RNC Spent 68% on Overhead, Cowboy Tickets

Wednesday, 21 Apr 2010 07:15 AM

An analysis by the Washington Post of the latest financial disclosure data shows extravagance by both the GOP and the Dems.

Some examples:

• When RNC Chairman Michael S. Steele and colleagues took several dozen party donors on a retreat last August to Jackson Hole, Wyo., golf and tennis fees were paid, whitewater rafting and trout fishing guides were contracted, and limo drivers and photographers were hired.

• Last month, the RNC spent $260,476 on a single meeting in Hawaii and $14,937 on Dallas Cowboys football tickets. It also paid hefty cancellation fees to Ritz Carlton and Four Seasons hotels.

• The RNC's expenditures for "office supplies" in the period through February topped $773,000, according to a Post tally, including jelly beans for Steele's office and thousands of dollars' worth of liquor and wine.

• To finance an RNC event last November in Beverly Hills, Calif., the committee spent $717 on limousines, $11,076 at Spago restaurant and $4,583 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.

• The RNC spent $4,266 at a Los Angeles sports ticket broker called StubHub, but listed the expense as "lodging," and $923 at the Little Door restaurant, but listed that expense as "office supplies."

• In December, the RNC also reported spending $496 for "meals" at Henri Bendel, a posh New York women's clothing store. Bendel's personnel say the store's restaurant closed four months earlier.

• The RNC also listed $282 in "meals" at a fly-fishing outfitter in Boca Grande, Fla., that has no restaurant. Wines the committee bought for $982 from a Vermont vineyard were listed as "office supplies," as were smaller amounts spent at PetSmart and a men's clothier.

To read the full Washington Post report Go Here Now. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... l_headline

http://newsmax.com/InsideCover/RNC-Spen ... ode=9CA9-1