Carson campaign in turmoil as finance chair quits

[KamaAina]

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/ben-carsons-finance-chief-at-the-center-of-campaign-storm-217575

Ben Carson's national finance chairman resigned Thursday amid questions about his use of campaign funds and criticism from Carson allies and donors.

Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, appointed Parker, a tech industry entrepreneur from Mobile, Alabama, in May to spearhead the campaign’s fundraising efforts. Parker’s been a relatively little-noticed campaign power, having Carson’s ear despite friction with other leaders. Since he joined, some campaign insiders told POLITICO, his operation has piled up unnecessary expenses and paid hefty consulting fees to an inexperienced staff. Parker recently began earning a $20,000 monthly salary, which veteran campaign operatives say is unusual for what is typically an unpaid, honorary role.

The bills for Parker’s shop, the inside sources said, were easy to overlook in the fall as the campaign raked in small donations, Carson soared in the polls and the campaign’s direct-mail operation generated tens of millions of dollars. But Parker’s operation became a sore point as the campaign lost its footing in mid-November and the candidate’s poll numbers slipped, they added. Even as senior leaders questioned Parker in leadership discussions, Carson still backed him on financial and hiring decisions, the campaign sources said.

Campaign finance reports show Parker’s operation, based in Mobile, racked up at least $216,000 in expenses from July through September, the most recent quarter for which reports are publicly available. Many of those expenses were paid through a network of limited liability companies set up for individual consultants on Parker’s finance team. The bottom line is a small fraction of the millions spent on direct mail, phone solicitations and list-building in the same period. But Parker’s detractors say he also frustrated some donors with brusque behavior and infuriated a longtime Carson confidant, Terry Giles, by insinuating that Giles orchestrated a leak of internal documents.

Poor widdle TaliBen.

[Mass]

1. Carson campaign is collapsing. He is tied with Jeb! in the last national polls, at around 2 % in NH

and around 8 or 9 % in Iowa (and sometimes lower).

But consultants made a lot of money.

[dembotoz]

2. so professioanl fundraisers are supposed to work for free?

not the fund raisers fault that the candidate says stupid moronic things
yet he seems to fall on the sword

do not get me wrong i am happy as can be that mental ben is fading faster than knock of t-shirts

but still bill must be paid

[anigbrowl]

5. I thought finance people were typically well-off to start with

and if their candidate wins, they get some plum job like being an undersecretary or simply becoming very very influential

[hifiguy]

3. And Mental Ben slowly sinks beneath the waves...

Too bad, so sad.

[fleur-de-lisa]

4. How is this clown still running? eom