Emails from 2010 show that former Republican Iowa State Senator Kent Sorenson was not only directly involved in the National Right to Work Committee’s illegal campaign writing, printing and mailing scheme but that Sorenson’s wife and daughter were also directly involved.
The revelation is another in the story of the vast pattern of illegal campaign activities by the National Right To Work Committee . That activity included direct campaign coordination by the Springfield, Virginia lobbying group that was known to NRTW President Mark Mix, overseen by then-Vice President Doug Stafford and handled by NRTW employees and operatives like Dimitri Kesari, Jerad Gamble and Aaron Dorr.
The National Right To Work Committee is a 501(c)(4). Their required IRS 990 forms for the year 2010 claim the group was not involved in direct campaign activity, as shown in Part IV, question 3.
The Wife Letter
A “Wife Letter’ From NRTW
An October 5th email discusses ‘the wife letter’ — one of the campaign mailings done by NRTW in coordination with candidates. The Wife Letter is written as though it were coming from the candidate’s wife and tells personal stories of how the candidate and their wife met and makes a passionate plea as to why the target audience of women voters should vote for him.
The letters, which were often sent in a pink envelope and printed on pink paper, were actually written by NRTW employees, who based the letters on interviews with wives. In an October 5th email, Jared Gamble wrote to Dennis Fusaro, who was ostensibly in charge of the Iowa NRTW campaign:
Here is what I need:
1.) I need a list with the candidates doing wife letters or possibly doing wife letters and I need their wife’s phone number (cell and home).
2.) I need all the wife interviews scanned and sent to me that you may already have.
Right now I do not have a clue how many wife letters we are printing for Iowa this year. Two years ago we had around 20 wife letters just for Iowa. If that is the case again, I need to prep for that level of work. Also, since Lauren does not have time to do the interviews, we have Betsy, Elizabeth and Makaela who will. It is always best to have a woman to woman conversation with this type of interview.
Makaela refers to Kent Sorenson’s adult daughter.
Here’s the first page of a draft of the ‘wife letter’ written by NRTW on behalf of Kent Sorenson’s 2010 Iowa Senate race:
An October 26th email from Aaron Dorr shows that Sorenson was not just directly involved in the illegal campaign mailings but concerned that this mailings were not being done in Iowa. Dorr wrote:
Kent begged us to print his materials here because he was nervous that it was going to be screwed up. I assured him that it would be taken care of. What the heck am I supposed to tell him?
Wife Letter Is Part Of NRTW’S Modus Operandi
Documents From Meth House
A PBS story from 2012 gives an indication of how the NRTW mail program was implemented in states like Montana. The story involves documents that were stored at a Colorado meth house. The documents revealed the operations of the Montana mail program, overseen by National Right to Work’s Christian LeFer. LeFer was put in place in Montana by Dimitri Kesari.
(Montana politician) Butcher’s file in the Colorado boxes was labeled “Butcher Primary ’08 mail samples.” It included an email from LeFer to Butcher with a survey about unions. There was a campaign donation form, and drafts of fliers and a letter from Butcher’s campaign.
A “wife questionnaire” for Butcher’s wife Pam said she met her husband “on a blind date arranged by his buddy that neither of us wanted.” The questionnaire listed her children’s names and that she had been taking care of her disabled mother for five years.
A letter on pink paper from Pam Butcher was in a file marked “wife letters.” The letter, which contained much of the information in the questionnaire, was marked as being paid for by Butcher’s campaign.
A grand jury in Montana is currently looking at the case.
No, I have neither a phone number to reach each candidate’s wife nor completed wife interviews on the wiki. If you were involved in the research process, you would be aware of that; not to mention you have not logged onto the wiki in the past week. I also do not have wife interviews on the wiki. These still need to be accomplished, unless you have them and they have not been uploaded on the wiki. After sending out the original request today, Lauren and Jedd did not think they had the time to do all the interviews so Dimitri has assigned some of our staff here in IN to make the wife interview calls.
Here is what I need:
1.) I need a list with the candidates doing wife letters or possibly doing wife letters and I need their wife’s phone number (cell and home).
2.) I need all the wife interviews scanned and sent to me that you may already have.
Right now I do not have a clue how many wife letters we are printing for Iowa this year. Two years ago we had around 20 wife letters just for Iowa. If that is the case again, I need to prep for that level of work. Also, since Lauren does not have time to do the interviews, we have Betsy, Elizabeth and Makaela who will. It is always best to have a woman to woman conversation with this type of interview.
Please reply with the simple request that was made earlier today.
I’ve just been told that the number 10’s for Kent’s issue mail were all printed wrong! They say Indianaola for the city and Indiana for the state!
This is crazy. These need to drop by tomorrow cause they are bulk!
Kent begged us to print his materials here because he was nervous that it was going to be screwed up. I assured him that it would be taken care of. What the heck am I supposed to tell him? You could have called if you didn’t know his address.
I’ve called Jared, Betsy, Ryan, and Josh via cell with no answer so I am emailing this out now.
For the record, we’ve no windowed envelopes on hand.
A 2010 email by National Right To Work Committee staffer Jared Gamble about moving the group’s illegal campaign letter writing, printing and emailing program to Indiana appears to refer to NRTW President Mark Mix asking for an inventory of ‘everything in the field.’
