Ryan and Ammon Bundy, the two adult sons of controversial rancher Cliven Bundy, were repeat donors to the presidential campaigns of Ron Paul in 2007, 2008, and 2012, respectively.
The Bundy sons are currently leading the large group occupying the small government buildings at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and part of a protest against the federal government and the impending imprisonment of two Oregon ranchers.
Ryan Bundy donated several hundred dollars to Ron Paul's presidential campaign in 2007 and 2008, Federal Election Committees records show. Similarly, Ammon Bundy $500 in 2012 and $1,000 in 2008 to the elder Paul.
Earlier this year, Cliven Bundy, Ryan Bundy, and the elder Bundy's wife met privately with Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul for 45 minutes following a stop by the Kentucky senator at the Eureka Casino in Mesquite, Nevada, for a campaign event in his quest to be the Republican nominee.
Bundy's son, Ryan, who donated $613 to the elder Paul, asked the Kentucky senator a question at the event before the meeting on the federal government's role in owning land, noting, "I'm very fond of your father, Rand."
"I'd either sell or turn over all the land management to the states," said Paul before being drowned out by applause at the event.
The Bundy family was controversially involved in a standoff with the federal government over the Bureau of Land Management's assertion that he owed $1.1 million in unpaid grazing fees. The standoff became a cause célèbre for many libertarians and conservatives until it was revealed by the New York Times that Bundy made racist comments about "the negro."
Here's the donations via the FEC:
