Allegations Against Revolution PAC

As some of you know, I served for some months as honorary chairman of Revolution PAC. In recent days, it has been alleged that funds from the PAC were diverted into Gary Franchi’s organizations, and that an inordinate percentage of the monies raised were diverted into imprecise “administrative costs.”

I am trying to get to the bottom of this myself. As an honorary figure, I had no access to the books, never wrote a single check, and had no day-to-day role in the organization. I wrote our Plastic Men ad, signed off on the Compassion ad, and spoke at a New Hampshire event we had. That was pretty much the entirety of my involvement in Revolution PAC.

Now comes this accusation, from someone who runs a competing PAC: “Tom Woods went on a tour making speeches, promoting ‘Rev PAC’ commercials that they never played and splitting the loot amongst themselves.Tom Woods was always trying to find any reason to beat up the campaign, evidentally [sic] not because he wanted Ron Paul to win it, but it very well might have been because he wanted to slander the campaign so people would give to his pseudo-organization which we now know they used to split the loot amongst themselves under the label ‘administrative costs.’ It’s shameful that they used the selfless help and efforts of the believers in this movement for their selfish personal gain.”

Every single sentence in this statement is untrue.

I gave one speech for RevPAC. (Some “tour”!)

I never promoted ads that did not run. The only ad I ever promoted was the Plastic Men ad, which ran several times the day of one of the Republican debates. Which ad that I promoted did not run? I demand an answer.

I never split any “loot.” You know how much I earned from Revolution PAC? A whopping $1200, $700 of which was expense reimbursements for an airline ticket, some books we used as premiums for donors, and shipping expenses for those premiums from the UPS Store. So I earned a whopping $500.

I didn’t want Ron Paul to win? So I made all these videos, viewed by hundreds of thousands of people, for nothing? I did uncompensated work of all kinds, represented Dr. Paul in the media, wrote countless articles in his defense, all because I didn’t want him to win?

Oh, wait — it’s because I wanted people to give me their money so I could run away with it. Sure. That sounds like me. Show me. I demand evidence. I never received one dime from Revolution PAC beyond that $1200, most of which was reimbursement.

Now these are serious accusations, to be sure, and I am reserving judgment until I hear Gary’s full and detailed response. If such a thing is not forthcoming, I will have to decide on a further statement. For now, I intend to give Gary the benefit of the doubt and proceed from there.

But the idea that I ever, or would ever, defraud anyone, or that I became wealthy [!] from the thankless hours I poured into this venture, is absolutely preposterous, and there is not one stitch of evidence to support it.

I finally understand what “no good deed goes unpunished” means.

UPDATE: I informed the editors at policymic.com that this article on their site was not only without foundation but also libelous. I have been told that the article has been substantially toned down, thereby proving my point: these claims were simply made up. (And not innocently: look at those anonymous quotations. Normal people do not speak like that. These are people who resent me because of my unhappiness with some individuals in the official Ron Paul campaign, and because I have told the truth about them.)

UPDATE II: PolicyMic.com has taken the article down. And the plot thickens: the alleged author, “Alex Stenovsky,” is not a real person. More here. And Gary Franchi’s response is here.

bill kydes

Do a video response or discuss the issue next time you host the Peter Schiff Show!
vibegirl1

The name of “their” game is divide and conquer.
We stand “one nation, under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all! Stand strong fellow patriots!
http://www.facebook.com/cin.warren Cin Warren

Dr, Woods, I’m sure that this is just a fabricated story to discredit you. Whoever said that horrible statement has no idea how much you mean to so many of us in the Liberty movement; it was through you that I discovered Dr. Paul three years ago and I could never thank you enough for that
http://www.facebook.com/people/William-Schooler/100003032488972 William Schooler

I moved to Utah, far less limits to do what I like to do and far more people love to talk about politics in this state as well which is mind blowing in comparison, I feel right at home.
http://www.TomWoods.com Tom Woods

I threatened the website owners with a libel suit. That apparently got their attention.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Karen-Huffman/100000549701140 Karen Huffman

Sorry to hear this,Tom, but you always seemed like a shifty eyed character to me, out to get a piece of the silver out of the revolutionaries’ pockets, always showing up to talk about such off the wall subjects like Von Mises, or something called “nullify” or some such nonsense, making appeals to Ron and Rand Paul…. LOL Actually, I think that you are one of the brilliant minds and passionate hearts that have come together for just a fragile and important time as this, like they did during our forefathers or founders time. You are part of my revolutionary’s “dream team”!!!
Forward!!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Karen-Huffman/100000549701140 Karen Huffman

They eat turkeys! Call PETA!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Karen-Huffman/100000549701140 Karen Huffman

I read that people were lighting up marijuana at the Space Needle in celebration of a law passed there, so I think that this is part of the Ron Paul or libertarian influence in WA politics, and I applaud you. We will see how responsibly the new freedom is handled, hopefully you all will set a great example and help free the rest of the USA from the shackles of prohibition.
http://www.facebook.com/michaelboldin Michael Boldin

woah. juicy. nice.
JH

“from the thankless hours I poured into this venture….”
just wanna say THANK YOU TOM!!!! we really do appreciate your work to defend and promote liberty.
Jordan Sheppherd

I read the article. Its almost unbelievable how unprofessional, undocumented, and ridiculous it is. Its almost as if it was written by some high school kid who was jaded because he couldn’t hang out with the cool kids. Its hard to believe anyone couldn’t actually take this seriously.

