Scumbag hit piece on Dr. Paul, Washinton Post
Posted May 27th, 2008 by silentboom
output
This filthy piece of shit doesn't understand the basic Idea of non-interventionism and is bashing Dr. Paul's familiy. There's a link to email this piece of garbage, I just did. And to the lying, filthy, pandering, flip flopping, Bush hugger McCain, I say YOU stick with your own kind.
"Ron Paul's Campaign Is a Family Business, FEC Reports Show"
By Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 27, 2008; Page A03
Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) has built a national following largely by preaching an isolationist foreign policy. Stick with your own kind, says the maverick presidential candidate.
And that's more or less what he has been doing over the past few months, putting relatives in a slew of key positions and paying them a total of $169,063, according to the latest campaign finance reports.
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 his MySpace profile. Daughter Peggy Paul ($2,224) helps with campaign logistics. Paul's sons Rand 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.
Campaign aides said they discussed the possibility that involving so many family members could create the impression that nepotism was driving hiring decisions, but ultimately they saw no problem with the practice.
"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."
Paul has received relatively few votes in his insurgent bid for the Republican nomination, but he has attracted an extraordinarily dedicated following that has flooded his campaign coffers with more than $30 million in donations. Even after releasing a video on his Web site in March indicating that he no longer expected to win the Republican nomination, Paul has continued to collect and spend those riches.
Most of the money has gone to typical campaign expenses on television, radio and Internet ads, on travel expenses, and on political advice from consultants and strategists. But unlike other presidential candidates, Paul has also made room on his payroll for his extended brood.
There are no laws prohibiting candidates from hiring relatives, though the Federal Election Commission does require family members to be qualified for the job and be paid the going rate for their work. Melanie Sloan of the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said her organization has twice issued reports critical of the practice among members of Congress.
"This was never intended to be a family business," Sloan said. "The reason this is troubling is that it's not clear to donors whether their campaign donations are really going to support the candidacy or to support the family."
Sloan said this was not the first time Paul has hired relatives to perform campaign work on his behalf. The group found payments to daughter Lori Pyeatt during his three previous congressional races, and payments to grandson Matthew Pyeatt and daughter Joy LeBlanc during Paul's 2004 congressional campaign.
An added concern with the presidential campaign, Sloan said, is that Paul has fundamentally transformed his bid for the White House into something more ephemeral. Spending by the campaign has slowed considerably over the past month. Paul spent $470,862 in April, leaving him with $4.7 million remaining.
The way Benton explains it, the candidate has "acknowledged that he is not going to be the nominee" but is "continuing a positive respectful campaign to influence the policies of the Republican Party."
And this "second phase," as Benton describes it, is financed by the money raised largely during the first phase, when people were sending contributions to fuel Paul's presidential ambitions.
Now, as he tours the country, Paul is drawing attention to his book, "The Revolution: A Manifesto," which currently ranks seventh on the New York Times bestseller list.
The parent company of the book's publisher, Hachette Book Group USA, also turns up as a vendor to the campaign. The Paul campaign paid the publisher $1,115 in April. Asked about the expense, Benton said the campaign "purchased about 60 books to give to supporters."
That practice is also legal, as long as the candidate does not derive any personal benefit from the sales.
While his campaign activity and expenditures have slowed, several relatives continue to get paid, including Laura Paul and the Texas accounting firm Paul, Phipps & Co.
Wayne Paul, who helps run Paul, Phipps, said his firm has maintained an account for all of his brother's employees "to ensure they get checks twice a month and that all reports are properly filed."
The accountant explained that the person who did Paul's books earlier in the campaign was having trouble with payroll.
"It was a matter of ensuring there were no more third parties that attempted to screw up my brother's campaign by not filing proper returns," Wayne Paul explained. "If that's impropriety, by God . . . have at it. It was done out of sheer necessity. Our firm was repaid for purposes of ensuring that everybody got properly paid."
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He hires people
he can trust..can you blame him?
Seems very frugal to me, nothing outrageous there.
All that barking just brings to light Ron's impeccable character.
