Jesse Benton We Won't Go Away!

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Published on Saturday, 01 September 2012 20:04

Written by Deborah Robinet

The organizers of P.A.U.L Festival would first and foremost like to thank all of the dedicated volunteers who worked tirelessly before, during, and after our event. There are many dozens of you who made sacrifices and missed many of the festivities in order to ensure that the event went off without a hitch. Thank you for being an integral part of our success.

To the speakers and performers who attended, we sincerely thank you.   You made the event what it was. You inspired all of us.

If it weren’t for the support of our sponsors, vendors, donors, and attendees, P.A.U.L Festival never would have taken place. We are deeply grateful to you for your contributions and attendance.

The dedication and enthusiasm witnessed by those of us who organized this was awe-inspiring. It is what kept us going despite all the hurdles we encountered.

By now, most people are aware of the video taken of Peter Schiff reading a text message written to him by Jesse Benton about the P.A.U.L Festival organizers.

Peter Schiff inadvertently unveiled some very painful truths - that people within the Paul campaign were actively working to undermine the grassroots efforts for Tampa - period...This is fact. And it is likely that the attempt to dissuade Schiff from speaking didn’t end with him. Benton clearly states that he wanted us to “go away”.

Why so much contempt for the grassroots? Where is the evidence that the organizers are “bad people” and a “big fringe element”? Most of us are the same organizers who put the ‘08 Revolution March in D.C. together, which Benton himself attended. We believe we deserve an explanation for these damaging remarks.

What if the campaign had decided to support P.A.U.L Festival from the beginning? We believe it would have shown the country something very powerful. It would have helped heal the fracture in the liberty movement by unifying us at a critical time. By leaving our differences at the door and joining in celebration and unity, we could have shown the nation and the world that Dr. Paul is one of only a few candidates in political history with the love and support of a true grassroots movement. In the end, despite the division, we in the grassroots organized a massive event in Dr. Paul’s honor because we believe so strongly and so deeply in his message.

We put together an awesome event, and everyone who attended had a great time. We gave it our all; we tried, and hoped, and sweat, and cried, and even had the occasional fight amongst ourselves, but in our hearts we were driven to do something that would bring our numbers to Tampa and show the nation that WE are relevant. WE are the fastest growing movement in the country. It would have been a great success if it were not for those who 'wished we'd go away'.   Well we didn't go away, and we won't go away. We are pure, and we are the GRASSROOTS!!!!

We took a calculated risk because we knew the movement needed this. In the end, we were only about 700 ticket sales away from breaking even, which is nothing considering Dr. Paul’s rally had over 9,000 supporters only 8 miles away. Even the Fairgrounds took a gamble on us because first: their experience in these situations is that events like these always come together at the end, and second: they knew, based on all the publicity, phone calls, and general enthusiasm, that the event had all the elements for success. On top of all of that, they knew from dealing with us that we would fulfill our obligations to them.

Many people who know what Benton did to us have asked us if they can donate. We can’t put into words how much that means to us - to know that people understand that what happened was out of our control. We have posted the bill from the Florida State Fairgrounds which shows what we still owe, and we are working on having the donations go directly to the Fairgrounds.

Again, from the bottom of our hearts - THANK YOU SO MUCH - to everyone who poured their heart and soul into this event.

In Liberty,

P.A.U.L Festival Organizers

Click here to watch the video!

Click here to download the Final Invoice.