Thursday, August 08, 2013 5:41:58 AM
The Payoff – Details Revealed on Sorenson’s Deal with Ron Paul
Written by: Craig Robinson
August 6th, 2013
Documents obtained by TheIowaRepublican.com suggest that State Senator Kent Sorenson sought and likely received financial compensation from Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign before he ditched Michele Bachmann just days before the Iowa caucuses.
Sorenson is currently under investigation [ http://theiowarepublican.com/2013/2013/senate-ethics-committee-sends-sorenson-complaint-to-special-investigator/ ] for violating an Iowa Senate ethics rule that forbids Iowa state senators from being compensated by a presidential campaign. The dealings between Sorenson and the Bachmann campaign also have prompted a series of federal investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation [ http://theiowarepublican.com/2013/2013/fbi-investigating-bachmann-campaign-including-alleged-sorenson-payments/ ], Federal Election Commission [ http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/25/exclusive-congressional-ethics-probe-adds-to-bachmann-s-political-woes.html ], and the Office of Congressional Ethics [ http://www.startribune.com/politics/blogs/199935341.html ].
To date, only Sorenson’s dealings with the Bachmann campaign have been made public. New information has been provided to TheIowaRepublican.com that details the courting of Sorenson by the Paul campaign, which began in October 2011, long before his public endorsement of Congressman Ron Paul on December 28, 2011. The documents also show that Sorenson was negotiating with Ron Paul’s national campaign chairman, Jesse Benton, who is now running Mitch McConnell’s 2014 re-election campaign in Kentucky, and John Tate, Paul’s 2012 campaign manager.
Also involved in the elaborate scheme to persuade Sorenson to defect from Bachmann to Paul is Aaron Dorr, the Executive Director of Iowa Gun Owners Association. Dorr served as an early negotiator between Sorenson and the Paul campaign. It was Dorr who drafted a three-page memo outlining Sorenson’s financial demands to get him to jump ship from the Bachmann campaign. This memo not only discloses the financial compensation Sorenson sought to obtain, but also details his financial agreement with Bachmann.
Dorr’s October 29, 2011, memo also outlined other benefits the Paul campaign would receive by meeting Sorenson’s financial demands. One of those benefits was the acquisition of a list of identified voters to Michele Bachmann. Dorr also admits that he and Sorenson are in possession of the list of the “main Iowa home-school group” in the state.
The theft of the Network of Iowa Christian Home Educators (NICHE) list spawned a controversy of its own in December of 2011 when the Bachmann campaign sent multiple emails to the list without the group’s knowledge. The Bachmann campaign assured the group that the emails were inadvertent, but we now see that the NICHE list wasn’t just used to promote Bachmann’s candidacy, but was acquired by Sorenson through Chris Dorr for his own personal use and profit.
What follows is a timeline of events, excerpts from Dorr’s October 2011 memo, copies of emails between top Paul campaign aides and Dorr, which also included Sorenson, and a full copy of the memo itself. TheIowaRepublican.com has also put together a profile of all the individuals involved, documenting each person’s role, position, and where they are today if known.
[MUCH more]
Copyright © 2013 The Iowa Republican
http://theiowarepublican.com/2013/the-payoff-details-revealed-on-sorensons-deal-with-ron-paul/ [with comments]
--
In His Own Words: Sorenson Confirms Payment for Ron Paul Endorsement
August 7th, 2013
Sorenson: Hey.
Fusaro: Hey, what’s going on man?
Sorenson: Nothing, just living life.
Furaro: So.
Sorenson: How about you?
Fusaro: Well, I’m trying to figure out how to keep living life, too, but I’m hearing that you’re about to fall on a grenade here any second.
Sorenson: I’ve been thinking about it, but, uh, you know. You know, I’m out here, and Aaron [Dorr] is trying to talk me out of it, and I think he’s probably right. I don’t want to hurt my friends, you know what I mean?
Fusaro: Yeah. Well, I think you just need to stop talking and get yourself an attorney and figure out what your position is.
Sorenson: Yeah.
Fusaro: I don’t know how all this, I’m not advising you to do one thing or another other than just do what’s right, but I don’t know exactly what that is.
Sorenson: Yeah.
Fusaro: Are you talking to Guy [Short] again?
[Guy Short is the Bachmann consultant who allegedly improperly paid Sorenson through his political consulting firm, C&M Strategies. Former Bachmann chief-of-staff Andy Parrish swore in an affidavit that Sorenson was being paid by C&M Strategies for his work on the Bachmann presidential campaign.]
Sorenson: No. No, I spoke to him once since this happened, and I told him, I just told him that I was sorry I hurt him, and someday I hope we can have a friendship again. That was it.
