Paul relies on family to staff campaign: report

From Raw Story:

Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) has relied on an exceptionally close-knit core of staffers as he's built his long-shot GOP presidential bid into a fundraising behemoth over the last several months.

The bonds between Paul and the inner circle of his campaign are closer than most, though. He's put family members in myriad positions on the campaign trail, according to FEC reports cited in Tuesday's Washington Post. Paul's family members have been paid nearly $170,000 total.

Paul's granddaughter Valori Pyeatt helps organize fundraising receptions and has been paid $17,157. Another granddaughter, Laura Paul ($2,724), handles orders for Ron Paul merchandise. Grandson Matthew Pyeatt ($3,251) manages Paul's MySpace profile. Daughter Peggy Paul ($2,224) helps with campaign logistics. The candidate's sons Randall and Robert and his daughter Joy Paul LeBlanc have all been paid for campaign travel and for appearing as surrogates at political events.Who keeps track of all these finances? Paul's brother and daughter, naturally, who have been paid a combined $62,740 to handle the campaign's accounting.

Paul's spokesman, Jesse Benton (who is engaged to one of the candidate's granddaughters), tells the Post that nepotism is not behind Paul's decision to hire his family members. Rather, Benton says, it is about "having people around that you can unconditionally trust."

The Post notes that nothing Paul did was illegal. Federal elections laws simply require that family members hired by a campaign are qualified for the job and paid in line with what outside employees would fetch for equal work.