WHERE was the hit piece on Romney when he
claimed that his 5 sons who worked on his campaign were "serving our country" by campaigning for their father? NOW that's a REAL STRETCH to claim they were SERVING OUR COUNTRY while Romney defended the ILLEGAL WARS! Neo-Con HACK!
And McInsane violates the very bill he sponsored with Feingold by using PUBLIC financing to secure a LOAN??? EXCUSE ME????
What a STUPID and SLOPPY journalist, which is EXACTLY why the educated masses have stopped reading these papers! Every time my local paper tries to renew my subscription, I tell them I no longer their read MSM brainwash crap, I prefer the TRUTH instead!
This article will only prove to BLOW UP in his sorry face because now he's only managed to UNITE his grassroots support on his frugal spending and WE SUPPORT DR. PAUL 1000%
The Hypocrisy by MSM is Unbelievable
but then again what do you expect from the garbage they throw out to the masses who eat this sh#t up.
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The funny thing about that little white speck on the top of chicken sh#t. That little white speck is chicken sh#t too. - Ernest Tucker
Smear of Ron Paul in Washington Post
This morning, 5/27/08, before I came to Daily Paul, I had read the Washington Post article and sent an email message at their site concerning the difference between isolationism and non-intervention. I got it back in my inbox a little while ago as undeliverable....
They make me sick....
What about the other candidates???
Hitlary, McShame, Obamination
Where did they spend their money?
And who got some????
Bet that report would be so much more interesting the Ron Paul's campaign.
Stop regurgitating media jack about Dr. Paul
I come here to escape the lies.
I wish everyone would leave the media alone and focus on telling the truth.
This "status quo" will fall. Do you want to fall with them?
This newspaper is controlled by people who want everything that we DO NOT want.
Stop posting their lies here.
McCain has had secret
McCain has had secret service protecting him for awhile now. I don't know about Hillary or Obama. Secret service protection is expensive. I bet that's not coming out of campaign coffers.
This is what I posed to Mosk:
It this the best you can come up with for "dirt" on Dr. Paul? The fact is, most people could not work on Dr. Paul's campaign for the low wages he pays, EXCEPT his family! I really feel sorry for you, that the best reportorial skills you have are used for crap like this article. Ever hear of the Kennedys? How many of their family worked on their campaigns? Of course, they probably weren't paid as they each had huge trust funds gained from insider information before the stock market crash of '29, & the sales of bootleg liquor during prohibition. That really doesn't matter though when one is writing about a doctor who never cashed in on his congressional career in his entire life. I won't take any more of your time Mr. Mosk, so you can get back to your sad career as a "writer."
Time for aMoney Bomb?
Why.... thank you Washington Post for letting me know how stapped Dr Paul is for campaign funds.;) He has to resort to hiring his most trusted human resources at cost efficient wages to keep the numbers in the black. Maybe we can help out by having a "Thank You Washington Post MONEY BOMB!"
So Let Me Get This Straight...
The Thesis of this article is...
Dr. Paul is the most responsible and forthcoming presidential candidate in race when it comes to divulging information regarding employees and their payouts?
Also, doesn't the author know that the Paul supporters love the good Dr.'s family and his attitude towards them?
what a tit! 8]
Tempest in teapot
I do not care whether Paul hired family members or not. My chief complaint about his campaign was its rather lame official ads. Any number of the independently made Youtube videos would have made better campaign ads. I don't think hiring family members was the cause of this.
Also, it's very entertaining to imagine how much Ghouliani would have had to pay members of his family to get them to work for his campaign.
Wait a sec.
Let's look at this is a positive way, since other news agencies are picking up this "story" and running with it. (ex. cbsnews-ny).
What are the neo-cons thinking?
Dr Paul's name rears its ugly head yet again.
Why do they have to remind us how much campaign money he raised?
He actually trusts his own family? And pays them?
Why won't this guy just go away?
Oh- and we have to hear about his stupid book again?
Sure- the article is crap- not worth wrapping fish in. But think of how many neo-cons will read it, and try to spin it in their favor. I can just imagine them having the Revolution giving them fits and them not being able to sleep at night.