Fusaro: Yeah, so…
Sorenson: I don’t trust him.
Fusaro: You don’t trust him? Well, why should you?
Sorenson: Yeah, I know.
Fusaro: I’m just trying to figure out why Demitri Kesari gets off scotfree and gets to do all this crap, and nobody lays a glove on him.
Sorenson: Yeah.
Fusaro: So, I guess you can give him, well I hope, well I don’t know.
Sorenson: I’m going to give him his check back.
Fusaro: Oh, you are?
Sorenson: Do you think I should, or should I hold on to it? I’m not cashing it.
Fusaro: I understand.
Sorenson: Do you think I should hold on to it or do a deal? Should I hold on to it so I have something over him?
Fusaro: I don’t think I’d give it to him, no.
Sorenson: Okay.
Fusaro: Have you, I don’t presume you have been paid by them [the Paul campaign – other than the initial check from Kesari]. Sounds to me like you are not going to be working with them after this. I’m confused. I mean, if you are not doing his bidding, he’s not going to pay you.
Sorenson: No, I agree with you.
Fusaro: I understand that Ron Paul came out and said that nobody gave you… The lying that’s going on is just incredible. It’s one thing to be smart politically and tough, but now you have Ron Paul out there lying.
Sorenson: You think he knows?
Fusaro: No, actually, I think he doesn’t.
Sorenson: You think they purposefully kept it from him?
Fusaro: Oh sure, it’s like Rothfeld said, they have to run their campaign. He has to run his.
[Michael Rothfield is on the Board of Directors of the National Association for Gun Rights and also the sole director of Saber Communications. Opensecrets.org reported that both Rand Paul and Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign are clients. The firm received $7.7 million for Paul’s 2012 campaign.]
Sorenson: Who do you think knows?
Fusaro: All these guys are corrupt. Who do I think knows? Everyone you told. Everyone Dimitri told. And Dimitri.
Sorenson: Do you think the whole Ron Paul, like all of them know? I mean the inside group?
Fusaro: Sure, I’m sure Jesse Benton knows, he’s a scum…
Sorenson: Oh, I know that Jesse knows. I know Jesse knows.
Fusaro: He’s a scumbag.
Pause
Fusaro: By the way, just for my edification, is the name of Dimitri’s store, is it Market Station Jewelers?
Sorenson: I honest to God don’t know. I’ll have to look at the check and tell you. I haven’t even seen it.
[The store is actually called Designer Goldsmiths, it is located in the Market Station in Leesburg, VA.]
Fusaro: I don’t know.
Sorenson: My wife, he gave it to my wife. Did I tell you what happened?
Fusaro: No.
Sorenson: I kept saying no, and my wife said we can do this. I went to the bathroom, we were in a restaurant, and he made it out to my wife.
Fusaro: Oh great. So he worked his [sic] wife against you. He went around your authority and worked your wife. And this is the great Christian conservative political activist we are all supposed to kiss his [audio goes blank].
[Pause in audio]
Sorenson: I don’t want anyone to know that, okay, because I don’t get in it with my wife, okay?
Fusaro: My point would be, you better, I don’t know. I think you need to sit down with an attorney and say here is what I’ve done, where am I, what do I do? He’ll probably tell you to SHUT UP.
Sorenson: I have. I’ve learned my lesson.
Fusaro: I mean, that piece by Kevin Hill [Hall] on The Iowa Republican was pretty damaging.
Sorenson: Yeah.
Fusaro: It has nothing to do with the Iowa state ethics laws.
Sorenson: Let me call you right back, I just had someone walk up to me, okay?
Fusaro: Alright, bye.
Sorenson: Bye
[Pause in audio]
Sorenson: I just had a guy yell at me.
Fusaro: He doesn’t like Ron Paul?
Sorenson: This guy was douchebag, said, “Boy, you caused quite a controversy.” I said, “Yeah, it’s quite a shit storm, isn’t it?”
Fusaro: Yep. So, I mean, I guess you’re just not going to work for anybody?
Sorenson: You know, Dennis, I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do. And I have got to quit talking to people because every time I talk to somebody, they talk to somebody, and it comes back to bite me in the butt.
Fusaro: Yeah, you’ve got that right.
Sorenson: Aaron’s freaking out because I quit, and I could hurt him and his groups. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I don’t know. I don’t know.
