departments.


I guess I really shouldnt be suprised that I have to explain this to you.

 

[Sally08]

He can transfer it from EITHER campaign to the CFL anytime he wants to.

Could you post a link that remotely supports your statement?

There have been many discussions about under what circumstances and under what legal structure CFL was formed as to whether or not the unused funds could be transferred to the CFL.

If they need to be transferred to the Congressional campaign until after that election and then can *legally* be transferred to CFL as a 501c4 nonprofit, fine.

However, I believe I have seen several posts from knowledgeable people that appeared to indicate that there could be issues.

There have even been thread discussions about the legality of RonPaul2008.com having been forwarded to the Congressional site for a few days, while now it is being forwarded to CFL.

From the bottom of the Donate page:
"The Campaign for Liberty is a 501c4 nonprofit. Donations are not tax deductible. "

 

[Sally08]

They will have to detail what they do with the money, though they are free to do virtually anything they want with it.

Sigh. Please include a link to anything that supports what you keep posting.

The point is, all we know now is that it was moved from one campaign war chest (presidential) to another (congressional). That doesn't necessarily tell us a thing about how it will ultimately be spent.

But there are definitely laws that specify how it *cannot* be spent/transferred.

Keeping a campaign going is a paperwork nightmare and costs money. Given that the Presidential campaign is over, they probably just want to "close the books" on it. Before they could close the books, they had to do something with the money. Its entirely possible that he just temporarily "parked" the money in the congressional campaign fund (which stays open as long as he's in congress) because he had to get it out of the Presidential campaign in order to shut that campaign down.

And it's "entirely possible" that 100% of your guesses are wrong!

Wouldn't it really be nice, for once, if RP told us what he is doing based on the constraints imposed by various legal requirements?

I also think many people would vehemently disagree with you that the campaign has been *SHUT DOWN* vs. suspended.

In other words, just because it was moved to the congressional campaign does NOT mean its going to be spent running for congress- he can still shift it to the CFL next week or next month if he chooses to do so. Or he can spend it on booze and strippers. Or he can spend it on booze and strippers for the CFL rally (best of both worlds).

Sigh. Just more babble.

Hmm. Somehow, I recall hearing that paying strippers tends to impact political careers. Doing so would certainly impact supporter perceptions of RP's personal integrity!

 

[Kalifornia]

Sigh. Please include a link to anything that supports what you keep posting.



But there are definitely laws that specify how it *cannot* be spent/transferred.



And it's "entirely possible" that 100% of your guesses are wrong!

Wouldn't it really be nice, for once, if RP told us what he is doing based on the constraints imposed by various legal requirements?

I also think many people would vehemently disagree with you that the campaign has been *SHUT DOWN* vs. suspended.



Sigh. Just more babble.

Hmm. Somehow, I recall hearing that paying strippers tends to impact political careers. Doing so would certainly impact supporter perceptions of RP's personal integrity!

Hell, for my share of the overage, I could have rented my own stripper!

How many strippers will $3.5M strip?

 

[RonPaulFever]

How many strippers will $3.5M strip?

ALL of 'em!

 

[StudentForPaul08]

All of this is a waste of time. I know my money i gave Dr. Paul is in good hands. ITS DR. PAUL!. I think he just parked it in congressional so he can shut down the pres. run. I would like him to use the rest for CFL, but its all good.

 

[libertarian4321]

"You are totally missing my point. Whether or not the campaign was "effectively over" by late February, why weren't the unused millions used for a *marketing* campaign for March, April, May, June, July, and August? To impact the GOP *platform* and the talking points for the general election?"

He could have done that. I suspect he thought it would have been ineffective (as do I). Once McCain had locked up the nomination, I doubt that either he or the GOP was particularly open to new ideas. I'm not Ron Paul and staff, but I'll bet they thought long and hard about what to do with the money- and they concluded that spending it on the CFL would be the best use of the money to promote the cause in the long term.


"Is either interpretation appropriate for someone who we were hoping to become President? If the second option is the situation, what kind of Cabinet would have been put in place with how little oversight?"

You seem to be laboring under the belief that politicians who don't make all the right moves are somehow not Presidential material? C'mon, Presidential staff that are far better funded and staffed than Ron's staff could even hope to be screw up colossally all the time- even those that eventually win.

Look at Hillary Clinton- she had every advantage in the world- money, name recognition, backing of the party elite, best campaign staff money could buy, and supposedly the smartest woman in the world, and yet her campaign was an utter disaster.

Rudy Giuliani was even worse- he had the same advantages and wasn't even remotely competitive.

I've never said Ron Paul or his staff are perfect, far from it. But anyone who was here from the beginning has to be impressed with how well they did given what they started with. A year and a half ago, Ron Paul was an obscure, soft spoken congressman, with little charisma and almost no debating experience, who was almost a complete unknown even in San Antonio (50 miles away from Dr. Paul's district), let alone nationwide. The campaign had no money and was run out of a bedroom.

