The Federal Election Commission is the latest agency to be looking into allegations that the 2012 Ron Paul campaign attempted to bribe an Iowa state senator and that numerous top officials of the campaign, including several now involved with the campaigns of Kentucky Republican Sens. Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell, knew of the attempt.

The complaint, filed on Feb. 28 , was made by Peter Waldron, a longtime political operative who filed an earlier complaint against the Michele Bachmann presidential campaign. That complaint, in which Waldron accused the Bachmann campaign of paying Iowa state senator Kent Sorenson for his endorsement, is still open. A grand jury investigation into the case is also ongoing, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation has made several raids that appear connected to the case.

The newest filing by Waldron — technically an addendum to his Bachmann complaint, but assigned a new case number by the FEC — accuses top Ron Paul 2012 campaign officials of trying to pay Sorenson to switch his endorsement from Bachmann to Paul just before Iowa’s presidential caucuses; it accuses a list of Paul campaign operatives of being fully aware of the scheme. An investigation by a special investigator working for the Iowa Senate Ethics Committee found probable cause to believe that Sorenson had accepted money from Bachmann’s operation and engaged in talks with the Paul campaign. Last summer, OpenSecrets Blog published copies of emails between Ron Paul campaign advisers discussing the deal. The FEC has assigned the complaint an MUR number (for “Matter Under Review”), which means it has begun an inquiry.

According to Sorenson, who resigned from the state senate last fall, Paul’s deputy campaign manager Dimitri Kesari gave him a $25,000 check , written in the name of a jewelry shop owned by Kesari’s wife. Sorenson denied have deposited the check. In addition, speaking to the ethics investigator in Iowa under oath, Sorenson acknowledged receiving money for political work that he could not describe in detail from a film company in Maryland; the Iowa ethics investigation found the payments “deeply suspicious.” Kesari, his wife and several individuals tied to the Maryland company are all named in Waldron’s new complaint to the FEC.

Also named in the complaint as knowing about the plan was Jesse Benton, Ron Paul’s campaign manager and grandson-in-law. Benton is currently the campaign manager for Senate Majority Leader McConnell and there has been talk he might join a Rand Paul presidential campaign





Image: Ron Paul in Tampa, 2012 (Flickr/Gage Skidmore) Follow Russ on Twitter: @russchoma

Help us keep government accountable by making a donation today.



For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics.For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: [email protected]





Support Accountability Journalism At OpenSecrets.org we offer in-depth, money-in-politics stories in the public interest. Whether you’re reading about 2020 presidential fundraising, conflicts of interest or “dark money” influence, we produce this content with a small, but dedicated team. Every donation we receive from users like you goes directly into promoting high-quality data analysis and investigative journalism that you can trust.Please support our work and keep this resource free. Thank you. Support OpenSecrets ➜