Very Serious Allegations Made Against 2012 Ron Paul Campaign Manager Jesse Benton

[orenbus]

The Weekly Standard article has been updated with Fusaro's comments:

Update: In a phone conversation, Fusaro confirms to THE WEEKLY STANDARD that the call is between himself and Benton. He says both he and Benton were in "one-party consent" states--meaning only one person on the phone is required to consent to a conversation being recorded.

Fusaro, a former Ron Paul campaign aide, says he waited six months to release the audio because he wanted Benton to "do the right thing" with regard to the allegations the Paul campaign paid Iowa state legislator Kent Sorenson.

"He's incapable of doing the right thing," said Fusaro.

www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/mcconn...-my-nose-until-rand-paul-campaign_745785.html

 

[helmuth_hubener]

No, I am setting the facts straight, but I am not getting into detail because it doesn't do any good to do so.

I think you need to ask yourself precisely what facts you are trying to set straight, what it is you are trying to accomplish by doing so, and what good it will do to do so.

 

[Barrex]

On vacation.STOP.Layz.STOP.Dont want to read 6 pages of it.STOP.Anzone have short version of this?

 

[erowe1]

had he said he was being "low key' and carefully "biting his tongue' until rand runs... it would have sounded nicer.
jesse benton is sounding less practical and more like a dried up ideologue. kentucky politics is volatile by definition.

I don't think ideologue is the right word. That implies commitment to some consistent principles.

 

[orenbus]

Washington Post 5 minutes ago:

McConnell campaign manager Jesse Benton says he is running the race ‘holdin’ my nose’

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...n-says-he-is-running-the-race-holdin-my-nose/

 

[Occam's Banana]

Actually no, he hurled personal insults and did not act appropriately or reasonably. I have screenshots of this, but I'm not going to post it because it doesn't do anyone any good to dredge this stuff back up. Besides, I like Tom, so I don't want to circulate this sort of thing. His posts were taken down very quickly in most cases, but they did exist. But it is important that the record is straight on this.

No, I am setting the facts straight, but I am not getting into detail because it doesn't do any good to do so.

Only cowardly liars make accusations for which they claim to have proof and then refuse to provide that proof by hiding behind the blatantly hypocritical excuse of not wanting to "dredge things up" - while simultaneously (and every bit as hypocritically) claiming that they want to "set the record/facts straight."

Only fools do so and expect to be taken seriously. And only self-regarding pomposities treat their interlocutors with such brazen contempt.

I used to have respect and sympathy for you. I thought people picked on you far too much without reason - out of what often seemed like nothing but spite. Now I know better - the hypocritical bullshit you've spouted above has destroyed all that. I will never be able to take you seriously again.

 

[KEEF]

 

[mosquitobite]

Washington Post 5 minutes ago:

McConnell campaign manager Jesse Benton says he is running the race ‘holdin’ my nose’

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...n-says-he-is-running-the-race-holdin-my-nose/

Sooooo... Yet another campaign that Benton doesn't really care if he wins? SMH

 

[helmuth_hubener]

I used to have respect and sympathy for you.

When I first started getting active on this forum and encountered Collins-razzing, I thought it was just a running forum joke and all in good fun, but over the years it has become apparent there really is some bad blood. Matt, you really are strongly disliked by many, unfortunately, and it is all of your own doing.

I don't know what to recommend to you, but whatever you're doing now, it isn't working.

 

[Badger Paul]

" am not a lawyer, but are you saying that it is illegal to employ people in a campaign? And if someone decides to leave one campaign to go to another campaign that is illegal too? "

Not when you pay them to switch sides and launder the money to do so!

Hmm, you know if I was Mitch I really don't think I want a campaign manager who acts likes it a burden for him to be a campaign manager. Maybe he'd rather be unemployed instead?

All this is coming out and stuff is going down. The Bachmann investigation could reveal a lot more now that the FBI is involved.

 

[erowe1]

When I first started getting active on this forum and encountered Collins-razzing, I thought it was just a running forum joke and all in good fun, but over the years it has become apparent there really is some bad blood. Matt, you really are strongly disliked by many, unfortunately, and it is all of your own doing.

I don't know what to recommend to you, but whatever you're doing now, it isn't working.

Maybe some of it is his own doing.

But some of it is also in good fun.

Also, some of it is people making mountains out of molehills. And some of it is him having a target on him just because, despite any exaggerating he may do about it, he's still been closer to the inside of the official campaigns than other regulars here.

 

[Aratus]

he had to tirelessly selflessly organize
to become our LIBERTY HOBBIT

 

[cajuncocoa]

McConnell campaign aide Allison Moore emails a statement from Benton:

​

"It is truly sick that someone would record a private phone conversation I had out of kindness and use it to try to hurt me. I believe in Senator McConnell and am 100 percent committed to his re-election. Being selected to lead his campaign is one of the great honors of my life and I look forward to victory in November of 2014."

http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2013/08/jesse-benton-responds-to-his-nose.html
​

 

[Aratus]

okaaaaay... its not mitch mcconnell's actions that impelled him to debate whether to hold his nose... or not.

 

[Occam's Banana]

But some of it is also in good fun.

Also, some of it is people making mountains out of molehills. And some of it is him having a target on him just because, despite any exaggerating he may do about it, he's still been closer to the inside of the official campaigns than other regulars here.

Things like that are precisely why I have previously given him the benefit of the doubt.
No more. The egregious tripe he's peddling in this case is utterly indefensible.

Making derrogatory allegations about someone and then refusing to provide evidence he says he has for those allegations because he "likes" the person he is maligning - while simultaneously declaiming that he only wants the facts to be known - is so grotesque a mockery of integrity as to destroy any credit I might otherwise have been willing to grant on his behalf.

 

[AuH2O]

Allow me to offer just one thing.

While there is certainly evidence of wrongdoing and bribery -- and this evidence may in fact be damning to some parties (Sorenson, Kesari, maybe others) -- there's no direct "connect the dots" to Benton knowing or authorizing any payoff. If this is all true I think you have to agree he probably knew -- but you don't have anything other than "oh, I'm sure he knew" ... unless I'm missing something.

 

[compromise]

Please enlighten all of us as to how many victories have been guaranteed thus far.

The most important victory of them all, getting Rand Paul into the Senate in a landslide.

 

[cajuncocoa]

The most important victory of them all, getting Rand Paul into the Senate in a landslide.

I'm thinking Rand won that in spite of Jesse.

 

[angelatc]

You've never worked on a campaign, have you? The FEC requires meticulous documentation and receipts for expense reports.

The FEC, much like the IRS, doesn't require any receipts unless you get audited.


Not only have I worked on campaigns, I've taken the FEC classes and even filled out plenty of those FEC reports myself. Even aside from that, because I do accounting for a living, I've taken classes in fraud and embezzlement techniques too. Make no mistake here - I know exactly how it could be hidden, and we wouldn't ever be able to see it without a complete audit.

You don't seem to understand - we know that Sorenson got the check. That's not even the issue.

 

[angelatc]

Allow me to offer just one thing.

While there is certainly evidence of wrongdoing and bribery -- and this evidence may in fact be damning to some parties (Sorenson, Kesari, maybe others) -- there's no direct "connect the dots" to Benton knowing or authorizing any payoff. If this is all true I think you have to agree he probably knew -- but you don't have anything other than "oh, I'm sure he knew" ... unless I'm missing something.

Since you've proclaimed your knowledge of inside campaign operations - how many people in the campaign would have the authority to hire, and make a $30k expenditure?


(And Sorenson said Benton knew.)