He was running against 1) "America's Mayor" (Giuliani) who was well respected and had almost universal name recognition, a large, professional staff, and tens of millions of dollars at his disposal (his campaign was should be published in textbooks on how to SCREW UP a commanding lead) 2) Fred Thompson- who was also universally known and well liked and had the ability to raise money easily (he ran a disastrous campaign), 3) John McCain- a war hero with big time name recognition, and a veteran of previous Presidential campaigning (his campaign has made tons of mistakes, despite the fact that he was the guy left standing at the end) 4) Mitt "money bags" Romney- a slick talking handsome guy with virtually unlimited financial resources, and son of a Presidential candidate 5) Mike Huckabee- the charismatic "reverend" and darling of the evangelical right. Many of the "2nd tier" Republicans- the Sam Brownback and Tommy Thompson types even looked like they had a better shot than Ron early on.

C'mon, at the start, Ron had about as much chance in this field as Moldova has of winning the World Cup- the fact that he was even competitive with the top tier guys was nothing short of a miracle.

So yeah, I wish Ron had won, but like the Moldovan fans, I did not expect it. I'm happy we were able to present our ideas on a national stage. We lost the nomination, but we HAVE moved the cause of liberty forward.

As an example, last week, Ron Paul was on every news and finance channel taking about the economic meltdown and making his pitch to get rid of the Federal Reserve. You think CNBC et al would have been talking to Ron Paul if he hadn't made some noise in the race?

Now we have a choice, we can take that momentum and move forward (e.g. support the CFL and other liberty minded candidates), or we can take a less productive approach- e.g. giving up or finger pointing/looking for scapegoats.

I think I'll opt for continuing the fight, and I hope most of you do, too.

 

[libertarian4321]

"Sigh. Please include a link to anything that supports what you keep posting."

I know of what I speak because I have a) run for office and b) served on a campaign staff. There is very little restriction on what a politician can do with the money once the campaign is shut down. I wasn't kidding when I said it could be spent on beer and strippers.



"Wouldn't it really be nice, for once, if RP told us what he is doing based on the constraints imposed by various legal requirements?"

Well, he said he was going to use it on the CFL. He hasn't said anything different, nor have his actions prevented the money from going to the CFL. YOU FOLKS are the ones flying off the handle and wildly speculating on how its going to be misspent and how he "screwed you."

"I also think many people would vehemently disagree with you that the campaign has been *SHUT DOWN* vs. suspended."

Hate to break this to you, hun (better have the tissues nearby), but you can stick a fork in this campaign, its done. I offered you a reason why the money may have been temporarily moved from one campaign to another- and shutting down the campaign is one possibility (btw, "shutting down a campaign" isn't something you do in a day, it takes time). I never said I knew for sure that it was what he was doing- just that it was a possibility - and that he could make the move from one warchest to the other without "screwing you" .

Here's a suggestion, since none of us knows the ultimate destination of this money at this point, why not wait until September before we start ranting and screaming about being "screwed" or "cheated?"

I know, its more fun to be hysterical- but I just thought I'd throw out another option...

 

[libertarian4321]

Hell, for my share of the overage, I could have rented my own stripper!

How many strippers will $3.5M strip?

Should be enough to buy 175,000 table dances- about 10 dances for each person at the CFL rally (I'm assuming $20/dance- I hope thats enough- its been a while since I've been to a strip club).

 

[libertarian4321]

ALL of 'em!

There may not be enough strippers in Minnesota. I can bring a couple from Texas (if Ron will pay for them in advance).

 

[New York For Paul]

Looks like the same people who ran the campaign are running Campaign For Liberty.

Please they should pay attention to the grassroots.

 

[Knightskye]

There may not be enough strippers in Minnesota. I can bring a couple from Texas (if Ron will pay for them in advance).

I'm sure Tucker will bring some.

 

[Uriel999]

Just gotta say strippers at the Minnesota rally would make the GOP realize the error of their ways!!!

 

[idiom]

With it in his congressional account it could still be transfered to an Independent Presidential Run. Or many many other things.

He can buy national ad's saying whatever he wants to say as a congressional campaign funds, things he can say as a PAC.

There is an economic hurricane of historic proportions chasing down on the world before the elections. I think he is wisely biding his time.

 

[fatjohn]

Maybe, just maybe Ron Paul is holding the 3.5 million to get some juice in the movemement after the convention in St Paul. Because maybe, just maybe you can't leave a presidential campaing account open when the presidential race officialy ended.

And maybe just maybe i'm coming over as absolutely certain about what i just said but i'm actually just guessing. lol.

 

[devil21]

Notice that today's email from the CFL says "Paid for by Committee to Re-elect Ron Paul". That is the congressional campaign. So I guess until the CFL is officially announced in Minn all CFL stuff falls under his congressional campaign and that's why the money was transferred there. Makes sense to me.

 

[torchbearer]

Notice that today's email from the CFL says "Paid for by Committee to Re-elect Ron Paul". That is the congressional campaign. So I guess until the CFL is officially announced in Minn all CFL stuff falls under his congressional campaign and that's why the money was transferred there. Makes sense to me.

Good eye.