Draft Ben Carson Group Complicates Potential Presidential Campaign
By Nathan L. Gonzales Posted at 5 a.m. on Dec. 3, 2014
Carson is considering a run for president. (Douglas Graham/CQ Roll Call File Photo)
Ben Carson is openly considering a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, but an unaffiliated Super PAC trying to draft him into the race is making the effort complicated.
Last month, Buzzfeed detailed the fundraising and spending habits of the National Draft Ben Carson for President Committee (RunBenRun.org). While the group has received attention for raising millions of dollars, those funds are just churned back into the operation, with significant financial benefit for two of its organizers. And the group’s campaign director, Vernon Robinson, has a reputation in North Carolina for being one of the most aggressive and negative campaigners around.
For example, when the Draft Carson group was denied a presence at the state Republican Party’s booth at the state fair in Raleigh at the end of October, Robinson threatened to show up to the event with 10,000 “dead white elephant” stickers, 1,000 T-shirts and 2,000 supporters.
“19 days out I’m sure the media will be interested in a dead white elephant story and why the Ben Carson vols were banned from the GOP state booth …in the interest of unity,” wrote Robinson in an email obtained by The Rothenberg Political Report and CQ Roll Call.
Even in the face of the threats, the group wasn’t given a position at the booth because Carson was still registered to vote as an independent. (He registered as a Republican at the beginning of November.) At the fair, there was no sign of Robinson, the stickers, or the T-shirts at the event, according to knowledgeable sources. The incident is actually very mild compared to Robinson’s reputation on the campaign trail, including three unsuccessful runs for congress in 2004, 2006, and 2012.
So what connection does Carson have with the Draft Carson committee and its colorful consultants? “Absolutely no relation,” said Armstrong Williams, a nationally syndicated columnist and long-time business manager for Carson, in a recent interview.
“We’ve never met with him,” Williams said about Robinson, “When he showed up at a function to take a picture with Dr. Carson, I blocked it.”
Williams explained that the draft committee was a decidedly “mixed bag.” While it has helped generate some media buzz and grassroots support, Carson’s fans or potential supporters may not know that the groups are not connected.
“People are using their hard-earned money,” Williams said. “People giving money think it’s going to Dr. Carson and it’s not.”
“I don’t like misleading people. We are about integrity and transparency.”
USAFirstPAC, which was organized in August, is the only authorized presidential committee for Carson. The pediatric neurosurgeon is also chairman of American Legacy PAC’s “Save our Healthcare Project,” which started nearly a year ago in order to oppose President Barack Obama’s health care plan and support candidates across the country who oppose the Affordable Care Act.
“Most people are innocent and well-intentioned but don’t ask the right questions,” Williams said about potential donors. “Ask [Draft Carson organizers] if the money goes to Dr. Carson and they say no.” Indeed, that answer is buried on the group’s website.
“Our hands are tied,” Williams continued, “We don’t want people exploited.”
So is Carson running for president in 2016 or not?
On Sunday, he appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press as an analyst to talk about race issues in the wake of Ferguson. “I should quickly ask, are you running for president?” said moderator Chuck Todd.
Carson responded, “I should quickly tell you, maybe.”
Correction 10:57 a.m.
An earlier version of this post misstated Ben Carson’s title with American Legacy PAC.
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sousaiv
Dec. 3, 2014
8:53 a.m.
What the author failed to mention is that it is illegal for the Carson organization and the Draft Carson Committee to communicate at any level. Every candidate nowadays has a Super PACs in the background that run independently of the main campaign. This has simply become SOP.
The draft committed has over 20,000 volunteers and has acquired over 400,000 signatures encouraging Dr Carson to run. It has paid staff in 6 early primary and caucus states, has over 100,000 individual donors, has run radio, billboard and magazine ads encouraging Dr Carson to run.
The hard earned money that is given to the draft committee goes to efforts to get Dr Carson to run for President.
Mike
Dec. 3, 2014
10:32 a.m.
Yeah, his staff is either dishonest or stupid. They aren’t allowed to be connected to a PAC, doesn’t making a big deal out of the lack of communication imply that there’s a little more coordinating going on with the “sanctioned” PAC?
chedd
Feb. 17
5:20 p.m.
