Boom! Top Aide to Mitch McConnell Linked to Shady Deal

[babylonsister]

May this story have many, many legs and garner national attention!

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/29/top-aide-to-mitch-mcconnell-linked-to-shady-deal.html

Top Aide to Mitch McConnell Linked to Shady Deal

Controversial campaign manager Jesse Benton, a Ron Paul protégé, is being edged closer to a bribery scandal from the 2012 Iowa caucuses—and no one knows where the investigation’s going.

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Now McConnell could face real harm from his connections with Benton, as an unfolding campaign-finance investigation into the 2012 GOP presidential primaries is making headlines.

On Wednesday, former Iowa state senator Kent Sorenson pleaded guilty in federal court to endorsing Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign in exchange for secret payments and then lying about the payoff to investigators. Sorenson, who had previously been backing Michele Bachmann in exchange for alleged illegal payments, jumped ship to back Paul only days before the Iowa caucuses in exchange for $73,000. So far, there is no evidence that Benton dealt directly with the disgraced legislator. However, leaked emails from Dennis Fusaro, a former aide to Rep. Paul, imply that Benton may have had knowledge of the campaign’s negotiations with Sorenson.

The emails became public knowledge around the same time as the “holdin’ my nose” leak, and the specter of the Iowa scandal has always loomed at the edges of the McConnell reelection campaign. But Sorenson’s guilty plea this week, which also included the filing of two sealed documents in court, now moves everything one step closer to Benton. The most notable name directly linked to the exchange of funds from Rep. Paul’s campaign to Sorenson is former Paul deputy campaign manager Dimitri Kesari, who briefly did consulting work for the McConnell campaign in 2013.

If, as potentially indicated by the sealed court filings, the former state senator is offering testimony, there’s no telling where it could lead.

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In the meantime, with Election Day just over two months away, it doesn’t particularly matter for McConnell whether Benton is guilty, innocent, or something in between.

McConnell, who is in a very competitive race against Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes, just has to hope that there are no new developments until after Nov. 4.

After all, any time that a campaign manager makes news instead of the candidate, it’s bad for both. But it’s especially damaging when the headline is about a bribery scandal.