2008 Ron Paul’s Family Business For Liberty
posted by on May 28 at 17:20 PM
In keeping with the American spirit of small, family run business—and, well, hereditary third world island dictatorships—Rep. Ron Paul has decided to turn his dormant campaign for freedom into a massive financial wellspring for his extended family.
From the Washington Post’s Matthew Mosk:
Paul’s granddaughter Valori Pyeatt helps organize fundraising receptions and has been paid $17,157. Another granddaughter, Laura Paul ($2,724), handles orders for Ron Paul merchandise. Grandson Matthew Pyeatt ($3,251) manages Paul’s MySpace profile. Daughter Peggy Paul ($2,224) helps with campaign logistics. The candidate’s sons Randall and Robert and his daughter Joy Paul LeBlanc have all been paid for campaign travel and for appearing as surrogates at political events.Who keeps track of all these finances? Paul’s brother and daughter, naturally, who have been paid a combined $62,740 to handle the campaign’s accounting.
You might be thinking that this is, at the very least, nepotism (if not something much, much worse). According to the Paul campaign, that would be an incorrect assumption:
“You always think about those kinds of things,” said Jesse Benton, Paul’s spokesman and, it just so happens, the fiance of one of the candidate’s granddaughters (he has been paid $54,573). “But his family is very important to him. There is something important about having a family element involved in a campaign. Having people around you that you can unconditionally trust.”
The sad thing about valuing loyalty over competence is that when the ship sinks, the rats still jump. Ask George or Hillary.
Well, it's probably one way to keep disgruntled ex-staffers from penning tell-all exposes...
Sure it's nepotism, but I'd hardly call it a "massive financial wellspring". It looks like reasonable compensation for the jobs described.
I'm no fan of Paul, but this seems, to me, a stretch. First, it's not a whole lot of money, and secondly, who else but family (and nutball misguided twenty-something programmers) is Paul going to convince to stay on with his failure of a campaign?
Petty at best. If this is the worst thing you can find to complain about in referance to Ron Paul you better help find a way to get him in the oval office. Get a grip get active in your local gov. and help us take the country back from the corperate thugs that are in control today. Go Ron Paul go. Truth, Freedom, Liberty, to you all.
No fan of Ron Paul (especially after hearing accounts of his past. But I also don't find this to be terribly offensive. Family help is what it is, and that nobody was earning over six-figures, I have a hard time feeling like funds were misappropriated or otherwise wrong. Its not like they are in positions of power, or somehow causing anyone harm.
I'm pretty sure that white supremacist newsletter was the worst thing about Ron Paul. The blimp was the best petty thing. This is somewhere in between: on the one hand, it shows he doesn't care to look for the most qualified people to fill a job (and we know what a heck of a job cronies can do for us), but on the other hand, what difference does it really make what Ron Paul does with all that money you kids gave him?
But go Ron Paul, indeed. It's been priceless. And the man is helping to put a Democrat in the White House, which is an improvement.
Give the man credit. His campaign is successful. So, in essence, he already won something more than a lot of people. AND he's not rich like Ross Perot, which makes it even more impressive.
@* true, few have failed as spectacularly as Paul. Especially on the internet, the only place that matters. Who can forget the "OMG RP is going to WINZ THIS". Republicans ain't the brightest, but I'll at least give them credit for seeing this moron for what he is.
And yes I have "googles Ron Paul", "Read the constitution" and "checked out his myspace". I still think he is an idiot with dumb ideas and book to sell.
should have been @8...
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
no news value at all
give a shit stuff
The issue isn't how much they were paid, it's who was paid for doing "jobs" other candidate's families do out of the kindness of their hearts.
But then, RP has never shown honesty in matters of finance. He puts earmarks for his district into the federal budget, then votes against the entire bill so he can tell Americans he's never voted for an unbalanced budget. What a crock of crap.
It's better than using Haliburton.
ron paul = racist
http://www.queersunited.blogspot.com
@8: "His campaign is successful."
... on what fucking planet?
if anything, this shows Ron Paul is reasonable. out of the millions he raised for his campaign, you're complaining about a small 6 figure sum going to ALL of his family members for their labor?
Sam,
Earth. How's Mike Gravel doing? How are all of the other Repub candidates doing? How did Bill Richardson do? I guess in your tiny mind, swearing on an internet blog comment field = correct. I guess ya got me there. Can't argue with that!! Paul believes that people should be compensated fairly for labor done. If any of you think that Chelsea, Michelle, and any of McCain's family are working "free", you are as naive as anything I have ever seen. Does that mean they are paying for their own plane tickets? Security? Riiiight. Get a clue about how the "fucking planet" works. And if you are supposed to take anything on a personal blog seriously, then Obama is a muslim and Hillary is a lesbian and McCain is the Manchurian candidate. Civil discourse once again has failed. You would be like Homer Simpson on the debate team. "No way. No way. No way."
Paul's family cannot in good conscience volunteer because they believe charity destroys individual initiative, a tenet of Objectivism, which eschews altruism. In other words: asswipes charge for what others would gladly donate. They can accept volunteerism and donations from supporters by employing a Jesuitical logic that those volunteers and supporters are paying for something from which they will directly benefit. Right.
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