Rand Paul Top Advisor Linked to Unreported Election Contributions Operation in 5 States

Here we go again.

With three Rand Paul operatives, Jesse Benton, John Tate and Dimitri Kesari, scheduled to go on trial in April in Iowa, related to under the table payments made during the 2012 Ron Paul presidential campaign, the last thing Rand needs is more court trials that link his advisers to apparent shady deals, But this is what is going to occur and this time, the advisors involved will include Rand's top confidant, Doug Stafford. Stafford has not been accused of wrongdoing, but the progam at the heart of new civil lawsuits in Monatana was overssen by him, according to AP.

According to AP, a national anti-union organization,  National Right to Work Committee, offered candidates in five states a "deadly effective" series of seven custom-written letters that would be signed with their digitally-scanned signatures and mailed to thousands of voters in the final weeks before Election Day. For that personal touch, notes AP, female Right to Work Committee field workers would rewrite by hand a "wife letter" — which staffers said was a particularly potent appeal to voters.

The organization offered the mail to candidates in Montana, Iowa, Kentucky, Indiana and Nevada during the 2010 elections, according to thousands of emails, letters, mailers and testimony obtained by AP through a public records request.

While the organization has not been accused of wrongdoing, the documents are being used in civil cases against nine of the 14 Montana candidates who received "the works" package. They are accused of illegally coordinating with and taking unreported contributions from Right to Work and its affiliates.

Montana began to investigate Right to Work's involvement in past elections when boxes of state candidate files, surveys, mailers and bank statements turned up in 2012 in what authorities described as a Denver "meth house." LeFer said the documents had been stolen. The files were later featured in a "Frontline" documentary that suggested the Right to Work-affiliated group American Tradition Partnership illegally coordinated with candidates.

According to AP, LeFer, who hasn't been accused of wrongdoing and now runs a Denver company that helps nonprofits with regulatory and fundraising compliance, declined to comment. He asked that questions be submitted in an email to which he never replied.

The program, reports AP, was overseen by Stafford, a former Right to Work vice president.

Stafford and former Ron Paul presidential campaign staffer, Dimitri Kesari, who has been convicted of one charge in Iowa relating to under the table payments and who will go on trial in April on more charges related to the Iowa payments, oversaw field organizers such as LeFer and Dennis Fusaro, according to statements made by Fusaro in a November deposition.

While Stafford and Kesari aren't facing charges related to the above actions, it is noteworthy that Kentucky is among the states where these alleged activities took place, which is not going to be good for Rand's re-election bid.

Reached by phone, Fusaro told Target Liberty that he was compelled to testify because of a subpoenea. He added, "But, it is what it is, The AP report is accurate. It is the truth, it is what occurred."

 -RW