I know its easy for us to tell you to keep your head up, but you have an enormous number of supporters who don’t even bother to give these “accusations” the time of day.

Anyone with two brain cells to rub together, and a spoonful of common sense knows you are an honorable man and have contributed enormously to the Liberty Movement, Austrian Economics, and revisionist historiography.
http://www.TomWoods.com Tom Woods

Thanks a lot. The piece is indeed juvenile in style and content. At the end he treats as fact the point he is alleging. What does he know about my management of funds? I managed no funds. So how can he say this as fact? This kid is going to get sued before he’s 25 if he keeps this up. The rest of the article consists of quotations from former campaign people posing as anonymous sources. He couldn’t be bothered to find one person who might say a single word in my favor? No one anywhere?
http://freedomsphoenix.com FascistNation

It is better to be “loved” than ignored. ;-D
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1457760294 Robert Fellner

Tom,

In case you haven’t seen it yet, Gary Francini has responded to these allegations here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StyENMeBbtw
http://twitter.com/KeimgMeg Keimh3reg Peh2u Meg

Tom. I’ve learned to trust you. That doesn’t come easily to a cynic such as myself. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that someone is very jealous of you. Either your place in the liberty movement, your success as an author, a teacher, a mentor, your standing with the good Doctor Paul, or Lord knows what else. If it were mere unhappiness with your criticism of the campaign, for this to come out now (assuming the accusations against Franchi are equally spurious), not apparently triggered by an event in particular (unless of course there is some truth to the accusations against Franchi), the person lodging these claims would have to be quite literally obsessed. If its any consolation, RevPac’s bumper stickers were way better than the campaign’s bumper stickers.
http://twitter.com/KeimgMeg Keimh3reg Peh2u Meg

No, cuz I’d buy it for you for Christmas if anyone tried to prove TW did such a thing.
Yeah Right

No statist will debate you. I’d love to see you and Cliff Shecter discuss monetary policy. But they’ll never air it, because they have an illusion to maintain.
We, to the extent we can, got your back Tom.
Anonymous

After reading this paragraph: “Tom Woods went on a tour making speeches, promoting ‘Rev PAC’ commercials that they never played and…”, I knew the allegation was a complete fabrication. Why would you misappropriate funds after everything you’ve ever said, done or stood for.? Occams razor.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000559424743 Paul Henry

“I never split any “loot.” You know how much I earned from Revolution
PAC? A whopping $1200, $700 of which was expense reimbursements for an
airline ticket, some books we used as premiums for donors, and shipping
expenses for those premiums from the UPS Store. So I earned a whopping
$500.”

It is a disgrace in my opinion that so many in the liberty movement expect people such as you to give away your time. As you noted, airline tickets are not free, lodging is not free, gasoline is not free, etc. Regardless of expenses, you possess a skill set that is worthy of compensation.

I’m hopeful we can do better in the future.
Anonymous

I smell the detritus Jesse Benton behind the attack on Tom Woods
Luke Sunderland

That wouldn’t surprise me.
rodriguezintexas

If you can’t kill the movement, kill the messengers…
SteveRWhite

Just one more reader saying this is ridiculous.

But, it makes at least 2 important points:

1) Politics attracts psycho nutjob narcissists. Always has, always will.

2) Honest people (like Ron Paul and Tom Woods) will be viciously attacked and hounded if they speak up while dishonest people are rewarded by TPTB so there’s almost no chance of turning this country around.
Luke Sunderland

This is absurd. Tom Woods defrauded Ron Paul and his campaign? Yeah, and I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn I’ll gladly sell you.

Tom, to quote the Bible – “Fight the good fight of faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called, and has confessed a good confession before many witnesses.” (1Timothy 6:12)
http://www.libertariannews.org/ Michael Suede

I author articles in favor of anarcho-capitalism on policymic all the time. The writers for policymic are all unpaid freelance journalists, with the exception of a few editorials that are written by a handful of staff members. Anyone can become an author on the site if they put in the time.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jeff-L-Wright/1439074693 Jeff L. Wright

Go, Tom, go! Don’t be discouraged by such baseless, obviously uninformed commentary. It is sickening, I know, to have to answer, at all, such baseless trash but one has to do it and you do it so well. I, too, would be highly disappointed if the charges and critique of Revolution PAC and Mr. Franchi turns out to be true but on that score we’ll wait and see. Keep up the good work and don’t get discouraged by the fact that there are so many idiots in the world.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=717226715 Scott Bieser

It appears now that the article has been removed altogether. Chalk up another win for Tom.
Anonymous

This type of smear campaign will become more and more common, I fear, in order to create distrust of liberty orgs. I don’t believe any of it for one second, but we know that the enemy is funded by powerful interests who are also backed by the full force of govt and media concerns. Do we even stand a chance of promoting truth without this kind of character assault?
Jack Blood

Sorry to see that Rev Pac (and Bloomberg) has stained Tom Woods. Tom Woods 2016!!!!!
Anonymous

“Tom Woods 2016″

I would never wish that upon Tom.
http://www.facebook.com/vince.daliessio Vince Daliessio

This is typical of the fake liberty movement. They tried the same stuff with Harry Browne in 2000. Harry was pretty convincing in his own defense, but the damage was done.
Wrong Opinion

You know you are doing right when jealous and uncouth individuals start slinging accusations from the ether in all directions.