…or How The So-Called “Good News” for Republicans became the same old story.
The Washington Post reports that new RNC Chair Michael Steele has a number of unresolved campaign money issues:
The recent allegations outlined four specific transactions. In addition to the payment to Steele’s sister, Fabian said that the candidate used money from his state campaign improperly; that Steele paid $75,000 from the state campaign to a law firm for work that was never performed; and that he or an aide transferred more than $500,000 in campaign cash from one bank to another without authorization.
The bank transfer was made against the explicit wishes of other Maryland Republicans, who had hoped to use it to support the campaigns of state legislators, said aides to Steele and former governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.
The allegations were made by Steele’s former campaign finance manager, who evidently got sent up to The Big House for fraud charges unrelated to this. This long article details the allegations and what the WaPo reporter was able to discover. And most of what he was able to discover was that Steele has issues managing his campaign’s money as well as a track record of not being on the up and up:
Over the years, money trouble has been a persistent problem for Steele. His first race for public office, a 1998 bid for the Republican nomination for state comptroller, ended nearly $35,000 in debt, much of it to his sister. He was fined twice by state officials for missing deadlines to file campaign finance reports and was in debt and had faced foreclosure in 2001, the year before he was selected as Ehrlich’s running mate. The state party threw Steele a financial lifeline, awarding him an unusual $30,000 consulting contract.
Interestingly, what this reporter was not able to discover is whether the Feds are actively investigating these charges. And, of course, this investigation would have to have been authorized by the BushCo DOJ. But think about this for a second. If someone had dug up these kind of money issues on, say, Howard Dean, there would have been wall to wall cable coverage on this, complete with nonstop speculation on the extreme damage this would be to his career, to the career of all Dems everywhere AND to the party itself.
Someone let me know when you see this covered on the TV news.