And you, sousaiv, failed to note that you, as the president of the PAC, are personally benefiting from the millions raised by the PAC. You also failed to mention that Dr. Carson has his own PAC, which has absolutely nothing to do with you, and that Dr. Carson’s campaign manager, has publicly disassociated itself from your organization, essentially calling it a scam.
Pragmatic Conservative
Dec. 3, 2014
12:52 p.m.
Dr. Carson seems like a good and smart man, but haven’t we learned anything about electing someone with absolutely no relevant experience? I would love to see Carson run for the House or Senate, get to understand how DC works (you can’t fix it if you don’t understand it), and then consider running for President. But running now is grossly premature. We don’t need another president who is undergoing on the job training.
Layla
Dec. 3, 2014
1:33 p.m.
Oh I dunno…..Ronald Reagan did ok.
David Pulver
Dec. 3, 2014
7:50 p.m.
Sure he hadn’t been in DC, but Reagan had served two terms as governor of California before he ran for president. Big experience difference.
Pragmatic Conservative
Dec. 4, 2014
1:51 p.m.
Ronald Reagan served as governor of California before running for President. This, he had exactly the kind of experience that Dr. Carson should attempt to acquire prior to running for the highest office in the land.
RottenJohnny
Dec. 4, 2014
11:20 a.m.
Dr. Carson seems like a good and smart man.
Uh, no he doesn’t. He’s just another in a long line of radicals who hate the American way.
Pragmatic Conservative
Dec. 4, 2014
1:55 p.m.
Do you actually know anything about Dr. Carson? He is the living embodiment of the American way. He rose from meager circumstances to make something of himself through hard work and commitment. I know liberals hate minorities who have the audacity to succeed rather than rely on government handouts (since the handout crowd is a reliable Democrat voting block), but to claim that he hates the American way is at best phenomenally ignorant.
RottenJohnny
Dec. 4, 2014
3:32 p.m.
He’s a right-wing extremist, whose views are so far as as to be considered coming from a madman. You want to donate topm and vote for him, be my guest, but you can be damn sure mine will negate yours.
Pragmatic Conservative
Dec. 4, 2014
3:52 p.m.
As I noted, I don’t think he’s ready for higher office, and I have no intention of donating to him or voting for him. That said, the tone of your comment clearly demonstrates that you views are no less extreme than his, they just come from the opposite side of the spectrum. Extremism, in either form, is detrimental to the best interests of the nation.
RottenJohnny
Dec. 4, 2014
7:55 p.m.
You have no idea what me base views are. I condemn both extremes as being useless trash.
Pragmatic Conservative
Dec. 5, 2014
9:19 a.m.
I stand corrected. Thank you for recognizing that extremists on both sides are detrimental to the long term best interests of our nation.
Thomas in Jacksonville
Dec. 4, 2014
5:03 p.m.
He is not an extremist and if by right wing you mean a conservative, that is the American way. The anti-American leftist progressive democrats and the Obama administration is NOT the American way of doing things. The statements I have heard by Dr. Ben Carson have been those that expose freedom and personal responsibility. He understands that big government interferes with the rights of the individual and economic growth.
D. Jamz
Dec. 5, 2014
12:42 a.m.
P.C. – Ronald Reagan once said that “professional politicians like to talk about the value of experience in government. Nuts! The only experience you gain in politics is how to be political.” I believe that is a fairly honest and pragmatic perspective. If you are looking at the “professional” political elite of the United States currently, you have to be from another planet because they have managed to allow in our time the erosion of the separate powers provisions of the Constitution, the extreme bloating of one branch of the federal government, the jeopardizing of several of the rights that were intended to be unalienable rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights of that Constitution. And you have the audacity to raise the issue of experience? Give me a frickin’ break. America needs patriots NOT the kind of politicians we have come to define as “leaders” because they are no longer working for the people; they are working for their respective Party or their own political or personal interests. Carson has the guts to speak he truth, and to cut through the political crap that has filled D.C. for decades!