Fusaro: Alright, I’ll leave it alone. Do what you got to do.
http://theiowarepublican.com/2013/in-his-own-words-sorenson-confirms-payment-for-ron-paul-endorsement/ [with comments]; the YouTubes, embedded, respectively at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERZw2zcb7q0 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLjQukwNG3M
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Written by: Craig Robinson
August 6th, 2013
Documents obtained by TheIowaRepublican.com suggest that State Senator Kent Sorenson sought and likely received financial compensation from Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign before he ditched Michele Bachmann just days before the Iowa caucuses.
Sorenson is currently under investigation [ http://theiowarepublican.com/2013/2013/senate-ethics-committee-sends-sorenson-complaint-to-special-investigator/ ] for violating an Iowa Senate ethics rule that forbids Iowa state senators from being compensated by a presidential campaign. The dealings between Sorenson and the Bachmann campaign also have prompted a series of federal investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation [ http://theiowarepublican.com/2013/2013/fbi-investigating-bachmann-campaign-including-alleged-sorenson-payments/ ], Federal Election Commission [ http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/25/exclusive-congressional-ethics-probe-adds-to-bachmann-s-political-woes.html ], and the Office of Congressional Ethics [ http://www.startribune.com/politics/blogs/199935341.html ].
To date, only Sorenson’s dealings with the Bachmann campaign have been made public. New information has been provided to TheIowaRepublican.com that details the courting of Sorenson by the Paul campaign, which began in October 2011, long before his public endorsement of Congressman Ron Paul on December 28, 2011. The documents also show that Sorenson was negotiating with Ron Paul’s national campaign chairman, Jesse Benton, who is now running Mitch McConnell’s 2014 re-election campaign in Kentucky, and John Tate, Paul’s 2012 campaign manager.
Also involved in the elaborate scheme to persuade Sorenson to defect from Bachmann to Paul is Aaron Dorr, the Executive Director of Iowa Gun Owners Association. Dorr served as an early negotiator between Sorenson and the Paul campaign. It was Dorr who drafted a three-page memo outlining Sorenson’s financial demands to get him to jump ship from the Bachmann campaign. This memo not only discloses the financial compensation Sorenson sought to obtain, but also details his financial agreement with Bachmann.
Dorr’s October 29, 2011, memo also outlined other benefits the Paul campaign would receive by meeting Sorenson’s financial demands. One of those benefits was the acquisition of a list of identified voters to Michele Bachmann. Dorr also admits that he and Sorenson are in possession of the list of the “main Iowa home-school group” in the state.
The theft of the Network of Iowa Christian Home Educators (NICHE) list spawned a controversy of its own in December of 2011 when the Bachmann campaign sent multiple emails to the list without the group’s knowledge. The Bachmann campaign assured the group that the emails were inadvertent, but we now see that the NICHE list wasn’t just used to promote Bachmann’s candidacy, but was acquired by Sorenson through Chris Dorr for his own personal use and profit.
What follows is a timeline of events, excerpts from Dorr’s October 2011 memo, copies of emails between top Paul campaign aides and Dorr, which also included Sorenson, and a full copy of the memo itself. TheIowaRepublican.com has also put together a profile of all the individuals involved, documenting each person’s role, position, and where they are today if known.
[MUCH more]
Copyright © 2013 The Iowa Republican
http://theiowarepublican.com/2013/the-payoff-details-revealed-on-sorensons-deal-with-ron-paul/ [with comments]
--
In His Own Words: Sorenson Confirms Payment for Ron Paul Endorsement
August 7th, 2013
Fusaro: Hello?
Sorenson: Hey.
Fusaro: Hey, what’s going on man?
Sorenson: Nothing, just living life.
Furaro: So.
Sorenson: How about you?
Fusaro: Well, I’m trying to figure out how to keep living life, too, but I’m hearing that you’re about to fall on a grenade here any second.
Sorenson: I’ve been thinking about it, but, uh, you know. You know, I’m out here, and Aaron [Dorr] is trying to talk me out of it, and I think he’s probably right. I don’t want to hurt my friends, you know what I mean?
Fusaro: Yeah. Well, I think you just need to stop talking and get yourself an attorney and figure out what your position is.
Sorenson: Yeah.
Fusaro: I don’t know how all this, I’m not advising you to do one thing or another other than just do what’s right, but I don’t know exactly what that is.
Sorenson: Yeah.
Fusaro: Are you talking to Guy [Short] again?
[Guy Short is the Bachmann consultant who allegedly improperly paid Sorenson through his political consulting firm, C&M Strategies. Former Bachmann chief-of-staff Andy Parrish swore in an affidavit that Sorenson was being paid by C&M Strategies for his work on the Bachmann presidential campaign.]
Sorenson: No. No, I spoke to him once since this happened, and I told him, I just told him that I was sorry I hurt him, and someday I hope we can have a friendship again. That was it.
