Rand Paul’s campaign, along with his supporters, has been quick to claim that Kentucky Taxpayers United is a simple group that never really does anything. That’s the answer they’ve always given. For reference, click here.
But the reality is KTU, a non-profit that hasn’t properly filed required 990s, is an organization that’s been highly active. Rand Paul and his allies have said as much. They’ve even gone so far as to send out letters promoting “awards” for that activity.
Take, for instance, this August 2009 letter from an organization called Citizens Organized Against Additional Spending and Taxes (C.O.A.S.T.). Here’s an excerpt:
… Citizens Organized Against Additional Spending and Taxes is excited to bestow the Taxpayer Defender Award upon Dr. Rand Paul for his fifteen years of leading the fight for lower taxes in Kentucky.
Rand Paul founded the grassroots action group Kentucky Taxpayers United in 1994.
Dr. Paul’s coalition of taxpayers produces and distributes a highly respected and referenced rating of the state legislature each year.
-SNIP-
…[I]n Brett Guthrie’s first race for the State Senate, Rand Paul KTU helped persuade Brett to sign the pledge.
His opponent refused and KTU placed targeted radio ads in the final days of the campaign.
Guthrie’s challenger called and complained that he’d never received the pledge. KTU produced a signed mail receipt with the candidate’s wife’s signature. With 24 hours to go until the election, the candidate capitulated and signed the pledge and the ads were pulled. Guthrie won the race by 124 votes.
Click here (Warning: PDF Link) to read the entire letter. Identifying information has been redacted, as has a control number at the top of the letter.
You can see for yourself that KTU has been highly active, has spent money and has promoted itself extensively.
An interesting thing about this letter – despite being signed by Mike Moreland (KY COAST), Norm Davis (TakeBackKY), Brenda Wehrmann (TakeBackThisNation) and Brett Gaspard (KY Taxpayers Union and recently failed candidate) – is that it has a return address that resolves to Rand Paul’s medical practice:
And was mailed from Northern Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C. From a bulk mail processing facility in Dulles, to be exact.
The permit code is held by MDI Imaging & Mail, a company that’s processed (Google around a bit) tons of mail for libertarian candidates. We sent a fax to MDI requesting information about the entity or individual that paid for the mailing but have not yet received a response. If it was mailed by, say, a 501(c)4 organization? That may be a little risky on the campaign finance front.
All of this means Rand Paul was promoting himself with this organization that has no website and isn’t listed with the Kentucky Secretary of State.
The letter went on to urge recipients to push Paul to run for Senate:
…COAST is very pleased to award Rand Paul the Taxpayer Defender Award.
If you want Taxpayers have a voice in Washington, please contact Rand Paul and urge him to run for Senate on the limited government principles we all share by sending in a note in the enclosed envelope.
And please let Dr. Paul know you appreciate his efforts in support of Kentucky Taxpayers.
Yes. Essentially supporting himself in a run for the U.S. Senate.
Even better? Check out the included card that recipients were directed to send to Rand Paul:
CLICK TO ENLARGE
Urging him to run for the United States Senate, right…
Peep the front of the return envelope:
CLICK TO ENLARGE
Rand Paul for US Senate Exploratory Committee.
Rather interesting, isn’t it?
10 responses so far ↓
1 AttentionWhore // Jun 1, 2010 at 1:00 pm
No, I think Jack lying about taking 90,000 sex offenders off the internet is more interesting.
2 west coast ky dem // Jun 1, 2010 at 1:02 pm
Nice work Jake! This keeps getting stranger and stranger.
3 jake // Jun 1, 2010 at 1:11 pm
So, AttentionWhore, I see that the Paulbots are on the PaulOrgyForum yammering on about how kiddie porn should be legal.
Maybe someone in the mainstream should ask Rand how he feels about child pornography.
4 AttentionWhore // Jun 1, 2010 at 1:43 pm
The internet should be kept free. Parents should monitor their kids. Everyone knows that myspace is old news. What’s the big deal about stopping some pervs on there? They just moved to facebook or whatever is next week! Get real! Campaigning on that is a joke and insulting to someone who is an avid internet user. I’ve always said I don’t agree with Jack on this, has little to do with Paul!
5 Fake Rand Paul // Jun 1, 2010 at 1:43 pm
Fake Rand Paul: “What I think is interesting is that sometimes a man an start taking pictures of a woman thinking she’s 18 and then find out that she’s really only 10. Accidents happen, and I think free enterprise should be allowed to dictate the legality of this issue. Not that I’m a perv nor would I associate with any.”
6 AttentionWhore // Jun 1, 2010 at 2:15 pm
Fake Rand Paul,
LOL!
7 CriticalThinker // Jun 1, 2010 at 2:52 pm
Actually, exploring Paul’s embrace of the whole North American Union-NAFTA Superhighway-Amero currency crackpottery would be more interesting. Indeed, the “One World Order” theme seems to be a core tenet of neo-Nazis. Come to think of it, StormFront is a huge cheerleader for Rand Paul. I wonder why that is.
8 jake // Jun 1, 2010 at 3:19 pm
Y’all are so mean with your fancy facts and reality and such.
How dare you folks raise interesting questions instead of attacking me personally!
9 Kimberly // Jun 15, 2010 at 9:00 am
I’m not a Democrat and I will not be voting for Conway, but the more information I read about Rand Paul, the more I feel compelled to leave the ‘Senator’ box blank when I vote in November.
Critical Thinker, you are correct about StormFront (for those who don’t know…a white supremist group whose founder replaced David Duke as the Grand Wizard for the KKK when David Duke ran for public office). They held money bombs for both Rand and Ron Paul. It does make one wonder why they are so interested in taking the time to “campaign” for the Paul’s. But I digress. This particular post is about the KTU.
Paul’s pride of founding KTU reminds me of what I wrote about on my blog with the recent revelation that he isn’t board certified by a recognized national or state organization. Instead, he’s board certified by his OWN organization that he founded because he didn’t like the “rules” of the American Board of Ophthalmology.
Paul sounds like a whiney brat and he needs to grow up! We need a mature adult in the Senate who respects laws and rules, even if one doesn’t agree with them. If I went to a doctor and found out they were promoting themselves to be a member of a fake organization, I honestly would consider suing for false misrepresentation! I don’t care how “good” the doctor may be.
Thanks for posting this Jake!!
10 shane // Aug 8, 2010 at 5:02 am
the reason why white power has backed the paul’s is because they are all about destroying the illegal, unconstitutional banking system. they are also about ending america’s global strangehold on the world and ending prohibition. God bless them for their fantastic work
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