Neo-cons- we are coming for YOU!
My response
How many emails have you now received in response to your misguided Ron Paul article? As you've probably already read in thousands of emails, you not only misunderstand Dr. Paul's entire "non-interventionist" foreign policy, but you also approach slander by misquoting his position as "isolationist." If you had done your research you would have discovered that these are two very different approaches to foreign policy (think Sweden vs. China or Japan). I look forward to a correction of your facts.
Secondly, you assume in your article that Ron Paul donors (I am one) mind that Paul is employing his family members. In order to run a grassroots campaign against the status quo you must keep your friends and family close to avoid corruption and frivolous overspending. As you almost acknowledge, these family members are all paid a fair relative wage, how does this compare to other presidential campaigns? As a Paul supporter I am glad to see that Dr. Paul will continue to involve individuals that understand the importance of individual liberty and freedom... two concepts that you should research.
That's all it's cost
They are a pretty cheap group. It would cost me way more to hire my family. I would only trust my family and close friends. What is a guy to do here? Campaigns take work and you can't expect everyone around you to work take a year off and do these things for nothing....
Too embarrassed to post my response...
I know people have been saying not to email this clown, but I couldn't resist.... that hit piece just pissed me off so bad.... so f'ing biased....
So sorry about the childish email I sent but I'll tell you he may possibly lose some sleep over it!
"Whether you think you can or think you cannot, you're absolutely right!"
OH WELL; SO WHAT; WHO CARES?
With all the paid infiltrators in every organization in the country, Dr. Paul is smart to hire like-minded people.
Go Ron Paul!
The dumbed down population are the only ones who would give a hoot about this! The rest of us are smart enough to understand.
We shouldn't be surprised
We shouldn't be surprised.
We can expect more and more of this garbage to try to discredit him.
But Ron Paul is a strong man, we know where he stands and our support can help him and his family without a doubt.
I admire the politician and the man even more.
My Response
Wow, what a load of crap.
Of course when you flat out lie in your first paragraph, I knew you know nothing about research or Ron Paul.
This statement shows it all 'preaching an isolationist foreign policy' wow, you could not be further from the truth. You need to research what isolationism is and the difference from that and non-interventionism.
Then you second sentence 'Stick with your own kind, says the maverick presidential candidate' What is that suppose to mean. That he only hires outsiders, people who have the same political believe as him, or you trying to call him a racist. Please show me where he said you should stick with your own kind. I have been following Dr. Paul sense I first heard of him 20 years ago in 1988. [yes I voted for him then too] I have never heard him stay anything like this.
As far as the rest of the article, how much do the other campaigns pay there people in the same positions. To have a fair and balanced article you would have posted those numbers.
But you didn't, and now you are getting the hate mail aren't you.
I truly believe if you had posted those numbers, it would show how cheap Ron Paul's family members are being paid to do the work they do.
I also happen to know Robert Paul personally and know how much work he has done in the DFW area for the campaign. I have stood side by side with him at several events. He also spoke at several Republican Club meetings. He did not get paid or reimbursed for those expenses. But he took time off of work. He is a Doctor, when he takes time off work he looses a lot of money.
Has anyone pointed out the cost of Air FOrce One?
Bush is going to spend $10-20 million of the taxpayers money to get McCain a couple hundred thousand today. Ron Paul's contributions seem like pennys to that... but no story! Hmmmmmm... sorry bastards!
Mike
"Fire Team for Freedom" on revolutionbroadcasting.com
Mondays thru Thursdays Midnight EST
or visit www.mikeandjake.com
Good point
The only good thing about Bush using taxpayer's money to shill for McCain is that the more people associate McCain with Bush the less likely he is to get elected.
Is One Cent of it Public Money?
And to think McAhole and the Obillary twins are paying their staff millions from taxpayer money,
Sorry wrong
Obilllary have not spent ONE cent of Taxpayer money on there campaigns. McAhole has not taking any taxpayer money yet.
WOW!!!
Thats like 0.00563% of his total contributions. Jeez, the cost of loyalty these days?
