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Paulhas a well-stocked political action committee, called Reinventing a New Direction, or RANDPAC.

Paul spent much more on travel, food and drink combined last year than he did on the original purpose for such politician PACs to use this separate political stash to make contributions to other like-minded candidates.

Just 10 percent of its spending went to contributions to campaigns of other politicians. It donated just $9,500 to Republicans running in high-stakes races for the Kentucky General Assembly.

Paul spokeswoman Kelsey Coopersaid all expenses of Pauls PAC are madewith the purpose to support candidates Sen. Paul likes for office, to promote the issues that he cares about that make him a different kind of Republican, and to have activists and donors from around the country who believe in his message of liberty and action.

But Pauls PACgot most of its money from people not political action committees and much of that from small donors.

MAIN REPORT: McConnell andPaul spend their PAC money very differently

The Courier Journal examined reports filed by RANDPAC with the Federal Election Commission for the period covering Jan. 1, 2018, and Nov. 26, 2018. Here's a detailed look at how Paul gets and spends his PAC money.

RANDPAC reported $524,126in contributions. Of that, $470,626, or 90 percent, came from people, and only 10 percent from political action committees.

Of the money he got from people, more than a third came from small donors whose names do not have to be reported to the Federal Election Commission.

The larger donors listed in the report come from all over at least 41 states, plus a donor from the United Kingdom and one from Switzerland.

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Only 5 percent of the money from the identified donors came from Kentuckians.

RANDPAC spent $645,258 during the period.

Of that, 87percent or $560,008 was spent on what is officially reported as operating expenses.

Another $20,000 payment the largest single disbursement it made in 2018 was to a different Paul political committee called Freedom for All Americans, which FEC records show was formerly named "Rand Paul for President" and still carries debts that exceed its cash on hand.

That left 10 percent ($65,250) for contributions to other politicians.

The PACs operating expenses included at $96,323on travel and at least $32,236on food and drink expenses.

Last week the PAC amended several of its 2018 reports after the Courier Journal asked questions about omitted details in its original reports regarding where certain expenses were incurred.

Consider this: Mitch McConnell spends most of his PAC money on Republican candidates

Travel expenses included: $3,618.89 paid to the Ritz Carlton,Chevy Chase, Maryland; $2,577.20 to the Royal Palms Resort,in Phoenix; $1,809.60 to the Stanford Park Hotel, Menlo Park, California; $1,604.42 at the Grand Summit Hotel, Park City, Utah; $1,085.62 at the Balboa Bay Resort, Newport Beach, California; $889.32 at the Mirror Room, in London; $678.27 to Royal Horseguards Hotel, in London; $441.35 to Scottsdale Plaza Resort, Paradise Valley, Arizona; and $375.18 to the Naples Park Central Hotel, Naples, Florida.

Some travel expenses, at least $14,200, were for travel by Paul's wife, Kelley Paul. Paul's spokeswoman, KelseyCoopermsaid, "Kelley Paul is an active surrogate for Sen. Paul and RANDPAC, and she often travels both with and without the senator for events such as fundraisers, conferences and other activities supporting RANDPAC's mission."

Travel expenses also included 393 payments to Uber Technologies, totaling $10,206.36.

Read this: Sen. Rand Paul says the free market pushed him to Canada for surgery

Big food and drink bills included $9,254.50 at North Beach Restaurant, San Francisco; $4,441.28 at Maggianos, (a chain based in Dallas but with locations in many cities); $3,346.81 at the Caffe Molise, in Salt Lake City; another $1,343.58 tab at Maggianos;$921.95 at The Palm Too, in New York City; $904.14 at the Capital Grille,in Washington; $627 at the Tiburon Golf Club, in Naples, Florida; $426.84 at Richardsons Cuisine of New Mexico; and seven tabs at Washingtons Dubliner Restaurant totaling $1,260.65.

The largestoperating expense during the period was$132,000 paid to Douglass Stafford, for political strategy consulting. The PAC also covered expenses for other consultants, data entry, computer software, phone service, advertising, office supplies, printing and postage.

The PAC paid $935 to Nationals Park for tickets to the Congressional Baseball Game.

As for the big travel, food and drink costs, Cooper said, "Sen. Pauls fundraising and political events take him all over the country, and indeed parts of the world. These are common expenses for fundraising events. Like with any nonprofit, you have to spend money to raise money.

Cooper said many such expenses were "large donor dinners with some dinners including several dozen people in attendance."

See also: Lobbyists made big bucks to influence Kentucky legislators last year

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