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.