I wonder how much loyalty costs are for Moe, Larry, and Hillary? Sorry, I forgot that the cost of selling your soul comes at a much higher premium!
I have no problem with RP paying his family to help him. The "trust" factor is priceless.
Ron's Economy
Sounds like the good doctor got us a great deal on the staff running & operating his campaign. If he were to spend our money in Washington with the same frugality imagine how much farther ahead we all would be with money to spare for health insurance, retirement, children's education etc. etc. etc. Seems other candidates run in the red & I'm sure they use their family members as well. They'd feather the pockets of their cronies & expect us to pick up the "unpaid" bills.
I wouldn't be overly alarmed about it...
they're desperate for ways to smear his good name....
That means they're still worried.
It's a good sign.
The MSM is losing control of its collective sphincter
Not one mention of a specific policy? Just one long Ad Hominem attack? This will backfire on the MSM. Big time. People will read the article, scratch their heads and have their curiosity piqued!
Ron Paul cured me of my prediliction for Che Guevara T shirts.
What's the point of the article, you ask ?
To try to stop the Money Flow, preemptively (if it gets back up).
What's the Point?
IF RP has no real chance of winning the nomination, let alone the Presidency, what's the point of such an article? It's as if using family members within a political campaign were a novelty.
No, this can be nothing but a smear tactic. Someone somewhere must have an axe to grind and wants to squelch Ron's influence. Articles like this, as we all know, ultimately get escalated to the point of having a life of their own regardless of their validity; they can bring down campaigns (anyone remember Gary Hart? How 'bout the swiftboat veterans?). This one smacks of a trial balloon - and you can bet there is someone political behind it. The objective: limit RP's influence at the convention.
This one deserves a big F.Y.!
If I read this correctly
the amount is somewhat out of his control, he has to pay the "going rate." The history of having them on the campaign staff is proff of the "expertise" requirement. So this guys only "point" is that they are related. The skeleton crew that is left "on staff " trying to keep his message alive are his relatives... well now... I guess I ought to try to be offended by that if someone could please tell me why exactly?
Mosk is an idiot.
My Reply to Mosk
Here is the reply I sent to Mosk about the article:
Shame on you Mosk. Your hit piece on Dr. Paul reaches new lows. First you confuse isolationist with non-interventionist which is Paul's position. Then you imply that he does wrong by hiring family to help with the compaign. The paltry sum paid to family members who by the way did great work. If you were not a yellow journalist, you would have compared what goes on in other campaigns. I will bet that McCain, Clinton and Obama have their compaign pay for travel and expenses for their family members who give speaches and I will further say that they probably pay just one of their campaign staff more than all the Paul staffers together. Mosk get out of Washington your brain is deteriorating from too much beltway bs and business as usual.
Sincerely,
Roger Hermann
Chicago, IL
Oh, the horror!
It's FAR less than 1/100th of the money, and we're supposed to be worried about how rich the Paul family's getting. The antilibertarian bias of the news media knows no end.
JMR
On the subject of paying family
http://www.huffingtonpost...
It's entirely possible, given plane ticket and hotel costs, that McCain's daughter's compensation has exceeded $170,000. Bias bias bias!!
JMR
What a Bag Of Crap..
Did you see the whopping figures that Ron is paying his family for working on the campaign? I wonder if that adds up to anywhere near minimum wage.
Now why is it that McCain staffers get paid in 7 figures but we supposed to ignore that and instead are supposed to get all worked up over 2 grand paid to Laura Paul?
Newsflash for the author ... the only people going to put in a year of their lives working for the love of it are family!
Grasping at Straws
They can no longer discredit the message so they are trying to discredit the messenger. His spending to his family is a little over 1/2 of 1 percent of the $30 million he raised. The author should show how much the other candidates spent for equivalent services. I would bet Dr. Paul is getting a good deal. We all know he knows how to spend money frugally.
What a smear job! They are
What a smear job! They are being paid paltry sums and this writer expects to get people riled over it? What about the McCain money, he even violated FEC rules! Who pays Meghan McCain, she is over 21 and should be employed in some way, yet here she blogs http://www.mccainblogette... Wonder what Chelsea Clinton was paid? Where's the coverage there? How about Michelle Obamas' enormous pay increase? http://www.democraticunde...
