Second ethics complaint filed against head of Michele Bachmann's Iowa presidential campaign: $30,000 check from jewelry store owned by Ron Paul’s National Deputy Campaign Manager passed to Sorenson's wife while Kent was in the bathroom

Via the Iowa Republican which has a very detailed story. AKSARBENT has written about antigay Iowa State Senator Kent Sorenson here  and here. The Urbandale, Iowa PD is still investigating the theft of homeschooler addresses from laptop of Bachmann staffer, a year after the complaint was first filed.

TO THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

Re: Second Ethics Complaint Against Senator Kent Sorenson of Milo, Iowa.

I, Peter E Waldron (Complainant), residing at 1134 Tampa Road #195, in the City of Palm Harbor, State of Florida 34683, hereby complain that Senator Kent Sorenson, whose address is Senate, State Capitol, Des Moines, Iowa, has violated the Senate Code of Ethics or Senate Rules Governing Lobbyists as follows:

 

Senator Sorenson was party to, or conspired with, efforts to remove a NICHE-authorized private copy of the NICHE mailing list in late-October 2011 from a personal laptop owned by Mrs. Barbara Heki, an Iowa resident and Bachmann For President staffer.

 

Much of the evidence provided with this complaint can be found in an article that appeared in The Iowa Republican (TIR) dated August 6, 2013.

 

Please refer to the memorandum (“memo”) written by Aaron Dorr, brother to Senator Sorenson’s Senate clerk Christopher Dorr. As a result of the memo, a new timeline was created, to wit:

 

October 29, 2011 Memo:

 

Home-school connections. Of course you’ve got your own “Homeschoolers for RP” program, but we are in possession o[f] the list of the main Iowa home-school group’s list [sic] here in Iowa allowing for targeted home-school mail.

 

The date is important because until this evidence was made public by TIR it was assumed that Mrs. Heki’s NICHE-authorized private copy of the NICHE list was removed from Mrs. Heki’s personal laptop in early-November or just before the Bachmann for President Campaign sent two letters to home-school families on the NICHE list.

 

Until the TIR article appeared, the Urbandale Police also believed that the theft took place between November 01, 2011 and November 10, 2011 according to Urbandale Patch article dated September 20, 2011, by Deb Belt.

 

Further the same memo, submitted as evidence herewith, reveals the motive to remove the list: to personally profit from its possession either in rental fees or in exchange for $100,000+ in salaries and donations to a political action committee (PAC) controlled by Senator Sorenson.

 

The Urbandale Police Department has an on-going investigation into the theft of the NICHE list from Mrs. Heki personal laptop.

 

Additional evidence includes an affidavit, dated, April 30, 2013 submitted by Senate clerk Christopher Dorr:

 

“…I loaded the file onto a jump-drive that I wore on a string around my neck.”

I believe that Mr. Dorr’s affidavit provides the means and method by which the list was removed but not the correct “when” or “why” it was removed as he states, “…in light of the directive by Guy Short to get all lists into the campaign so that the campaign could keep in touch with them, I then walked into her office to make sure it was sent in.”

 

I am certain that Bachmann for President National Political Director Guy Short did not instruct Mr. Christopher Dorr or anyone else in October 2011 to remove a private homeschool list from a personal laptop for use by, or as leverage, to reach an agreement with the 2012 Ron Paul Presidential Campaign!

 

According to his brother, Aaron Dorr, President, Iowa Gunowners Association, and alleged author of the October 29th Memorandum addressed to 2012 Ron Paul political operatives, the NICHE list was under control, if not in the custody, of Senator Kent Sorenson.  

 

Further, Mr. Dorr states under oath, “…not until the public filing of the lawsuit did I know that the computer in Mrs. Heki’s campaign was a private one.”

 

The Heki v. Bachmann lawsuit was filed on July 31, 2012 in the Polk County court.  The criminal complaint was filed with the Urbandale Police was on September 11, 2012.  Mr. Christopher Dorr’s affidavit is dated April 30, 2013. 

 

Why didn’t Mr. Dorr come forward to provide useful information to the parties to the lawsuit?  Why did Mr. Dorr allow both parties to pay steep legal costs and hire a stable of lawyers?  Why didn’t Mr. Dorr come forward to tell Detective Molly Jansen of the Urbandale Police how he obtained the NICHE mailing list from Mrs. Heki’s personal laptop?  It took almost nine-calendar months from the lawsuit’s filing, as well as a formal Senate Ethics Complaint, dated January 30, 2013 for Senator Sorenson’s clerk Christopher Dorr to speak on the record and under the penalty of perjury.

Finally, Christopher Dorr writes, “In regards to the other allegations involving alleged payments to Senator Sorenson, I was not privy to any information either directly or indirectly.  I have learned of these allegations as they became public.”

 

It is not reasonable to believe that Mr. Dorr was unaware of the alleged negotiations between his brother, Aaron, and the 2012 Ron Paul political operatives.  It is not believable that Christopher Dorr was oblivious to his brother’s negotiations on his behalf for his compensation from the 2012 Ron Paul campaign.  

 

I allege that Mr. Dorr’s affidavit is false on the face of it and, upon further investigation by the Committee, may prove to be fiction fabricated in collaboration with Senator Sorenson.

Senator Sorenson violated Senate Rule 6 by conspiring with the Ron Paul 2012 presidential campaign to solicit and conceal compensation for him and others and a political action committee totaling well in excess of $150,000.  

 

I have attached the following exhibits:

 

1. A phone transcript between Senator Sorenson and Dennis Fusaro discussing a $30,000 check given by Dimitri Kesari, Paul’s National Deputy Campaign Manager to Senator Sorenson’s wife in a restaurant after the Senator stepped away to wash his hands.

 

The check was from a jewelry store owned by Dimitri Kesari and his wife Jolanda Pali.  The money is alleged to be payment to Iowa Bachmann for President Chairman Senator Kent Sorenson to betray Rep. Michele Bachman, Bachmann for President Committee and to endorse Rep. Ron Paul, Ron Paul 2012.

This defection and endorsement came a week before the Iowa Caucus held on January 3, 2012.

 

2. Copies of correspondence exchanged between Aaron Dorr, brother to Christopher Dorr, that present a proposal to the Ron Paul 2012 presidential campaign for their consideration. This proposal outlines a timeline, money requested, for whom and for what.

 

3. The source of this documented evidence is contained in a series of articles written by the nationally respected The Iowan Republican. I have included the articles as evidence to present a coherent narrative of the events as they unfolded.

 

I respectfully encourage the Iowa Senate Ethics committee to investigate the alleged lies, obfuscations and denials made by the Senator from Milo. His conduct alone casts a shadow over the Iowa Senate and the State of Iowa.  I have worked at the Iowa Straw Poll and at the Iowa Caucus for various candidates since 2000.  I have never seen a darker stain on the fine state of Iowa and her people than this one. The people of Iowa deserve better.

 

Finally, I request this Committee consider referring the evidence contained in this new complaint to the Special Investigator appointed by the Iowa Supreme Court, Mark Weinhardt, Esq.

Under penalty of perjury, I certify that the above complaint is true and correct, as I verily believe.

_________________________________

Peter Waldron

SUBSCRIBED AND AFFIRMED to before me this ___________________ day of ________________________, _______.

________________________________

Notary Public in and for the

State of _________________________