McConnell’s campaign manager resigns
Posted: Friday, August 29, 2014 11:04 pm
Ronnie Ellis CHNI News Service
LOUISVILLE — Jesse Benton, the campaign manager for Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, resigned abruptly Friday afternoon as an Iowa investigation into bribery allegations against the 2012 presidential campaign of Ron Paul continues.
Benton, who is married to Paul’s granddaughter, was the political director for the 2012 Ron Paul campaign and also managed the 2010 general election campaign of Kentucky’s other Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul.
Earlier this week, Iowa state Sen. Kent Sorenson pleaded guilty to accepting $73,000 from Ron Paul’s 2012 Iowa caucuses campaign to switch allegiance to Paul after working for the campaign of Minnesota Republican Michelle Bachmann.
Prosecutors in the Sorenson case have said the investigation is continuing and there have been news reports which raised the possibility that Benton might be involved. Benton denied any wrong doing in his resignation statement.
“Recently there have been inaccurate press accounts and unsubstantiated media rumors about me and my role in past campaigns that are politically motivated, unfair and, most importantly, untrue,” said Benton. “The press accounts and rumors are particularly hurtful because they are false.”
Nevertheless, Benton said he is resigning from McConnell’s campaign.
“I cannot, and will not, allow any possibility that my circumstances will affect the voters’ ability to hear (McConnell’s) message and assess his record,” Benton said.
And, the McConnell message? What you'd expect, behind Koch closed doors but with the audio leaking out.
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told a conference of rich, politically active conservatives in June that he wouldn't allow votes on the minimum wage and extending unemployment if he becomes majority leader, according to a leaked audio recording.
In the recording, which appeared on the website of The Nation, he also said that passage of the McCain-Feingold Act to limit political contributions was "the worst day of my political life."
The Kentucky Republican's campaign didn't deny the recording was accurate and, in fact, said it shows that he is "committed to fighting President Obama's liberal, anti-coal agenda."
The event was organized by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, who donate heavily to conservative and tea party causes. The Nation reported that political action committees and people with ties to Koch Industries have contributed at least $41,800 to McConnell during this campaign cycle.
The recording includes passages in which McConnell says he would block votes on issues like raising the minimum wage, extending unemployment benefits and refinancing student loan debt.
"We're not going to be debating all of these gosh darn proposals," he said during the discussion. "These people believe in all the wrong things."
That's Kentucky's Gannett owned Couirer-Journal, reporting here, and linking to the original source for the McConnell audio, The Nation, here (link in above quote was in the original). The Courier-Journal reports further:
Throughout his speech to the group, McConnell criticized "liberal" attempts to pass legislation over the years that would limit the influence of money on politics. He also attacked passage of the campaign finance bill penned by Republican Sen. John McCain and Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold, which sought to cut down on "soft money" given to political parties and limited "issue ads" by outside groups in the days leading up to the election.
"The worst day of my political life was when President George W. Bush signed McCain-Feingold into law in the early part of the first administration," McConnell told the group.
[...] During the Koch event, McConnell also said he would use "riders" attached to federal spending bills to block Obama's agenda on issues ranging from health care to financial services to environmental protection.
You buy a costly automobile you want to drive it and be sure it tracks the highway just as you want. It's that way with the Kochs.
That goes for whichever model is purchased, from whatever local dealership, Salon reporting:
Thursday, Aug 28, 2014 4:35 PM
Secret audio nails Scott Walker! A humiliating suck-up to the Koch brothers
Leaked audio captures the RGA head revealing that Scott Walker is a wholly owned subsidiary of the right-wing duo
byL Joan Walsh
Back when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid began publicly attacking the Koch brothers and their right-wing political empire, a lot of the media treated it as a desperate and maybe unseemly attack on “a couple of relatively unknown private citizens,” in the words of Politico, by a guy who saw Senate control slipping from his hands in 2014.
But the more we learn about Charles and David Koch’s sway with top Republican leaders, thanks to embarrassing leaks from their June retreat, the clearer it is that attacks by Reid and other Democrats are justified and proportionate.
Also clear: Wisconsin is ground zero in the battle over whether the Kochs’ vision of a low-tax, union-free neo-feudalism prevails, and Gov. Scott Walker is a wholly owned Koch subsidiary.
On Wednesday we heard Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell thank the Kochs “for the important work you’re doing,” adding, “I don’t know where we’d be without you.” Then he promised to shut down the government again to force spending and regulatory cuts – clearly Reid was right when he said last year’s shutdown was on the Kochs — and block action on the minimum wage, extended unemployment insurance and the student loan crisis.
