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“Adult website operator among Rand Paul donors”; Paul’s Camp Says It Condemns Pornography

from AP – LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Republican Rand Paul’s campaign for Senate in conservative Kentucky wouldn’t say Friday whether it will return money from a donor who runs an adult website featuring photos of lingerie-clad and nude women.

Federal Election Commission records show that Cyan Banister, who founded California-based Zivity.com with her husband, contributed $4,800 to Paul earlier this year.

Banister told The Associated Press in an e-mail Thursday that she sees Paul’s limited government views as appealing, and said she likes his “strong values that resonate with mine.”

Zivity.com’s photos show women posing in little – or nothing – and are described by the website as works of art.

Paul is relying on solid support from conservative voters in his hotly contested race against Democrat Jack Conway.

“A lot of Kentuckians would have a problem with a candidate accepting money from organizations that are tearing down the culture,” said Martin Cothran, a policy analyst for The Family Foundation of Kentucky. “And we assume that the Paul campaign understands that.”

Cothran said candidates have very little control over who supports them, but added: “You do have control over who you accept money from. We assume that when the Paul campaign finds out about this, they’ll return that money.”

Paul’s campaign issued a statement saying the Republican candidate – a father of three boys and husband of a church deacon – condemns pornography and considers it degrading to women. The campaign said it “cannot be expected to run background checks on all 25,000 donors who share his stances on issues like balanced budgets, reduced federal spending, opposition to `Obamacare’ and the reckless behavior in Washington.”

Conway’s campaign declined comment.

The San Francisco-based adult social network website started by Banister and her husband, Scott, serves up racy photos of women for $12-a-month subscribers. The site’s home page features a smiling woman in her underwear with a laptop.

In Pennsylvania, the U.S. Senate campaign of Republican Pat Toomey confirmed that it received a $4,800 contribution from Scott Banister in November 2009.

“We have over 50,000 individual donors,” Toomey campaign spokeswoman Nachama Soloveichik said. “Many of those supporters do not agree with Pat on every issue, but they tend to share his belief that the government in Washington is too big, it taxes too much, and it is sticking future generations with far too much debt. We’re happy to have those supporters, even if we differ on some issues.”

Cyan Banister said in an e-mail that she was drawn to Paul’s libertarian views, a philosophy shared by his father, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, whom Banister also supported financially during his unsuccessful presidential run as a Republican in 2008.

“My point of view is that our country is in danger of losing some of its most valued freedoms,” she said in the e-mail. “The Pauls have strong values that resonate with mine. I believe they support limited government, tax reform, are against nationalized health care.”

Zivity describes itself on its blog as “full of hot awesome,” and says it has 64,000 subscribers.

Cyan Banister said the website’s photos range from fashion to “art nude.”

“It is a celebration of the human body, specifically female,” she said.

She said she contributed to Rand Paul because “I want to help our country recover.”

Asked whether her support could backfire on Paul in Kentucky, she replied: “I don’t wish to hurt his campaign and would withdraw my contribution if that was the outcome. That was never our intent.”

Meanwhile, Rand Paul was plying the Internet for campaign cash as part of a two-day fundraising pitch that began Thursday. Paul had raked in more than $155,000 by early Friday afternoon – money the Paul campaign has said would be invested in television ads.

from techcrunch.com – Kentucky senate candidate Rand Paul is being partially bankrolled by the porn industry, apparently. At least that’s the story that the AP’s Bruce Schreiner is pushing today. This is what appears to be the AP’s most recent hit job on Paul. Schreiner in particular has been accused of subtle bias in his Rand Paul reporting even before this story.

What’s the evidence for today’s story? Zivity cofounders Cyan Banister and Scott Banister made personal donations to the Rand Paul campaign totalling $4,800. The Paul campaign has raised a total of over $3.5 million. Donors must state where they work, so they wrote down Zivity, says Cyan.

Despite the fact that the donations weren’t from Zivity, and that Zivity would barely fall under the definition of pornography, people are calling for Rand to return the money. Says someone who has no idea what he’s talking about:

“A lot of Kentuckians would have a problem with a candidate accepting money from organizations that are tearing down the culture,” said Martin Cothran, a policy analyst for The Family Foundation of Kentucky. “And we assume that the Paul campaign understands that.”

Schreiner himself seems to have little knowledge of Zivity either. By phone yesterday he asked me if I could tell him more about the site. He had not, apparently, ventured farther than the home page.

The fact is Zivity is nowhere near as graphic as mainstream television. Sexual acts are never shown, and often the models aren’t even undressed. A typical Saturday evening on Showtime or HBO would be far more likely to “tear down our culture,” in the words of whoever that guy is. And I doubt the AP would be trying to make a big deal out of a HBO employee making a donation to a campaign.

Meanwhile, the story has hit TV, although without Zivity being mentioned. Viewers must be imaging some really hot adult action bankrolling the Rand campaign.

This is a textbook example of hidden bias in the mainstream press. If the AP dislikes Rand Paul they should just come out and say it. Getting some crazy idiots in Kentucky to give them uninformed quotes instead is just so lame.

from www.reason.com – Among Rand Paul’s supporters is Cyan Banister, who kicked $4,800 toward the Kentucky pol and founded Zivity.com with her husband Scott (full disclosure: The Banisters have supported Reason Foundation, the nonprofit that publishes this website).

Cyan Banister said in an e-mail [to the AP] that she was drawn to Paul’s libertarian views, a philosophy shared by his father, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, whom Banister also supported financially during his unsuccessful presidential run as a Republican in 2008.

“My point of view is that our country is in danger of losing some of its most valued freedoms,” she said in the e-mail. “The Pauls have strong values that resonate with mine. I believe they support limited government, tax reform, are against nationalized health care.”

Zivity describes itself on its blog as “full of hot awesome,” and says it has 64,000 subscribers.

Cyan Banister said the website’s photos range from fashion to “art nude.”

“It is a celebration of the human body, specifically female,” she said.

Paul’s response?

Paul’s campaign issued a statement saying the Republican candidate – a father of three boys and husband of a church deacon – condemns pornography and considers it degrading to women. The campaign said it “cannot be expected to run background checks on all 25,000 donors who share his stances on issues like balanced budgets, reduced federal spending, opposition to ‘Obamacare’ and the reckless behavior in Washington.”

That strikes me as a disappointing response. If he in fact finds porn an issue (and thinks Zivity qualifies) then he should return the money. After all, the background check has done for him in this case. Or he might point out that he is not in any way bound by the occupations of his donors or he might not like porn but considers a fully legal activity so leave it alone already. I want the Aqua Buddha Paul back, not the distancing-from-libertarian version! Kentucky voters grok freedom just like the rest of us! Read the whole story here.

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