A group that fashions itself the conservative alternative to the National Rifle Association and uses Republican Sen. Rand Paul‘s name and image in its fundraising appeals has longstanding ties to the Paul family, according to various corporate and campaign filings.

The National Association for Gun Rights has been ruffling GOP feathers by targeting two conservatives, House Majority Whip Eric Cantor and Rep. Scott Rigell, both Virginia Republicans, with ads accusing them of being soft on the issue. The ads feature images of them morphing into Barack Obama as the narrator accuses both of trying to assist the president in implementing strict gun control policies.

Politifact Virginia found enough distortions in the Rigell ad to warrant a “pants on fire” rating. And Cantor and Rigell both received high marks from the National Rifle Association in 2012 — Cantor earned an A+ and Rigell an A-.

Paul’s office didn’t return calls seeking comment, but his chief-of-staff, Doug Stafford, told Politico that the senator is “not affiliated with the group in any way, he doesn’t control how they decide their activism should take place in terms of who the people are that need to be shored up on an issue.” But the Kentucky senator and his family are connected to at least some prominent officials at the organization. Rigell has called out Paul for allowing himself to be used in the group’s marketing efforts, but so far his complaints have fallen on deaf ears. OpenSecrets Blog found that, according to annual corporate reports filed in Virginia, where the National Association for Gun Rights is set up as a politically active 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization, one of the five members of the group’s board of directors is a man named Michael I. Rothfield. Rothfield (pictured at left) is the sole director of a political consulting firm called Saber Communications. OpenSecrets.org data shows that Rand Paul’s 2010 Senate campaign paid Saber Communications roughly $847,000. Saber was also the single largest vendor being paid by Paul’s leadership PAC in the 2012 cycle, receiving $143,000 in payments.

In the same election cycle, the gun rights group donated $5,000 to Paul’s leadership PAC. Paul’s office did not return multiple calls seeking comment.

But Rand Paul wasn’t Saber’s biggest client in recent years. That would be his father. In the 2012 cycle, now retired Rep. Ron Paul’s presidential campaign paid Saber almost $7.7 million — making Saber the campaign’s second highest-paid vendor. Rothfield was singled out by Paul’s own campaign staff as a top adviser who helped make his presidential bid as successful as it was. Ron Paul’s leadership PAC, Liberty PAC, also hired Saber, paying the firm $67,000.

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OpenSecrets.org data shows that at least one other prominent Republican hired Rothfield’s company: Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann‘s congressional campaign paid Saber $362,500 in 2012.

Rothfield did not respond to a phone message asking him to comment.

And there’s another Paul connection to a prominent member of the National Association for Gun Rights board. Attorney David A. Warrington, who is listed as the organization’s president, works for Virginia law firm LeClairRyan — which was paid by the Ron Paul presidential campaign. Warrington was hired by the Paul campaign to challenge various Republican state party moves to block convention delegates backing Paul.

Iowa Gun Owners

The National Association for Gun Rights also took steps during the presidential primary to boost support for the elder Paul’s bid in the weeks running up to the Iowa caucuses — while two of the group’s directors were on the payroll of the Paul campaign.

On Dec. 2, 2011, Iowa residents received robocalls which, according to the message, were paid for by the National Association for Gun Rights and a group called the Iowa Gun Owners. The calls targeted then-presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, unfavorably comparing him to Paul and Bachmann, who were both his rivals in the state caucuses.

“With the Iowa caucuses just weeks away, Gingrich still refuses to answer the Iowa Gun Owners presidential gun rights survey,” the recording claimed. “What is he hiding? Congressman Paul and Congresswoman Bachmann have completed their survey 100 percent correct” [sic].

According to filings made by the Paul presidential campaign, between Nov. 15 and Dec. 20, 2011, Saber Communications was paid $1.5 million by the campaign for mailings and consulting. During that period Warrington’s firm was also paid $16,000 for legal consulting. Bachmann’s campaign filings show that Saber Communications was paid earlier in 2011 and in February of 2012.

Images: Photo of Mike Rothfeld via Flckr user Gage Skidmore.



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