Roger Stone, a veteran Republican political consultant, published a story last week on his website The Stone Zone accusing the billionaire Koch brothers of purchasing Paul Ryan’s nomination.
According to Stone, the Koch brothers secured Ryan’s nomination this July by promising to hand over an additional $100 million towards “independent expentiture” for the Republican presidential campaign.
“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 bad-mouths 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 for Ryan’s selection.* “
If in fact this accusation is true, it would constitute a serious violation of Federal Election Commission laws and other federal statutes as well as calling into question Romney’s ethical character.
For those unfamiliar with Stone’s credentials, while he is not always considered the most reputable person himself, he is a GOP insider of more than four decades, dating back to his work on Nixon’s Committee to Reelect the President.
* The C-4 Stone mentions above is a reference to section 501-C-4 of the federal tax code that governs tax-exempt non-profit groups such as the Koch brothers’ backed Americans For Prosperity PAC. C-4 groups such as that are not required to disclose their wealthy donors while SuperPACs do. As reported by Pro Publica recently, right-wing C-4s are outspending all the SuperPACs combined so far this year.
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