Hundreds of thousands of dollars stolen from GOP campaign arm

[Flabbergasted]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/06/AR2008030603870.html?hpid=moreheadlines

GOP Campaign Arm Missing Cash


FBI Investigating Treasurer Fired Over Lack of Auditing
By Paul Kane and Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, March 7, 2008; Page A04

Authorities investigating possible fraud by a longtime GOP operative have determined that the House Republican campaign committee has lost a substantial sum of money, and several GOP lawmakers believe funds were pilfered from their campaign accounts as well, law enforcement and Capitol Hill sources said yesterday.

The National Republican Congressional Committee, the House Republicans' campaign arm, lost a "significant amount of money," said a law enforcement official who also confirmed that the FBI has begun investigating the committee's longtime treasurer, Christopher J. Ward.

An official close to the NRCC said preliminary reviews of its bank statements and reports to the Federal Election Commission demonstrate clear discrepancies between "what we have and what we should have."

"We don't know if it's a big number or a small number," the official said. "It looks like something was stolen. But we don't have an accurate number. We don't know."





Not necessarily good news for Republican congressional candidates
Friday, March 7, 2008, 08:19 AM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The New York Times has this today:

Hundreds of thousands of dollars are missing and presumed stolen from the chief fund-raising arm of House Republicans, according to party officials who described the findings of emergency internal audits.

The financial records of the group, the National Republican Congressional Committee, may also have been falsified for several years, Republican officials said. The campaign committees of several Republican lawmakers may also have been victims of a scam that is now under criminal investigation by the F.B.I.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/shared-blogs/ajc/politicalinsider/entries/2008/03/07/not_necessarily_good_news_for.html

[underpants]

1. SHOCKED! Shocked I tell you

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOT

[CC]

2. So basically they do their

campaign funds the same way they do this country. Why am I not surprised some repugs took theirs already. Why would they not steal from themselves when they see nothing wrong with stealing from us?

[LizW]

3. They even steal from themselves!

:puke:

[karynnj]

4. In 2004, Ward also was involved with the SBVT

From the NYT:

"Hundreds of thousands of dollars are missing and presumed stolen from the chief fund-raising arm of House Republicans, according to party officials who described the findings of emergency internal audits."

"Mr. Ward had been treasurer of the national Republican committee since 2003. He had also been a partner in a private campaign consulting firm, Political Compliance Services, that gained notice in the 2004 presidential campaign because of its work on behalf of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group that ran advertisements that criticized the military record of Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the Democratic presidential nominee."

But 30 minutes before the scheduled meeting, committee officials said, Mr. Ward sent an e-mail message to colleagues announcing that, in fact, no audit had been done. The officials said the fund-raising committee had since determined that its books had not been audited since 2003 and that Mr. Ward had submitted a series of falsified audits. The committee then called in the F.B.I. It is not clear, lawmakers said, if any fees were paid to audit firms in recent years by the committee, or where that money ended up.

“This was a longtime trusted employee and there were no obvious signs that he was living beyond his means,” Mr. Conaway said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/06/washington/06gop.html?_r=2&ref=washington&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

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So, no audits since 2003. Partner in SBVT related company. Not living up means.

Am I a conspiracy nut to think he diverted official Republican money to the SBVT. (His involvement makes him look like a true believer - who justified what he had to do for the cause.)

[Ian_walker]

5. Were NeoConMen faking their funds to increase matching funding?

We all know the public purse subsidizes with matching funds.

Were NeoConMen faking their funds to increase matching funding?

Were the GOP books being cooked to do this?

Did the new Democratic Congress Law catch them out?

[Flabbergasted]

6. These are possibilities but nothing in the articles suggest that?

[tishaLA]

7. Sam Seder was having lots of fun with this yesterday

Sitting in for the 3rd hour of Rachel on her show. He was laughing so hard just reading it, he could barely get through.

Oh the poor republicons! Woe is them!