Opinion: Ron Paul campaign packed with (paid) Ron Paul family members

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U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) is running for his party’s presidential nomination. And so, it seems, are a whole bunch of Pauls and other assorted family members.

They’re everywhere in the Paul campaign. And all, by the way, getting paid from the $34.5 million donated by the legions of loyal Paul supporters across the country.

The 72-year-old Paul, a onetime ob-gyn, has packed his campaign staff with what seems like a whole lot of the 4,000 babies he’s said to have delivered over the years.

Although Paul, who turns out to be a multimillionaire, has...

... acknowledged that winning the GOP nomination is hopeless, he continues to campaign while simultaneously pushing his new bestselling book, ‘The Revolution: A Manifesto.’

Although Paul has said he believes Sen. Barack Obama will be elected president on Nov. 4, Paul’s supporters continue to try to gain control of delegates at the local party levels and plot for a convention speech and possible platform skirmishes against the victorious forces of Sen. John McCain.

The Washington Post checked campaign finance records at the Federal Election Commission and found the 10-term libertarian-like House member, who allegedly doesn’t like big government, does indeed like big family involvement in his campaign.

He’s paid family members nearly $170,000.

It’s not illegal. Unusual, yes, especially to the extent Paul has taken it.

One granddaughter got $17,157 for helping to organize fund-raisers. Another got $2,724 for helping ship Paul merchandise. A grandson gets $3,251 for managing Paul’s MySpace profile. A daughter got $2,224 for helping with campaign logistics, according to the Post’s story.

Two sons and a daughter have been paid for travel and surrogate speaking appearances. Paul’s brother and daughter have been paid $62,740 to handle the bookkeeping on all these numbers and relatives.

‘His family is very important to him,’ says the official Paul campaign spokesman, Jesse Benton.

Benton is, you may have suspected by now, about to become a member of the Paul family as well as of the Paul campaign family. He’s engaged to a Paul granddaughter.

For his public relations work, including not returning countless Ticket phone calls over the months, he’s received $54,573.

--Andrew Malcolm

Photo Credit: Associated Press