Tim Pawlenty Gets Gold Standard Backing From Lewis Lehrman's PAC

WASHINGTON -- The chief proponent of a return to the monetary gold standard has contributed the maximum $10,000 from his political action committee (PAC) to Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty, according to a campaign finance report filed Monday with the Federal Election Commission.

The Fund to Keep America Number One PAC is operated by Lewis Lehrman, an investment banker and longtime proponent of the return to the gold standard, the fixing of money to the price of gold. Lehrman served as a member of the 1981 U.S. Gold Commission and later co-authored the book The Case for Gold with another gold standard proponent, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas). Recently, Lehrman has promoted a return to the gold standard through a campaign run by his Lehrman Insitute called Gold Standard Now.

The $10,000 maximum donation to Pawlenty's campaign is the largest single-year contribution the PAC has made since a $10,000 donation to the 1998 re-election campaign of then-Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.).

Pawlenty drew attention in March for comments he made hinting at support for a fixed currency akin to the gold standard. On both Fox News and CNBC, he derided the current system of "fiat currency" and suggested that money be tied to a "basket of commodities."

This prompted a response from Lehrman through the Gold Standard Now campaign. Lehrman explains to Pawlenty in a video, "So, yes, embrace your commodity standard, but embrace the single commodity [gold] as the monetary standard, which has been proven throughout American history."

Gold Standard Now recently co-funded the Iowa Tea Party Bus Tour with American Principles in Action. Pawlenty was announced as one of many Republican presidential contenders who would speak at bus tour events. The other candidates included Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), Santorum, pizza mogul Herman Cain, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and former Gov. Gary Johnson (R-N.M.).

The Republican presidential primary is not lacking in candidates backing a return to gold standard. Nor is it lacking in candidates attacking the Federal Reserve with language akin to that used by gold standard proponents.

Paul, who is running for the GOP nomination again, as well as Cain and Johnson, all support a return to the gold standard. Bachmann has stated that she "will take a close look at the gold standard issue" and she denounced the Obama administration and the Federal Reserve for "printing essentially valueless money and flooding it into the money supply. ... A dollar in 2011 should be the same as a dollar in 1911."

The Fund to Keep America Number One PAC has not contributed to many candidates in the past. Last year, it donated to now-Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Tea Party candidate Christine O'Donnell (R-Del.).

Lehrman and his wife are the sole donors to the Fund to Keep America Number One PAC.

 

 

Comments

[armchairpickleback]

12:11 PM on 07/12/2011

This is suspect, why on earth would this PAC not contribute to Dr. Paul?? He's the one that started the debate on the FED and the going back to the gold standard. Seriously. The main reason Dr. Paul got into politics is because Nixon finished the gold standard.

[tomabrad]

10:58 AM on 07/12/2011

It seems odd to me that they gave that $10k to Pawlenty and not to Ron Paul.

[Vic22]

09:34 PM on 07/11/2011

I hope you have $10,000 in gold to back up that donation

[forreal1953]

08:35 PM on 07/11/2011

So another rich man buys influence with his money that he considers valueless but would go to any extreme to protect. Luckily he is backing a bunch of losers.

[haval2]

08:34 PM on 07/11/2011

Now there's a waste of money.

[Rantibus]

08:31 PM on 07/11/2011

Regarding the question posed by MFS001, money is essentially a conceptual thing that is symbolic of remuneration earned through labour or the stated worth of a good. A dollar bill has no intrinsic value save the fact that it represents the government and banking system’s agreement to honour its stated value as a medium of exchange for goods and services. Only the government has the resources to back a currency, therefore it, plus the Federal Reserve have the ability to state its value. Maintaining its value is another story, and that is partially determined on the international monetary market which, of course, is controlled by yet more governments.
It doesn't bother me because there's really no other viable alternative.

[booboo111]

08:23 PM on 07/11/2011

Don't go writin' off this Tom Palentzski just yet.

[arkymorgan]

08:12 PM on 07/11/2011

Look, it's not like Daylight Savings. You can't just decide to make-believe that the last 100 years didn't happen, or that the US exists in a vaccuum, or that the economy is not a global one.

Real life does not get reboots.

[thebuzzmanisone]

08:06 PM on 07/11/2011

so a dollar should be the same as a 1911 dollar and maybe she should be getting her pay at the 1911 rate. oh wait she could not vote then and we wouldnt have to hear her voice....yes

[cccoyote]

08:05 PM on 07/11/2011

Next, TeaPaw Tim announces Glenn Goldline Beck as runningmate.

[henrypapillon]

08:03 PM on 07/11/2011

The Republicans only want to take us back to 1911? I thought for sure they wanted to go back further, to a point in time before that miserable wretch Teddy Roosevelt ruined their party.

[ThomasPaine1776]

06:02 PM on 07/12/2011

Dude, they want to go right back to FEUDALISM, when the rich did nothing, paid no taxes, owned everything, started wars for their own entertainment, and the poor, the serfs, did all the work, paid all the taxes, had no freedom, fought all the wars and did all the dying.

They have democracy, always have.

The Republicans have a plan that has been very effective at destroying democracy: it's called "the Shock Doctrine" and it works.

[ThomasPaine1776]

06:03 PM on 07/12/2011

They HATE democracy, always have

[ThomasPaine1776]

07:59 PM on 07/11/2011

The Gold Standard puts the economy in the hands of those who control gold. Who controls gold? Whoever is capable of BUYING it: the RICH.

The RICH want to control the US economy, and they can DO that if there is some way of actually BUYING the economy. A gold standard allows them to do that.

The elimination of the Gold Standard was the smartest thing FDR ever did.

[LibertarianBoy]

05:28 PM on 07/12/2011

yup, decades after his death, FDR eliminated the gold standard in the 70's

you seem to be very informed voter, which statist candidate are you endorsing?

in the gold standard, your pay and purchases will all be relative to gold, and the federal reserve cant print gold and give to banksters, like what they are doing to the US dollar now

[ThomasPaine1776]

05:41 PM on 07/12/2011

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/fdr-takes-united-states-off-gold-standard

On June 5, 1933, the United States went off the gold standard, a monetary system in which currency is backed by gold, when Congress enacted a joint resolution nullifying the right of creditors to demand payment in gold. The United States had been on a gold standard since 1879, except for an embargo on gold exports during World War I, but bank failures during the Great Depression of the 1930s frightened the public into hoarding gold, making the policy untenable.

Soon after taking office in March 1933, Roosevelt declared a nationwide bank moratorium in order to prevent a run on the banks by consumers lacking confidence in the economy. He also forbade banks to pay out gold or to export it. According to Keynesian economic theory, one of the best ways to fight off an economic downturn is to inflate the money supply. And increasing the amount of gold held by the Federal Reserve would in turn increase its power to inflate the money supply. Facing similar pressures, Britain had dropped the gold standard in 1931, and Roosevelt had taken note.

[KOisGod]

07:54 PM on 07/11/2011

No, this is comedy gold. The only standard the republican't are capable of.

[lvdragonlady]

07:48 PM on 07/11/2011

Let's see now, Nixon(if not mistaken) STOPPED the gold standard and now a wannabee wonderkin wants to bring it back. Just how will that work Tim? Right now there are MORE dollars THEN gold, so if this were to happen, then HOW MUCH OF THE MONEY OUT THERE WOULD BE WORTHLESS, since there is no gold to back it?

[Kiby Cat]

07:40 PM on 07/11/2011

Based on the list of candidates receiving their past PAC contributions - these people are wing-nuts. ...just saying