$4 Million on Hand, Ron Paul Looks for Ways to Spend It
HOUSTON — U.S. Rep. Ron Paul is considering using $4 million left over from his failed presidential campaign to start a for-profit publishing company that would reflect his Libertarian-leaning views.
The move could test the limits of federal campaign finance rules.
“I’ve never heard of anyone taking their campaign money and putting it into a for-profit corporation,” campaign finance-reform advocate Fred Wertheimer told the Houston Chronicle.
Former candidates have leeway in how they use leftover campaign money.
“There’s a provision that says you can use the funds for any lawful purpose, so long as it’s not personal use for the candidate,” said Bob Biersack, a spokesman for the Federal Election Commission.
Federal guidelines say the money can’t be used for things such as vacations, mortgage, rent or household items or to seed a for-profit corporation that benefits an individual or shareholder.
Paul, a Republican from Lake Jackson, about 50 miles south of Houston, has about $4 million in leftover campaign cash, said campaign spokesman Jesse Benton.
Among options being considered for the money, Benton said, are supporting like-minded candidates through Paul’s Liberty PAC; donating it to Paul’s FREE Foundation, which publishes his newsletter; trying to influence public policy through a new nonprofit group; or creating “something inventive and entrepreneurial” like a for-profit corporation to produce publications.
It’s not clear whether Paul would be able to form a for-profit corporation specifically designed for educational purposes.
Paul also has a potential gold mine in his mailing list, if he rents those names to interest groups or other campaigns.
Benton said the campaign has the names of 160,000 donors who have given an average of about $100 each. With people who signed up to receive campaign information, but have not donated money, the e-mail list grows to 400,000.
Presidential list are attractive because they include donors from across the country. Paul’s list also includes new participants into the presidential process, offering candidates a chance to expand their network to nontraditional donors.
On the market, the list of 160,000 donors would probably fetch about $135 per 1,000 names for each use, or about $21,600 a pop, estimated Kevin Shuvalov, a partner in Olsen & Shuvalov, an Austin firm that does fundraising and voter-contact mailings.
The Paul presidential campaign already has rented its list twice — once to his Texas congressional re-election committee, which raised $1.4 million, according to CQ Moneyline, a site that tracks FEC records; and once to incumbent Rep. Walter B. Jones, R-N.C., who serves with Paul on the Republican Liberty Caucus, a group of Libertarian-minded lawmakers.
Books that only Libertarians will read? His FREE foundation publishes books containing THE US CONSTITUTION and the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
So if those are books that ONLY Libertarians will read, then what does that say about the sorry state of the country? I think everyone should read those. If they did, we wouldn’t have the mess we have now.
So many bitter people in regard to Paul and his viewpoints. Is returning to the founding document that our country was based on so bad?
Take a moment and reflect on what makes you so angry, because if it’s just the prospect of him starting a fund to help like minded candidates than you should take a closer look at those that have clearly broken the law, like McCain for instance (acceptance of public funding when his campaign ran out of money, and then reneging on it’s constraints when his campaign started to recover) and ask yourself why the anger.
How funny, you did not want to pay attention to the man when he was garnering the monetary support of hundreds of thousands of your peers, now you want to tell him he can’t use the money we gave him. I gave over $1500, I trust the man, I know he has more honesty in one pinky finger than that of the entire U.S. Congress and Senate COMBINED. Ron Paul may spend this money as he wishes, this revolution has only just begun and I can assure you of that. I am not yet 24 years old and I will be here to expose and show all of you that you too can join us in returning your country to the constitutional republic that it was meant to be, you do not have to fight us, as we are fighting FOR YOU and YOURS.
What failed campaign? The money will be used by the time he becomes President Paul. I hope he uses it for infomercials between now and November when I will vote for him again. Why does anyone in the US want our country to become a fascist nation run by Bilderbergers? He gets rid of IRS and income tax and still runs a remarkable government with a stronger military, saving our economy, our jobs, our liberties. President Paul or we are busted. Educate yourselves and pass the word. Check CFR, Bilderberg, IMF, UN, NWO, NAU, Trilateral Corridor. The democrats will continue the war. Hillary threatens to obliterate Iran if they hit Israel. Israel would be glad to take care of themselves, if we would let them. Obama calls for change-exactly how?? McCain doesn’t know what the word “economy” means, but he can sing “Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.”
JayBoy:
It’s not like he started a movement or anything… What a waste his campaign was, having millions of new people become involved in politics and become aware about important issues.
WHY NOT START A SCHOLARSHIP FUND FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE GOING TO COLLEGE AND WANT TO BE IN POLITICS
OK, all you suckers who gave money to Ron Paul, please line up and be identified so that the rest of us can see what 160,000 idiots look like as a group. When you give money to a politician, consider it gone, with no return to the giver.
These monies should be used towards paying off the United States of America’s national debt.
Who is going to get the profit?
I plan to vote for Ron Paul in the North Carolina primary coming up, and I donated to his campaign twice. But I wish that he had spent the money on campaign advertisements educating the public about the economy and the Fed. I think that would have been money better spent than on books only libertarians (who are already on his side) will read.
I love how Ron Paul complained for months about reform and here he is trying to walk a fine line between legal and illegal.