On Thursday in the Huffington Post we learned that Republican Governors Association director Phil Cox told the Kochs and their friends that he has “no stronger partner” than the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity. And nowhere has that partnership paid more dividends than in Wisconsin.
Not only did the Kochs’ investment in Walker pay off on Election Day 2010 and in his 2011 recall, Cox assured his patrons, it resulted in the achievement of one of their dearest goals: a decline in public sector union membership.
Here’s what Cox told the Kochs and their wealthy allies:
In Wisconsin, because of your support, the 2012 recall, uh, the, the story is very clear. Governor Walker’s reforms are working…And a statistic I think you’ll all care about, given how heavily involved AFP and other groups were in the recall: since the collective bargaining reforms were in place, teachers’ union membership in Wisconsin is down (inaudible) percent. [Local news reports put that figure at 30 to 60 percent.]
(Applause)
In Wisconsin, it was a really tough battle in 2012. AFP was a tremendous partner. And it’s still a very polarized electorate there. Um, Walker’s (inaudible) is pretty high, probably 47-48, but he’s handling it pretty well, and I don’t see him probably getting beyond 54 or 55. So it’s going to be a state we’re heavily engaged in.
The RGA has already put $18 million in Walker over the last four years. We’re not going to let up now. We put $2 million in this spring. Uh, AFP has been on the air. Walker’s been on the air, and the governor currently leads by six points. This is a race we’re going to have to be engaged in right on until the end.
In fact, a Marquette University poll released Wednesday showed that Walker is currently trailing Democrat Mary Burke among likely voters, so AFP and the RGA have a lot more work to do. But clearly, they’re up for it.
Cox’s remarks about AFP’s role in Walker’s recall campaign should also serve to remind us of the slow-motion political disaster unfolding for the Wisconsin governor, as prosecutors release more details about why they believe that campaign illegally colluded with outside groups, including the AFP and the Club for Growth. Prosecutors have said that Walker isn’t personally a target of the probe, which was shut down by a local Republican judge, a decision the prosecutors are appealing.
But recently released emails show the extent to which Walker personally lobbied donors to give to the Wisconsin Club for Growth [...]
As the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel summarized the new revelations:
The records include example after example of Walker or his aides encouraging donors to give money to the Wisconsin Club for Growth.
In September 2011, Doner sent an email to Walker and others with brainstorming ideas for raising money for the Wisconsin Club for Growth. Among them: “Take Koch’s money,” “Get on a plane to Vegas and sit down with Sheldon Adelson,” and “Go heavy after (corporations) to give.”
[Links in original.] Yes whether a high-milage used McConnell Deluxe, or a lower-mileage but hard driven Walker Coupe, if you buy your way into the driver's seat you want that performance you were promised. Best even, if you get more than you bargained for, and with the GOP lineup, you know it is possible. In line with big money owning what it appears to, the LA Times suggests the Tea Party could score big in showing muscle, simply by staying home.
The reporting is not just in carefully picked sources. Do your own web searching = McConnell Benton Koch Brothers
You can do that search as a Google, or search Yahoo News, or Google News. However you do it the stories are out there, and you can even read the full smarmy resignation statement Benton-McConnell issued. Aka, under the bus. "Reluctantly accepted."
___________UPDATE___________
If being unhorsed midstream, why not leave with a substantial, suitable non sequitur (this link, at its end)
Benton said he was leaving the campaign with “a top-flight team of incredible people that are working tirelessly to ensure Mitch’s re-election. They are a finely oiled machine and will not skip a beat without me.”
How about, "a finely oiled machine that will fire on all cylinders and track as driven without me?" That would be keeping with the automobile metaphor used earlier. With who is in the driver's seat. Or, "a Koch-hardened heart that will not skip a beat." That would work too.
_________FURTHER UPDATE_________
It's enough to cause Truth-out and Common Cause to get all preachy. A cloture vote, with less than 60 votes is ... [use your favorite figure of speech, mine includes the word "upwind"].
_________FURTHER UPDATE_________
For the Bachmann family dimension of things, this post at MPP. It appears as if the Bachmann and Ron/Rand Paul campaign organization charts are/were filled with nepotism drawing salaries from campaign donor money. That dimension of things, if examined, might end up showing no nepotism abuse; but where are the watchdogs when they need to be watching Republicans?
Blind eye to the right well fed hounds? Well, politics does have its surprises, eh?