The email reads in full:
Hey Guys,
I’m trying to get things locked up here in IA as we move our operation to Indy. There are several things I’m having trouble finding and am asking for your help in locating them. Mark has also asked for an inventory of everything we’ve got on the field. So, I’m trying to get some of this info ASAP.
File box: Box with a whole bunch of files in it. It was in the inner-office.
Printers: Tim’s laser printer, and the laser printers, I think 4, that were bought to replace the 9500 during election cycle.
5 Trip-Light Power Strips
2 laptops
A tribute by Sen. Rand Paul on his Facebook page links the Kentucky Republican to a figure at the center of a vast pattern of illegal campaign activity that took place in at least a dozen states, including Kentucky, over a period of years.
As part of my coverage of the National Right To Work illegal election activity scandal, I’ve posted a number of emails from NRTW staffer Jared Gamble.
The emails (linked at the bottom of this post) show a clear pattern of illegal campaign letter writing, printing and mailing by anti-union conservative lobbying group National Right To Work Committtee NRTW where they coordinated in direct election activity with state candidates.
Many of the key players in the scandal have connections to the Rand and Ron Paul campaigns and the Campaign For Liberty, including current head of the Rand PAC Doug Stafford, who managed the NTRW “mail program’ while he was a Vice President at National Right to Work.
Another key player in the election scandal is Dimitri Kesari. Gamble was Kesari’s right hand man; the two shared an apartment in Iowa in 2010.
I’ve mentioned that Gamble tragically passed away last year at a very young age. In July of 2013, Sen. Rand Paul posted a tribute to Gamble on his Facebook page, mentioning that Gamble had volunteered for Paul in his Senate Campaign. Paul’s statement read in full:
A fine young man was taken too soon. Jared was a volunteer for my campaign in 2010, and worked for my Dad in 2012. Though he only lived to be 26, he left his mark on many. Some of those friends and fellow liberty allies made this video to remember him. RIP Jared.
How was a full time NRTW employee living in Iowa & Indiana volunteering for Rand Paul’s Kentucky Senate race?
The removal of the video is suspicious because at first glance, it’s simply a moving tribute to a young man by his friends. There’s no clear reason to remove something apparently innocent.
However, the video features a number of people involved in the National Right to Work Committee’s illegal campaign activities. It’s unknown who removed the video or why.
Before it was removed, I had downloaded the original and I’ve reposted it, unedited and in its entirety back on YouTube.
Kent Sorenson
The video shows disgraced former Iowa State Senator Kent Sorenson talking about how Gamble had worked for Sorenson’s 2008 campaign. Republican Soresnon actively participated in the NRTW’s mail program in his successful 2008 house and 2010 senate campaigns.
Sorenson was forced to resign from the Iowa Senate after an extensive ethics report was released in October, 2013.
As I said in my December 15th article:
In the video, Kent Sorenson talks about time that Gamble worked on Kent Sorenson’s 2008 campaign. It’s heartfelt on Sorenso’s part but was that work legal? Considering that Gamble was working full time for Right To Work, was this admitted work done according to campaign law?
Also shown in the mysteriously removed video is key mail program manager and NRTW committee employee Dimitri Kesari.
Here’s the ‘For Jared’ video, as reposted by me. The first person you see is Kent Sorenson:
Here’s a screen capture of Paul’s tribute with the link to the now removed video.
I’ll be detailing the mail program in the coming days.
In 2010, the National Right to Work Committee was running an illegal campaign writing, printing and mail campaign in a number of states. In Iowa, that day-to-day operation was being run by Dimitri Kesari and his young underling Jared Gamble.
The ‘mail program’ wrote letters for candidates and printed them on secret printing presses owned and operated by NRTW. Those mailing were done in coordination and with the approval of candidates.
In the fall of 2010, the printing presses and a number of staff were moved from Iowa to Indiana. In this email, Gamble expresses his excitement about being ‘up and running’ and explains the new procedures to other National Right To Work employees. He also gives the address of the new drop location in Peoria, IL.
I’ll be giving complete details on this operation in the coming days.
An email from 2010 written by National Right to Work staffer Jared Gamble says that he is “waiting for the mail to start poring in” and indicates the direct knowledge and involvement of Iowa state candidates in NRTW’s secret campaign letter writing, printing and mailing
The email is CC’d to Dimitri Kesari, the employee at National Right to Work who headed up much of the day-to-day operation of the mail program in states like Iowa and Indiana. Gamble worked closely with Kesari; the two shared an apartment in Iowa.
The mail is also CC’d to whistleblower Dennis Fusaro, as well as Chris and Aaron Dorr. The Dorrs are also connected to the Michele Bachmann / Ron Payl 2012 election scandal where around $100,000 was paid illegally to Iowa State Senator Kent Sorenson to jump ship from the Bachmann to the Paul campaign. Published emails revealed that Aaron Dorr negotiated the deal with Paul staffer Jesse Benton. Chris Dorr admitted in an affidavit to taking a mailing list from the computer of a Bachmann staffer. The Dorrs are still actively involved in politics.
I’ll be publishing details of the massive, illegal campaign mailing program in the coming days.
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