Head of Paul’s 50-State Operation is Accused of Earlier Questionable Work
Rand Paul political adviser Doug Stafford — the subject of previous OpenSecrets Blog posts on accusations that he helped an anti-union group run an off-the-books mass mailing operation to help selected state legislative candidates — is now directing a ramped-up political infrastructure for the 2016 presidential hopeful.
A report in the Washington Post says that Paul is the first Republican to have put together a 50-state network in preparation for a possible run for the White House. Stafford and Paul’s fundraising director are in charge of the vast framework.
Stafford’s involvement with Paul goes back some years: While he was a vice-president for the National Right to Work Committee, he became a paid political adviser to Paul’s 2010 Senate campaign; after Paul won, Stafford was hired as his first chief-of-staff. Last spring, Stafford stepped down from the post to be executive director of Reinventing A New Direction PAC, Paul’s leadership PAC.
Stafford has some experience in Iowa, site of the famous Ames straw poll, which will take place next year, and early presidential caucuses. The mass-mailing operation, which benefited conservative state legislative candidates in that state, occurred in 2008 and 2010, apparently under Stafford’s direction at the NRTWC. His oversight of the mail program, which is supported by an audio recording and numerous emails provided to OpenSecrets Blog by a former NRTWC operative, included managing a consultant, Dmitri Kesari. Kesari, in the 2012 presidential election cycle, became an involved with what appeared to be an attempt to buy the endorsement of Iowa state Sen. Kent Sorenson for Ron Paul, Rand’s father.
According to emails obtained by OpenSecrets Blog last August, Kesari and other Paul campaign officials did negotiate with Sorenson about a substantial payment.
Sorenson resigned from the Iowa Senate last October, but a federal probe of the matter — which aspects of it are unclear — appears to be continuing. In December, the FBI took computers from Sorenson’s house, and others connected to the events have been interviewed.
It is also not known whether the off-the-books mail program, the operation of which contradicted statements by NRTWC to the IRS and may have violated state campaign finance law, is being investigated. Efforts to reach Stafford were unsuccessful at the time of publication.
Last fall, OpenSecrets Blog identified Kesari and Stafford’s wife as paid consultants of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s 2014 re-election campaign. Kesari, Stafford and the McConnell campaign share a connection in the form of Jesse Benton, McConnell’s campaign manager. Benton, who is married to Ron Paul’s granddaughter, is included in the emails showing negotiations between the Ron Paul presidential campaign and Sorenson.
The Post report this week speculates that Benton may join Stafford on a Rand Paul presidential campaign. That may well be: Benton was caught on a secretly recorded conversation — provided to OpenSecrets Blog and other outlets — saying that he had accepted the job as McConnell’s campaign manager for the purpose of bolstering Rand Paul’s prospects in 2016.
“I’m doing something else man. I am, well, between you and me, I’m sort of holding my nose for two years, ’cause what we’re doing here is going to be a big benefit to Rand in ’16. So, that’s my long vision,” Benton said.
Image: Rand Paul speaks at CPAC event March 7, 2014 (AP photo)
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