Republican Rand Paul has criticized the U.S. Department of Agriculture's farm subsidy program even though his father-in-law received more than $10,000 in payments from it over 12 years.
Paul, a U.S. senate candidate from Kentucky, calls the subsidies government waste. He has also criticized payments to the estates of dead farmers.
A database of subsidy payments maintained by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group shows Paul's father-in-law, Hilton Ashby, received annual allotments between 1996 and 2007. It also shows a payment of nearly $1,600 in 1995 to the estate of Paul's late grandfather-in-law.
Campaign manager Jesse Benton acknowledged the payments Friday, saying Paul's call to end the subsidy program applies to relatives as much as anyone else.
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