Mitt Romney, Rand Paul and a porno spoof

Mitt Romney, Rand Paul and a porno spoof

Not long ago, former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney promised his administration would battle online smut by strictly enforcing obscenity laws and compelling businesses to install pornography filters on every new computer sold in the United States.

That's what makes it jarring that Romney's all-but-defunct 2012 presidential committee — with an assist from U.S. Sen. Rand Paul — is associating itself with a stealthy front group that decries "government censorship" and is best known for producing a cheeky porno spoof that lambastes Internet regulation.

The motive? Cash.

Romney's committee continues to make money by renting the personal information of supporters to big data companies, which in turn peddle the information to most any special interest willing to pay for it, regardless of its views.

There’s more to this story. Click here to read the rest at the Center for Public Integrity.

This story is part of Primary Source. Primary Source keeps you up-to-date on developments in the post-Citizens United world of money in politics. Click here to read more stories in this blog.

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Copyright 2014 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.