State Senator Kent Sorenson doesn’t just have legal trouble stemming from his financial dealings with two presidential campaigns. He also has trouble telling the truth.
On the evening before TheIowaRepublican.com published its initial story that outlined Sorenson’s financial dealings with the Paul campaign, Sorenson was asked for comment on the information that was about to be published.
Sorenson said all the information that Dennis Fusaro had provided us was fabricated and that the source of the information was just bitter after being let go from the National Right to Work Committee. In a follow up question, Sorenson was asked directly if he had been given a check at a dinner meeting with Dimitri Kesari. He said no. He was then asked if his wife had been given a check from Kesari. He said no again and then reiterated that the entire story was made up.
Last week, Sorenson’s attorney, Theodore Sporer, admitted to the Des Moines Register that Sorenson was still in possession of that check, but Sporer stated that Sorenson did nothing wrong because he never cashed it. If that is indeed the case, why then did Sorenson blatantly lie to TheIowaRepublican.com when confronted about the check a month ago?
Sporer’s statement to the Des Moines Register also contradicts what he told the Minnesota Star Tribune back on August 7th. When asked about Sorenson’s dealings with the Paul campaign, Sporer told the Star Tribune, “There was no money that changed hands. There was no direct or indirect payment from the Ron Paul campaign.”
Mr. Sporer may believe that an uncashed check is “simply an autograph,” but according to the legal dictionary on FreeDictionary.com, “a check is a written order instructing a bank to pay upon its presentation to the person designated in it, or to the person possessing it, a certain sum of money from the account of the person who draws it.” Sporer’s assertion that there was no direct or indirect payment from the Paul campaign is an insult to the intelligence of Iowans.
Sorenson’s possession of the check begs an obvious question – why didn’t Sorenson ever cash it? One would assume that the reason he’s never cashed it because he knows that doing so would be wrong or even illegal. Sorenson’s new defense also suggests that he hasn’t had anything to do with the three high-ranking national staffers with Ron Paul’s presidential campaign since the caucuses, but that’s not true either.
On September 15, 2012, Sorenson and his wife traveled to Chantilly, Virginia, to speak at the 2012 Liberty Political Action Conference, which is put on by the Campaign for Liberty. The President of the Campaign for Liberty is John Tate, Paul’s 2012 campaign manager. It was with Tate that Sorenson, through Aaron Dorr, began negotiating the terms of his defection from the Bachmann campaign back in October of 2011. So, while Sorenson’s attorney wants people to ignore an uncashed check, there is still an ongoing relationship between Sorenson and the Campaign for Liberty.
It’s understandable why Sorenson wants this scandal to go away, but the amount of evidence that contradicts Sorenson’s side of the story continues to grow. Sorenson’s side of the story would be more believable if it was consistent, but it’s not. Even if you believe Sorenson’s current storyline, then he lied to the press when Fox News’ Megyn Kelly asked him “Was money offered to you by anyone in the Ron Paul camp to jump ship?” Sorenson responded “Absolutely not.”
Again, Sorenson needs to come clean. The Senate Ethics Committee is small potatoes compared to everything else that is involved in this pay-to-play scheme. Furthermore, Iowans deserve the truth, not more lies, and not more finger pointing. It’s time for Sorenson to step up, be a man, and take responsibility for his own actions.
Photo by Gage Skidmore
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