GOP Rep. Tom Cotton is staying mum on the group
Jonathan Martin of The New York Times notes an oddity about Right Solutions Partners LLC, a mystery group that has been paid $292,000 by GOP Rep. Tom Cotton's campaign for U.S. Senate for "fundraising consulting":
But here’s the catch: It’s not clear that such an entity actually exists. It has no presence on the Internet, it appears that no other campaign is paying it this year, and it has no office at the Washington address listed on the articles of organization filed with the city last year
Martin tracked the group's address—1717 K Street—to the firm Arent Fox and found that a lawyer at the firm had signed the Right Solutions Partners organizing documents. Martin called the lawyer, Craig Engle, to find out what the group does. After initially disclaiming involvement, Engle said he had merely forgotten about setting it up.
But he said he forgot who asked him to set up the entity and quickly moved into lawyer-political speak, saying he could not get into for whom he was and was not working. He said he would try to get more information, but, alas, little was proffered.
Neither Engle—who
was general counsel for the National Republican Senatorial Committee from 1995-2000—nor the Cotton campaign would elaborate to Martin on whether the group actually exists or what work it did on the campaign's behalf, so, as Martin says, "the mystery continues": Why did Tom Cotton pay this mysterious legal entity nearly $300,000, what services were rendered, and what individuals benefited from it?
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12:56 PM PT: Update: Turns out the total funds were actually $322,963 thanks to a third disbursement found by Martin.