I am sending off an email now!
I guess
I guess the Bill and Chelsea thing is no big deal to this guy.
Contacting this scumbag only validates him
Instead, contact the advertisers of the newspaper and let them know that you do not support this type of slander and that you will not be purchasing their newspaper any longer.
Some people just don't understand that the reason their readership is dwindling is BECAUSE of coverage like this. They still think that this sort of sensational, inflammatory writing brings people in.
Don't send this asshole 10,000 e-mails (which only lets him know you read his article).
Contact his advertisers... maybe his editor, if you can find out a name but most important, if you read the Post (actually buy it or subscribe on-line) then just stop.
Money is the only thing these monsters understand.
You have it. They want it. Stop giving it to them.
They die.
Correct
They don't want your money so don't give it to them. Their circulation is down and I guess they figure that being anti-Paul will help their circulation.
It seems counter-productive. I don't think McCain, Obama, or Clinton supporters are going to buy more papers because of a Ron Paul hit piece. This might cause any remaining Paul supporters to cancel.
I pushed my family to cancel our daily paper after Nov. 5th. That's when I finally got it through my thick skull how poor their news coverage was. I agreed to reinstate the subscription if they ever wrote a decent article about Paul. Recently they published a suitable editorial by Paul Mulshine and I relented.
The subscription hasn't been renewed yet. I found out, much to my surprise, that I don't miss the newspaper. I think my husband has realized the same thing.
We also like the extra money in our pockets.
Our newspaper has been losing over 3% in sales every year for 3 years.
If it hadn't been for their poor coverage of the candidates, including but not limited to Ron Paul, I never would have found out that I don't need my newspaper. So I owe a debt of thanks to my failing newspaper.
This would have been an
This would have been an objective piece if the author had included references to Bill and Chelsea Clinton, and what they're take is from Momma Clinton's campaign.
Let the writer know what you think
...if you want to here --> http://projects.washingto...
The readership of the
The readership of the Washington Post is steadily declining, like all dead-tree-pulp-newspapers.
I attribute much of it to the invention of Hefty bags fifty years ago. People no longer have to use newspapers to line their trash cans.
SUPPORT OUR FOUNDERS' AMERICA
Support the Constitution of the United States
mainstream newspapers are garbage so treat them like it
Don't forget cat litter boxes and gardening weed blockers. That's about as much reverence as I'll give newspapers today.
big slice
out of 30 million, he paid (a number of) family members 170 thousand.
woo woo! how scandalous!
Blame a family for support?
If that's the best they can do to smear RP's finances then L O L.
McCain's own family and friends think McCain is a piece of lying trash. Ron Paul's family loves Ron Paul so much they all help him. Who would you rather have as a family member, a boss, the president? No brainer.
Notice that they didn't
Notice that they didn't leave a space for comments. That twit had to know that he was slinging BS just to appease his slimy bosses...
************
"Basically I'm in the idea business — whether it's a musical idea or a spoken idea ... If you wind up with a political system that wants to put idea men out of business, then you have worry on your hands."
-- Frank Zappa
These WaPo lefties don't like being mocked
ESPECIALLY when it's this easy and they know it. That's the great part -- anyone who can do even elementary school math knows this is BS. At least it's possible to mock the author via email -- so I did.
JMR
Everyone needs to send the
Everyone needs to send the reporter and ombudsman an e-mail and let them know how we feel.
Seems like the McCain camp
Seems like the McCain camp is scared... Good they should be!
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The pursuit of liberty is addictive... Let's make it contagious.
Think of the Tax ramifications :-P
To comment on news stories, articles, etc., please contact the Ombudsman in the News Department at 202.334.7582 or e-mail ombudsman@washpost.com
good find
is this the email we should use?
Anyone else have a different one for mosk, Anyone Anyone Bueller?
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"RON PAUL SUPPORTER SINCE 1997"
RON PAUL 2008 / RE-ELECT 2012