Pragmatic Conservative
Dec. 5, 2014
9:17 a.m.
I never said we needed career politicians. I said a level of experience is necessary to govern effectively. There’s a huge difference there. You can’t fix something if you have no idea how it works. Or have you completely failed to notice the disaster that is our current, grossly inexperienced president? To put it another way, would you hire someone who had only been a janitor (no disrespect to janitors intended) to be the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company, just because they could spout platitudes about how industry should work? Of course not, but you seem to be embracing the same concept for who should run our nation.
The extreme right would be wise to learn the lessons that came from electing someone based on dogma and ideology alone. No one person is going to change the government on their own (despite Obama’s attempts to act like a petty dictator), it’s going to take the electorate choosing leaders based on their intelligence, pragmatism, and ability to negotiate change that is acceptable to the broadest array of voters. Neither extreme, however, has expressed any willingness to do so, nor even to tolerate those who would take that approach.
What concerns me about the future of this country is that the vocal minority in both parties has embraced the same concept for “change” – support the most divisive, ideologically driven individuals you can find, and then just assume that they have the authority to do whatever they want because they know so much more than the huddled masses. Ted Cruz, for example, is no different than Obama in his approach to “governing” – both believe that the “virtue” of their ideas is so great that they have the right to impose those ideas on everyone else regardless of the will of the voters. It’s this type of elitism that has gotten us in trouble, not the experience of those who are familiar with how government works.
D.Jamz
Dec. 8, 2014
12:46 a.m.
By your statements here and below, it is apparent you have a degree of knowledge of who Dr. Carson is, but also by labeling him as extreme, you betray your lack of understanding of what he truly stands for and whats he would be willing to fight for in Washington. He is not an ideologue as you portray him, and he has demonstrated in his life he is a team player and is capable of getting extremely difficult tasks accomplished successfully. Your attempt at making an analogy with an auto mechanic is weak because even an auto mechanic can understand that spending more money than you have in your bank account only manifests debt. Knowing how politics works, may not be as complex as you or those politicos seek to portray it. The demise of the public servant and the rise of the political elite, many of whom read this publication, has given the people who are paying attention, great alarm. This nation can no longer take the pretense promoted as governance, by those who stand behind pragmatism as a defense of the slow destruction of the founding principles. Those who see it, yet refuse to listen to common sense for fear it may actually undermine the traditional establishment of entrenched political party operations, are part of that line of defense which permits politics as usual, which means the people are considered second and Party is considered foremost. That is elitism, and when you get that as the residual outcome of politics as usual – how to maintain the basic structure and operation of either Party’s control over the machinery of government- it is not a function of knowing how things get done in Washington, but a function of how your attitudes and beliefs about being a public servant or a political power broker are put into practice. You may disagree, but I firmly believe genuine leadership honors the people who consent to be governed; genuine leaders respect the people who entrusted them with the well-being of the public domain; genuine leaders lead and are not constrained by how things have worked for a given period of time because if they have not worked properly for a period of time, it doesn’t mean they require defense.
I didn’t always agree with Bobby Kennedy, but he is once quoted as saying “The problem of power is how to achieve its responsible use rather than its irresponsible use – of how to get men of power to live for the public rather than off the public.” I agree. Such men are not found among the bureaucrats and politicians who can claim they know how Washington operates. Such men are leaders who dare to challenge the status quo and who are unafraid to step into uncharted territory with a strong will and a set of principles beyond what most men can only think about. You have Ben Carson wrong, but it is not me who could change your mind. But if it were me, I would do more homework before I pass him off.
Joe
Dec. 4, 2014
2:35 p.m.
