McConnell Paid His Ex-Campaign Manager $117K over 2-Month Period AFTER Bribery Scandal Broke

[kpete]

McConnell paid former campaign manager tied to bribery scandal nearly $100,000 after his role diminished and disappeared

When Sen. Mitch McConnell’s campaign manager Jesse Benton abruptly resigned in late August amidst revelations of apparent ties to an Iowa bribery scandal, the campaign assured reporters that Benton had not been very involved with the campaign since that May’s primary. However, according to new a FEC filing, Benton was paid nearly $100,000 by McConnell’s committees in a two-month period this summer, including a payment the day before his resignation and several days afterward. Additionally, over this same period, Benton was paid more than three times that of Josh Holmes, who was supposedly the top official of the McConnell campaign during this time.

Benton was paid $46,197 by McConnell’s campaign and $5,000 by his Bluegrass Committee on July 1, well after the May 20 primary, and another $15,000 on Aug. 4. On Aug. 28, a day after the scandal broke that detailed Benton’s involvement and one day before his resignation, McConnell’s campaign paid him an additional $11,100. On Sept. 2, the McConnell campaign paid Benton $10,000, and the next day McConnell’s Bluegrass Committee paid Benton another $5,000. During this same period, Holmes was paid $30,000. Additionally, the Republican Party of Kentucky paid Benton $15,000 in July and early August, and $5,000 on the day he resigned. Altogether, these committees paid him $112,297 over the two-month period.

After news broke of Benton’s possible ties to the bribery of Iowa state Sen. Ken Sorenson during Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign for which he worked, McConnell’s campaign initially told Politico Benton’s role was limited since before the May primary, and that “The truth is that Josh Holmes has been doing the top job on McConnell’s campaign since April.” The Courier-Journal’s Joe Gerth at the time reported that Holmes was said to have run the campaign even prior to April.

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The author of this article, Joe Sonka (who has written for The Nation, ThinkProgress.org, and been a guest on the Rachel Maddow Show), later tweeted this correction to the payment numbers:

Whoops, discovered I underreported Jesse Benton's payment over 2-mnth period this summer after "done" w/ McConnell. Actually > $117k. #kysen

The money in question was paid during July and August, though news of Benton's possible involvement in the Ron Paul bribery scandal had broken as far back as early April, as evidenced by this April 2nd article in Mother Jones:

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/04/mitch-mcconnell-jesse-benton-fec-iowa-kent-sorenson

What could these payments have been, if not hush money? Benton could not have plausibly been worth three times the value of the Campaign Manager, especially after his work for the McConnell campaign was "done".


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/10/22/1338531/-McConnell-Paid-His-Ex-Campaign-Manager-117K-over-2-Month-Period-AFTER-Bribery-Scandal-Broke
http://insiderlouisville.com/metro/mcconnell-paid-former-campaign-manager-tied-bribery-scandal-handsomely-role-diminished-disappeared/

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. This bears watching, eh? n/t

[Segami]

2. Where the fugg....

is NBC's outspoken crack reporter/MTP Host Chuck Toad who should be asking McConnell these Q's??

[Scuba]

3. Hush money.