Of course they do. All political donations involve "hope" because you can't directly control what a politician says or does with money. You can only fund allies

Of course they do. All political donations involve "hope" because you can't directly control what a politician says or does with money. You can only fund allies and then hope or assume they remain allies. In the case of Rand Paul it's a pretty good bet he won't suddenly turn on them, because his principles are consistent with what they want, so it makes sense to make big donations.