August 29, 2014, 06:27 pm
McConnell campaign manager resigns amid Iowa bribery scandal
By Jessica Taylor and Alexandra Jaffe
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) campaign manager Jesse Benton resigned Friday amid growing speculation over his involvement in a vote-buying scandal when he led former Rep. Ron Paul’s (R-Texas) 2012 presidential campaign.
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Questions have long swirled about whether Benton, a longtime confidante to the Paul family, knew about a scheme to pay $25,000 to an Iowa state senator in return for his vote during the 2012 campaign.
After denying the payment previously, former state Sen. Kent Sorenson (R) pleaded guilty Wednesday to concealing $73,000 in under-the-table payments for switching his allegiance from Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-Minn.) campaign to Paul.
Benton has denied any knowledge of the vote-buying scheme.
Emails and private conversations leaked over the past year have not provided a "smoking gun" that shows Benton's involvement, though they have raised questions about what he knew and when.
But there may be lingering ties between McConnell's campaign and the bribery scandal. One of the key players in that scheme, Paul presidential campaign aide Dimitri Kesari, appears to have been paid nearly $62,000 from the McConnell campaign in 2013.
Kesari was the Paul campaign liaison that Sorenson alleged, during a private phone conversation that was leaked to the press, delivered him a check as part of the bribe. Sorenson also suggested during the conversation that Benton knew about the bribe.
The campaign of McConnell's opponent, Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes, said questions still linger for McConnell, despite Benton's resignation. The two are locked in a tight and bitter battle in the Bluegrass state. Even in the deep red state, McConnell is seen as Republicans' most dangered incumbent thanks to his low approval ratings in the state.
"Senator McConnell owes the people of Kentucky a full account of what he knew and when he knew it," Grimes spokeswoman Charly Norton said in an email.
Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/senate-races/216284-mcconnells-campaign-manager-resigns#ixzz3BtOgC9Vy
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loomixguy said:You're always the first to report alleged wrongdoing by a Republican, but are usually silent when a Democrat gets caught. I wonder why?
How do your buddies with the long knives handle kiddie porn peddlers or end users?
Oldtimer said:Mitch McConnell walks into less-than-friendly territory at the Conservative Political Action Conference in March, holding a rifle aloft while Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer" plays. The rifle is for a lifetime achievement award he'll present to retiring Republican Sen. Tom Coburn. Three days later he would tell The New York Times that he and other Republican establishment incumbents would "crush" their tea party challengers and the groups backing them. “I think we are going to crush them everywhere,” he said. “I don’t think they are going to have a single nominee anywhere in the country.”
May 20, 2014, 06:00 am
GOP brass riding a wave?
By Cameron Joseph
The GOP establishment is poised for a good Tuesday evening as it faces its biggest primary night yet.
With six states set to vote, business-friendly Republicans are expected to defeat conservative challengers in primaries in Kentucky, Georgia, Idaho and Oregon, giving national GOP favorites a slew of victories over social and fiscal hard-liners.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will likely cruise to victory over businessman and Tea Party candidate Matt Bevin (R). Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), an ally of Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), is the heavy favorite to defeat his Tea Party rival in a race where national groups spent millions.
The two candidates who establishment Republicans were most worried about emerging from Georgia’s crowded Senate primary are unlikely to make the runoff. And Dr. Monica Wehby, national Republicans’ favored candidate, is likely to win her Oregon Senate primary.
The wins will likely extend down-ballot as well, in more off-the-radar races. House Transportation Chairman Bill Shuster’s (R-Pa.) Tea Party challenger fizzled from the start, and the establishment favorite is expected to win the GOP primary for retiring Rep. Tim Griffin’s (R-Ark.) seat.
The expected primary results follow a concerted push by establishment Republicans and their business allies to reassert control over the party and defeat the type of hard-line Republicans that have cost them seats in past years.
“It’s a victory for the pragmatic common-sense conservatives who are the majority of the Republican Party, who are more interested in winning a majority than falling on their sword and losing,” said GOP strategist Brian Walsh, a former National Republican Senatorial Committee communications director who still advises the NRSC and is helping the centrist Defending Main Street super-PAC.
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Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/house-races/206590-gop-brass-thinks-its-riding-a-wave#ixzz32H1glyWs
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Is the Tea Party in its death throes ? More and more voters are showing they want a positive/progressive Congress and turning away from those who's only answer is NO...
Can the Repubs survive their primary splits and "crushing" each other and still win the general election then ?
Interesting scenario developing...
hypocritexposer said:OT. it was you that was giggling like a school girl when McConnell won...everybody else told you that he was a establishment Republican.
Oldtimer said:Is the Tea Party in its death throes ? More and more voters are showing they want a positive/progressive Congress and turning away from those who's only answer is NO...
Can the Repubs survive their primary splits and "crushing" each other and still win the general election then ?
Interesting scenario developing...