Another? Eric Cantor's Top Consultant Given $1.13M by Virginia GOP

After learning that newly installed Virginia GOP Executive Director Shaun Kenney is on Eric Cantor’s payroll, Virginia Republican voters are now hearing that a company run by Cantor’s top consultant, Ray Allen, is wealthy from party money. Allen’s Creative Direct, LLC is not just on the Republican Party of Virginia’s payroll, it represents the single largest expenditure on the party’s 2013 campaign finance disclosures.

Sound like a fair primary landscape for Cantor’s opponent, Dave Brat?

Should Eric Cantor survive this primary on June 10, he is the presumptive next speaker of the House, although this is dependent on what occurs with John Boehner and the large caucus of House Republicans who oppose his speakership. If he becomes speaker, Cantor would be the voice of what is shaping up to be a significantly larger Republican House majority due to the nation’s disgust with Obamacare. This majority would certainly benefit from a scandal-free environment in which to battle for the actualization of that mandate to repeal.

With that situation as background, local Virginia political site The Bull Elephant has broken this story about Ray Allen:

Why Rep. Cantor thinks it is a good idea to needlessly antagonize half the party he wants to lead is beyond me.

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That’s why it is intensely interesting to look at the Republican Party of Virginia’s 2013 campaign finance disclosures, available on VPAP.org. The vendor with the single largest spend of RPV dollars (and RNC Victory funds channeled through RPV)? Yep, you guessed it: Ray Allen’s Creative Direct LLC, to the tune of $1.13 million. So far in 2014 we haven’t had any elections, but Creative Direct has been tapped to do fundraising direct mail pieces for RPV, fattening Ray Allen’s wallet by another $26,000 while Allen orchestrates destructive slating campaigns at various Republican units around the state.

I don’t know about you, that doesn’t sit right with me. I think that if Ray Allen has access to Rep. Cantor’s money, then let him have at it. But, the Republican Party of Virginia must stop subsidizing the corruption of its own processes — immediately. Not a single dime of RPV money should find its way into the unclean hands of this political thug ever again.

Donors to the Republican Party of Virginia invest considerable money and trust in the organization. I suspect many thousands of them would be appalled by the revelation that the party’s largest recipient of expenditures is one candidate’s — the sitting incumbent’s — top consultant.

Below, a Bull Elephant commenter shares his anger. The presumptive result of the Ray Allen and Shaun Kenney scandals is the GOP’s aiding in the crowding out of primary challengers to Cantor’s seat; with that in mind, the commenter mentions the Amelia Island retreat Eric Cantor recently headlined. The retreat’s sole topic of discussion? Strategy for aiding GOP incumbents facing a strong conservative/Tea Party challenger:

Donors give to RPV thinking their money will be used to fight Democrats. Instead, it’s used by Ray Allen and Eric Cantor to attack and disenfranchise Republicans. Don’t forget, Eric Cantor just got back from a Soros-funded conference on how to destroy the Tea Party. And he and Ray Allen have disenfranchised hundreds of conservative GOP activists all across the state this year.

It’s kinda like the Russians sending saboteurs into Ukraine to stir up trouble, then using the trouble as a pretext to invade. Likewise, the Cantor/Allen machine uses donors’ dollars to bloody the convention process, to argue that it’s “too messy and exclusive,” so as to get back their primaries and their direct mail contracts.

The commenter, by mentioning “direct-mail contracts,” is referring to the business of Ray Allen’s company, Creative Direct. The company creates direct mailings for political clients.

With “disenfranchised hundreds of conservative activists all across the state this year,” the commenter is referring to “slating.” Allen is accused of helping orchestrate the procedure to the benefit of his clients this season, including Eric Cantor. Read here and here for background on slating.

Pat Mullins is the chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia. I am sending this post to Mullins, and asking if he was aware of the magnitude of the payments being sent to Allen, if he believes the payments represent an unacceptable conflict of interest, and if he is going to terminate the contract with Allen.

I will update this post if I hear from Chairman Mullins.