Former Iowa Republican official admits to taking payment for support of Ron Paul’s presidential bid

Kent Sorenson said he was paid $73,000 to switch his allegiance from Michele Bachmann to Ron Paul in 2011

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A former Iowa state senator who abandoned then-presidential candidate Michele Bachmann to endorse Ron Paul a week before the 2012 Iowa caucuses has pleaded guilty to “concealing payments” from Paul’s campaign in exchange for his support, the Department of Justice announced Wednesday.

In December 2011, state senator Kent Sorenson, then the Iowa chairman for Bachmann’s campaign,made a surprise announcement that he had switched his endorsement to Paul. At the time, Sorenson said he made the decision based on his support for Paul’s policies, but this week he admitted to accepting tens of thousands of dollars from the Paul campaign as part of the deal. According to a DOJ release, “from October to December 2011, he met and secretly negotiated with a second political campaign to switch his support to that second campaign in exchange for concealed payments that amounted to $73,000.”

The payments were delivered in $8,000 installments, which were “concealed by transmitting them to a film production company, then through a second company, and finally to Sorenson and his spouse,” the DOJ statement read.

“An elected official admitted that he accepted under-the-table payments from a campaign committee to secure his support and services for a candidate in the 2012 presidential election,” DOJ Assistant Attorney General Caldwell said in a written statement.

Paul, a Texas Republican who retired from Congress in 2013, went on to place third in the state caucuses behind Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney. He continued to campaign through the spring and ended his run in May 2012. Paul’s son, Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul, is considering his own bid for the presidency in 2016.

The consequences for those involved with Paul’s campaign are unclear. Jesse Benton, a Paul campaign spokesman at the time, did not return a request for comment. Benton is currently the campaign manager for  Kentucky Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, who is running for re-election.

In an interview with Yahoo News, DOJ spokesman Peter Carr declined to discuss details of the agreement but said that the investigation “remains ongoing.”

Sorenson resigned from his office in 2013 amid allegations that he had also taken illegal contributions from a political action committee aligned with Bachmann.

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Ron Paul wins Republican presidential straw poll in Illinois

Ron Paul wins Republican presidential straw poll in Illinois

(AFP) – 11 hours ago  

CHICAGO — US Representative Ron Paul of Texas won a statewide Republican presidential straw poll in Illinois with 52 percent of the vote, the Arlington Heights Daily Herald reported.

Businessman and Tea Party favorite Herman Cain came second with 15 percent of the online vote and 35 percent of the in-person vote -- the local newspaper reported.

Cain scored high despite accusations of sexual harassment leveled against him by several former female employees.

The candidate has dismissed the charges as false.

The newspaper said former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney matched Cain's in-person voting score at 35 percent.

But Romney won only seven percent of the online vote, while Paul earned eight percent of the in-person vote, the report said.

Paul had 66.5 percent of online votes. Cain was not given an average figure for the two polls that could be compared with Paul's overall 52 percent winning number.

"I congratulate Congressman Paul on his victory," The Daily Herald quotes Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady as saying. "It is clear Illinois Republicans are gearing up for a tremendous election year in 2012."

Bipartisan Lawsuit Against Obama On Libya

Libya Lawsuit Against Obama

Resolution Proposed to End Illegal Afghan War

Resolution Proposed to End Illegal Afghan War

by grtv

On Thursday, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) introduced H. Com Res. 248, a privileged resolution with 16 original cosponsors that will require the House of Representatives to debate whether to continue the war in Afghanistan. Debate on the resolution is expected early next week.

Original cosponsors of the Kucinich resolution include John Conyers, Jr. (D-Michigan); Ron Paul (R-Texas); José Serrano (D-New York); Bob Filner (D-California); Lynn Woolsey (D-California); Walter Jones, Jr. (R-North Carolina); Danny Davis (D-Illinois); Barbara Lee (D-California); Michael Capuano (D-Massachusetts); Raúl Grijalva (D-Arizona); Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin); Timothy Johnson (R-Illinois); Yvette Clarke (D-New York); Eric Massa (D-New York), Alan Grayson (D-Florida) and Chellie Pingree (D-Maine).

The Pentagon doesn’t want Congress to debate Afghanistan. The Pentagon wants Congress to fork over $33 billion more to pay for the current military escalation, no questions asked, no restrictions imposed for a withdrawal timetable or an exit strategy.

Reaping what one sows on the census

REAPING WHAT ONE SOWS ON THE CENSUS....

Prominent right-wing voices decided last year that the U.S. census was not to be trusted. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said the process could lead to "internment camps." Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) called the census "invasive." Fox News' Glenn Beck's suggested Americans may not be comfortable with "ACORN members" collecting information. Radio host Neal Boortz said some census information is "designed to help the government steal from you in order to pass off your property to the moochers."