Dear author we in this country today are fighting a serious battle that goes beyond PACS, we seek not to tear each other apart but shed a light on very dangerous old ideological issues that are currently tearing this nation apart. Millions of Americans have joined both teams in support of the most enlighten, educated and articulate man who understands this current day battle. Although we are from different camps we seek the same goal, to stop the Progressive movement. This battle goes back to the 1890’s which spawned Marxism and Socialism from Wilson, Sanger and Goldman who have worked tirelessly to infuse the progressive ideas into policy and their modern-day counterparts, the Democratic party. Dr. Carson is popular with educated Americans
because he understands the historical origins of dangerous ideologies. These power hungry “do-gooders” have brought secular humanism into this country which has separated legality from morality, popularized moral relativism which states that man can be good without God and the equality of outcomes, (egalitarianism) which they say is better than the equality of opportunity. Historically, these fascist ideas have led to leaders such as Lenin, Mussolini and Hitler. Group rights reign supreme over individual rights and the “right” to receive government controlled welfare are their life killing messages. As the saying goes, “there is nothing new under the sun,” these are old ideas that only the most educated recognize their dangerous historical patterns. It is the wish of both teams to be united in this effort, this is our goal no matter which “team” addresses it, we are united on this specific front and Dr. Carson is the best man for the job to pull this nation out from its progressive suicide mission.
Skyjack
Dec. 4, 2014
5:37 p.m.
Looks like the author is working hard to try and create division among people who support Dr. Carson. I volunteer for the Draft Carson campaign and I have always known that election laws require that Dr. Carson can have absolutely no contact with the PAC. The name of the PAC makes it very clear that it is a group of people who want Ben Carson to run for president. If someone misunderstands and thinks the PAC is operated by Ben Carson or otherwise more closely connected with him, the misunderstanding will be cleared up as soon as it is recognized. That does not mean that a potential Ben Carson campaign would not benefit from the work of the Draft Carson PAC. The PAC has chairpersons in all 99 counties of Iowa. They have an extensive network of people who write and speak in support of Dr. Carson, none claiming to represent him. If Dr. Carson decides to run, every volunteer and contributor of over $10 million will be made available to his campaign. There is no division here. Regardless of what PAC supports Dr. Carson or his ideals they all want the same thing. Until there is a campaign, there must be an arms length posture between them.
stinkyboy
Dec. 4, 2014
6:52 p.m.
no.
whizzer
Dec. 4, 2014
8:11 p.m.
Sorry, I must not be very smart. What does the “dead white elephant” reference mean?
D. Jamz
Dec. 5, 2014
1:40 a.m.
Mr. Gonzales I am sure you may mean well to educate your readers about the potential evils lurking within the shadows of the NDBC campaign, and how they may be taking money from little gray haired ladies, but it honestly doesn’t fit with the reality of the effort. You seem to grasp the essential question: Is Dr. Carson running for POTUS or not? He hasn’t said he is. He hasn’t said he isn’t. So, is the money collected by the RunBenRun organization going to Carson, or is it not? If he is currently not running, where should people send their money if they want to see him run? – to the Republican National Committee? – to the Mitt Romney people – to the Jeb Bush people? – to Stu Rothenberg? As far as I see it, if Carson has not declared he is running for POTUS, the only group that is overwhelmingly in support of Dr. Carson running for President is the NDBC organization. If Mr. Williams is saying that Dr. Carson is running for POTUS and people should donate to the USA First PAC, then that may solve the problem. However, your article was carefully crafted, and I don’t truly believe you are overly concerned about the people who are supporting Dr. Carson. The real
evidence is revealed in the number you did on Vernon Robinson. “10,000 dead white elephant stickers?” would certainly scare the socks off me! A very aggressive and negative campaigner indeed! I am so happy that you have done your good deed for the week and alerted the public to this notorious political campaign organizer. Of course, I should also be grateful to the one in the Republican establishment who just happened to provide the e-mail to your fine political news hounds at Roll Call. To whom should I send a donation for the
inspiration behind the finely crafted enlightenment you have provided here? Or,
do they have a PAC up and running yet? Please – stop the pretense of being an unbiased journalist – it doesn’t go well with the article I just read.
ric2009
Dec. 5, 2014
3:39 p.m.
Im not sure where this article is leading. They subtly accuse Robinson of being a crook…but evidently he has done nothing illegal. If I wanted to start a Super Pac supporting Dr Carson…I CAN do that. Remember..there is by law a mandate that A superPac can have no collaboration with the candidate it advocates. Sounds like some are jealous of V. Robinsons efforts!.