Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Jesse Benton Re-Emerges



Sam Youngman at the LexingtonHerald-Leader reports:

Confident that his legal issues are behind him, Republican political operative Jesse Benton has started a communications company, and among his first clients are U.S. Sen. Rand Paul and a politician looking to challenge one of Paul's potential rivals.

Benton, who ran Paul's successful 2010 campaign, has kept a low profile since resigning as U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell's campaign manager in late August, when Benton's name surfaced in relation to a bribery scandal in Iowa.

In an interview with the Herald-Leader Wednesday, Benton said his connection to the scandal, which took place in the closing days of the 2012 Iowa presidential caucuses, was never based on fact and that he is "very confident" that the matter is over. Benton has not been charged with any wrongdoing in the case, which has had no public developments since September...

Benton said his new company, Titan Strategies, has already signed up Paul, a couple of corporate clients that Benton declined to name, a super PAC and a state representative who will file to run for statewide office on Friday.

State Rep. Mike Harmon, R-Danville, plans to run against state Auditor Adam Edelen, an outspoken critic of Paul and one of a handful of Democrats who is consistently mentioned as a possible challenger to Paul as he runs for re-election in 2016, in addition to a possible White House bid.

Benton said that "first and foremost" his goal is to elect Harmon because he's more "in line with Kentucky values" than Edelen, but he readily acknowledged that eliminating a potential challenger to Paul is part of the equation.

"We want to take him out, and if we can take him out and replace him with someone much more conservative and in line with Kentucky values, that's what we want to do," Benton said. "It's better to stop him now."...

Edelen immediately seized on Benton's departure from the McConnell campaign.

"The fact that Mike Harmon's first hire is Jesse Benton says more about his campaign to be state auditor than I ever could," Edelen said. "Those who wish to be the taxpayer watchdog ought to have a record of ferreting out those linked to bribery rather than employing them."

(ht  Jay Stephenson)

2 comments:

  1. "Benton, who ran Paul's successful 2010 campaign, "

    ......and who later successfully torpedoed Ron Paul's campaign for the GOP nomination in 2012........

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    1. The funny thing is he didn't take over the campaign until after the primary had been won. The devil himself could win as a Republican in Kentucky.

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