GOP Consultant: Koch Brothers Bought Ryan’s Nomination With $100 Million Promise

The National Memo
Jon Conason

Veteran Republican political consultant, unrepentant dirty trickster, and recently reborn libertarian Roger Stone yesterday published a startling accusation against Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney on his personal website, The Stone Zone. According to Stone, the billionaire Koch brothers purchased the Republican vice presidential nomination for Ryan from Romney in late July by promising to fork over an additional $100 million toward “independent expenditure” campaigning for the GOP ticket.

Any such transaction would represent a serious violation of federal election laws and perhaps other statutes, aside from the ethical and character implications for all concerned. Although Stone is not the most reputable figure, to put it mildly, he has been a Republican insider, with access to the party’s top figures, over four decades. His credentials date back to Nixon’s Committee to Reelect The President and continue through the Reagan White House, the hard-fought Bush campaigns, and the Florida fiasco in 2000, when he masterminded the “Brooks Brothers riot” that shut down the Bush-Gore recount in Miami-Dade. Peruse his site and you’ll see his greatest hits and the attention he has drawn from major publications.

I’ve known Roger personally for years and always considered him intelligent and amusing; also extremely dangerous and even erratic. Sometimes I’ve been surprised by how much he knows about the inner-most workings of his party – even when he is clearly persona non grata among the current power elite.

Here is how Stone led his latest post, headlined “The Paul Ryan Selection, “which also delivers an amusing swipe at a certain Fox News analyst:

I’ve waited a few days to lay out my analysis of the selection of Paul Ryan for the VP slot on the Romney ticket. Unlike politicos like Dick Morris who badmouths the selection privately and shills for it publicly, I’ll tell you what I really think. My sources tell me David Koch played a key role in Ryan’s selection and that Koch’s wife Julia had been quietly lobbying for Ryan. The selection was cemented at the July 22nd fundraiser Koch held for Romney at the former’s sumptuous Hamptons estate. Koch pledged $100 million more to C-4 and Super PAC efforts for Romney [in exchange] for Ryan’s selection.

When he mentions “C-4,” of course, Stone is referring to the tax-exempt non-profit groups recognized by the IRS under section 501-C-4 of federal tax law – such as Americans For Prosperity, a group largely backed by the Koch brothers that has so far spent nearly $20 million on this year’s campaign. The C-4 groups, including another known as Crossroads GPS run by Karl Rove, need not disclose their rich donors, while Super PACs do. This year, the right-wing C-4s are outspending all the SuperPACS combined, as Pro Publica reported recently.

As a declared supporter of Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson, the former governor of New Mexico, Stone is grinding a sizeable ax, as always. He goes on to denigrate the idea that Ryan is a libertarian, despite his declared idolatry of the late Ayn Rand.  Not much more can be said about Stone’s stark allegations, unless more evidence emerges to confirm them. But there is nevertheless a ring of candor in Stone’s story, tying the plutocratic Kochs to the plutocratic ticket of Romney-Ryan.

What he has written amounts to a gleeful felony indictment of everyone involved. Will any of them demand a retraction or even issue a denial?

Romney campaign spent $18.50 per vote

CNN 

Well, it's over. Mitt Romney has amassed a nearly insurmountable delegate lead, and is on track to become his party's nominee for president.

The road to victory hasn't been easy for the former Massachusetts governor. The primary campaign stretched on for months, and at least 10 different candidates topped the national polls at some point.

So how much did victory cost?

Romney spent a total of $76.6 million, far more than any other campaign. That total is, for example, more than the combined spending of Ron Paul, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich.

Now, money isn't everything in politics -- but it sure doesn't hurt. And in this field, Romney dominated.

"The Romney team was putting a lot of money out there," one Santorum adviser told CNN when the former Pennsylvania senator called it quits earlier this month. "The budget was a factor."

More money, more votes: The billion dollar campaign

At the end of March, the Romney camp had captured 607 delegates and 4.1 million votes. That means the candidate, who has cultivated a reputation as a penny-pincher, spent $18.50 per vote, and $126,000 per delegate.

The money was used to cover various expenses like hotels, food, equipment, accounting services, rental cars, air travel, event consultants and online advertisers.

For instance, in March, the campaign spent $871 on Poland Spring water, $1,966 on office supplies from Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500), more than $50 at Applebee's, $48 at Arby's, $9.57 at Panda Express, $11,000 in payments to the Waldorf Astoria hotel and $70,165 at law and lobbying firm Patton Boggs.
But at least two of Romney's contenders had a better votes-to-expenditure ratio.

Federal contractors donate to 'super PAC' backing Romney

Los Angeles Times

It's unclear whether a ban on such giving is still valid after the Supreme Court ruling that freed up independent political spending.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney campaigns in Moline, Ill.
Several federal contractors have donated to a "super PAC" that supports him.
It's unclear whether a 36-year-old law barring such contributions is still valid.

Reporting from Washington—

A "super PAC" that has spent more than $35 million on behalf of Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has accepted donations from federal contractors despite a 36-year-old ban against such companies making federal political expenditures.

At least five companies with government contracts gave a combined $890,000 to Restore Our Future, the pro-Romney super PAC, a review of federal contracting records and campaign finance data shows.

Other super PACs, including Republican-allied American Crossroads, and Priorities USA Action, which backs President Obama, have language on their websites warning that federal contractors are not allowed to make donations.

Restore Our Future does not list the prohibition on its website.

Several contributors — including a Florida aerospace company that has contracts with the Defense Department, and a Boston-based construction company that is helping build a Navy base — are taking advantage of a legal gray area created by the Supreme Court's 2010 ruling in the Citizens United case, which said that independent political expenditures could not be regulated based on who was making them.

Federal courts and the Federal Election Commission, which is responsible for enforcing the federal contractor ban, have yet to decide whether it is still valid. That leaves the legality of such contributions in question, though several election law experts believe the ban will be found unconstitutional.

"It's a risk judgment that clients need to make," said Robert Kelner, a Washington lawyer who advises corporations on political law compliance.

A veteran election law attorney, Jan Baran, said he advised companies with federal contracts not to give to super PACs until the FEC or the courts formally ruled on whether the ban was still valid.

"We just think it ought to be cleared up," he said.

Bill Maher donates $1M to Obama super PAC

Political Hotseat
Stephanie Condon

Comedian and HBO host Bill Maher on Thursday night announced he's donating $1 million to Priorities USA Action, the super PAC supporting President Obama.

Maher brought out a large check during a live performance of his show "StupidCrazyPolitics" in San Jose, California. The comedian tweeted that the donation was a surprise to Yahoo, which broadcast the standup performance.

There are no limits to the dollar amount donors can give to super PACs, and the rise of the third party groups has created a collection of well-heeled donors who are investing significant sums of money to influence the 2012 election. Maher isn't the only high-profile figure supporting the pro-Obama group -- Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg, the fifth biggest super PAC player, gave $2 million to Priorities USA Action last May, and Steven Spielberg has also donated $100,00 to the group.

Still, Maher's donation is big news for Priorities USA Action -- the group raised only about $59,000 in January. Meanwhile, the pro-Mitt Romney super PAC Restore Our Future and the pro-Newt Gingrich group Winning Our Future raised a combined $17 million last month.
Meet the biggest donors of the 2012 campaign