Washington » Politics runs deep in the bloodlines of the Bennett family.
Sen. Bob Bennett got his political start working for his father, the original Senator Bennett from Utah. Wallace Bennett served four terms and his son managed his 1968 campaign, which ended up being his last.
That same year Bennett's wife gave birth to their third child. They named him James, but he goes by Jim.
Forty-one years later, Jim Bennett is now a key cog in his father's bid for a fourth term.
But some critics argue that candidates shouldn't be able to pay family members through their campaigns, arguing it is an easy way to keep political contributions in the family.
Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold recently told The Hill , a D.C. publication, that he has "long supported restrictions on payments to family members from campaign funds, a practice that has led to abuses in the past. It is an important issue and I hope Congress will address it."
Feingold has pushed legislation to ban the practice, but it has gone nowhere.
A review by The Hill earlier this year found that more than two dozen members of Congress pay family members to work on their campaigns.
Jim Bennett was not on their list, since he is paid through a consulting firm called The Potomac Group and not directly by the campaign. He would not say how much he gets paid, but he defended his credentials.
"I have had a host of political experience independent from my father that has demonstrated my professional capacity in this regard," Jim Bennett said. "I am here every day working full time on this campaign."
His father hired him in 2004 to design some quirky billboards, with slogans such as "Big Ideas. Big Heart. Big Ears." He made an unsuccessful last-minute push for then-Salt Lake County GOP mayoral candidate Ellis Ivory that same year. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, hired him to run his campaign Web site in 2006, the same year Jim Bennett came up short in his own bid for the state Senate.
Potomac Group owner Greg Hopkins said he has been impressed with Jim Bennett's range of talents, from designing TV ads to working with news media. Hopkins said he urged the senator to hire his son.
"I thought he would be a good fit," Hopkins said. "I suggested to Senator Bennett that we hire him."