Fusaro: Yeah, so…
Sorenson: I don’t trust him.
Fusaro: You don’t trust him? Well, why should you?
Sorenson: Yeah, I know.
Fusaro: I’m just trying to figure out why Demitri Kesari gets off scotfree and gets to do all this crap, and nobody lays a glove on him.
Sorenson: Yeah.
Fusaro: So, I guess you can give him, well I hope, well I don’t know.
Sorenson: I’m going to give him his check back.
Fusaro: Oh, you are?
Sorenson: Do you think I should, or should I hold on to it? I’m not cashing it.
Fusaro: I understand.
Sorenson: Do you think I should hold on to it or do a deal? Should I hold on to it so I have something over him?
Fusaro: I don’t think I’d give it to him, no.
Sorenson: Okay.
Fusaro: Have you, I don’t presume you have been paid by them [the Paul campaign – other than the initial check from Kesari]. Sounds to me like you are not going to be working with them after this. I’m confused. I mean, if you are not doing his bidding, he’s not going to pay you.
Sorenson: No, I agree with you.
Fusaro: I understand that Ron Paul came out and said that nobody gave you… The lying that’s going on is just incredible. It’s one thing to be smart politically and tough, but now you have Ron Paul out there lying.
Sorenson: You think he knows?
Fusaro: No, actually, I think he doesn’t.
Sorenson: You think they purposefully kept it from him?
Fusaro: Oh sure, it’s like Rothfeld said, they have to run their campaign. He has to run his.
[Michael Rothfield is on the Board of Directors of the National Association for Gun Rights and also the sole director of Saber Communications. Opensecrets.org reported that both Rand Paul and Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign are clients. The firm received $7.7 million for Paul’s 2012 campaign.]
Sorenson: Who do you think knows?
Fusaro: All these guys are corrupt. Who do I think knows? Everyone you told. Everyone Dimitri told. And Dimitri.
Sorenson: Do you think the whole Ron Paul, like all of them know? I mean the inside group?
Fusaro: Sure, I’m sure Jesse Benton knows, he’s a scum…
Sorenson: Oh, I know that Jesse knows. I know Jesse knows.
Fusaro: He’s a scumbag.
Pause
Fusaro: By the way, just for my edification, is the name of Dimitri’s store, is it Market Station Jewelers?
Sorenson: I honest to God don’t know. I’ll have to look at the check and tell you. I haven’t even seen it.
[The store is actually called Designer Goldsmiths, it is located in the Market Station in Leesburg, VA.]
Fusaro: I don’t know.
Sorenson: My wife, he gave it to my wife. Did I tell you what happened?
Fusaro: No.
Sorenson: I kept saying no, and my wife said we can do this. I went to the bathroom, we were in a restaurant, and he made it out to my wife.
Fusaro: Oh great. So he worked his [sic] wife against you. He went around your authority and worked your wife. And this is the great Christian conservative political activist we are all supposed to kiss his [audio goes blank].
[Pause in audio]
Sorenson: I don’t want anyone to know that, okay, because I don’t get in it with my wife, okay?
Fusaro: My point would be, you better, I don’t know. I think you need to sit down with an attorney and say here is what I’ve done, where am I, what do I do? He’ll probably tell you to SHUT UP.
Sorenson: I have. I’ve learned my lesson.
Fusaro: I mean, that piece by Kevin Hill [Hall] on The Iowa Republican was pretty damaging.
Sorenson: Yeah.
Fusaro: It has nothing to do with the Iowa state ethics laws.
Sorenson: Let me call you right back, I just had someone walk up to me, okay?
Fusaro: Alright, bye.
Sorenson: Bye
[Pause in audio]
Sorenson: I just had a guy yell at me.
Fusaro: He doesn’t like Ron Paul?
Sorenson: This guy was douchebag, said, “Boy, you caused quite a controversy.” I said, “Yeah, it’s quite a shit storm, isn’t it?”
Fusaro: Yep. So, I mean, I guess you’re just not going to work for anybody?
Sorenson: You know, Dennis, I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do. And I have got to quit talking to people because every time I talk to somebody, they talk to somebody, and it comes back to bite me in the butt.
Fusaro: Yeah, you’ve got that right.
Sorenson: Aaron’s freaking out because I quit, and I could hurt him and his groups. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I don’t know. I don’t know.
Fusaro: Alright, I’ll leave it alone. Do what you got to do.
http://theiowarepublican.com/2013/in-his-own-words-sorenson-confirms-payment-for-ron-paul-endorsement/ [with comments]; the YouTubes, embedded, respectively at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERZw2zcb7q0 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLjQukwNG3M
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