Posted on 03/29/2010 6:53:10 AM PDT by icwhatudo
According to two knowledgeable sources, Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele once raised the possibility of using party money to buy a private jet for his travel.
---snip---
While Steele has not purchased a plane, he continues to charter them. According to federal disclosure records, the RNC spent $17,514 on private aircraft in the month of February alone (as well as $12,691 on limousines during the same period). There are no readily identifiable private plane expenses for Democratic National Committee chairman Tim Kaine in the DNC’s last three months of filings.
--snip---
Once on the ground, FEC filings suggest, Steele travels in style. A February RNC trip to California, for example, included a $9,099 stop at the Beverly Hills Hotel, $6,596 dropped at the nearby Four Seasons, and $1,620.71 spent [update: the amount is actually $1,946.25] at Voyeur West Hollywood, a bondage-themed nightclub featuring topless women dancers imitating lesbian sex.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
>lesbian sex.
Researching the ins and outs of gay marriage, I suppose.
“Once again, skeptical, considering the source.”
EXACTLY!
This is just more of the Dems “divide and conquer” strategy against Republicans. And some conservatives seem to be swallowing it hook, line, and sinker.
“The chairman was never at the location in question, he had no knowledge of the expenditure, nor does he find the use of committee funds at such a location at all acceptable,” said RNC spokeswoman Doug Heye, who added that the committee was investigating the expenditure.”
Lesbian sex doesn’t necessarily involve ins and outs, does it?
Get over yourself.
LOL!
Occam’s razor, until made public, this was standard MO, unquestioned, done brazenly using RNC funds, without even using cash or a personal credit card so it didn’t show up on the official books.
And if one was doing it, how many others?
Yea, ONE bad apple, right, lol!
RINO-itis!
That’s why they had to research it, didn’t they?
Not necessarily, but could.
I've volunteered for a local GOP Congressional candidate. That much change could go a long way to putting out a mailing to every pubbie in the district. Instead, it's gone towards feeding Steele's overblown ego.
This EPITOMIZES what is wrong with the Beltway pubbies - they feel entitled to this money, instead of using it to win elections.
This is just more of a populist “anti-wealth” crusade and sadlty, many of you are falling for it.
By the time he would pay for himself and his staff on a scheduled flight, it probably would add up to at least as much or more, than the cost of chartering a plane.
In addition — this gives him flexibility, instead of wasting a great deal of time going to the airport, standing in line for screening and wasting the time on the flight, not being able to have any discussions on the plane, because everyone would overhear it.
Stop and think!
And didn’t you notice the “no IDENTIFYABLE” cost for the DNC?! That’s probably because they are flying at taxpayer expense.
What do you think this article is all about, except sowing division among Republicans and conservaitves?
If conservatives are this gullibla, we might as well get used to Obama as president for life.
Yeah, sure. They stay at posh hotels and rent limos. And private planes are cheaper than commercial? Do you really believe this idiocy? Or are you one of the leeches living off the RNC Amex card?
I've volunteered for a campaign that is fighting to raise funds against an entrenched incumbent. I know what we could do with the kind of money being blown here. It needs to go to campaigns, not posh travel.
Props to Free Republic and Pilsner for posting the disclosure form link. The Hot Air site didn’t have this until 1:30 this afternoon. As always Free Republic is way ahead of the pack. Good Job!
See post 190, we have an RNC pom-pom girl to try and rationalize it all away.
Yes, the purpose of Michael Steele is to make Spiro T. Agnew look better.
Exactly. Check out the last five paragraphs to this great article by Norman Podhoretz in the WSJ today. It goes right to the heart of this elitist, country-club, establishment entitlement mindset of the pompous "intellectuals" populating the Beltway GOP. Steele is part of the problem, not the solution.
Fired? Please. Have you seen the color of his skin?
Here is more info and perpective from HotAir:
Note the sleight of hand in the last paragraph, which suggests that Steele was responsible for the expenses while technically attributing them only to an “RNC trip.” Would the chairman of the GOP, which depends on social conservatives for donations, really be so foolish as to turn up at a “bondage-themed club” and leave an FEC trail of his visit by charging his tab to the RNC? I’m guessing no — although it’s a testament to how low public confidence in Steele has sunk that most people will read that and think, “Yeah, maybe.”
And more at the National Review Corner:
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OTZmYWYyZWNiMWVhNmIzNjc0ZDkyMTljNGRhM2FmZDA=
I asked an RNC spokesman about the story — specifically the charge that money was spent at Voyeur West Hollywood.
The spokesman said: “We are investigating the expenditure in question. The story willfully and erroneously suggests that the expenditure in question was one belonging to the chairman. This was a reimbursement made to a non-committee staffer. The chairman was never at the location in question, he had no knowledge of the expenditure, nor does he find the use of committee funds at such a location at all acceptable. Good reporting would make that distinction crystal clear. The committee has requested that the monies be returned to the committee and that the story be corrected so that it is accurate.”
Further, the spokesman gives the indication that there’s more to the plane story - or, rather, less to it - than the piece suggests and insists that “Steele’s expenses” are not always “Steele’s expenses” but finance and fundraising expenses.
Loyalists engage in contortions worthy of pretzels to put a shine on this.
Again, it just demonstrates the sense of entitlement extant in the RNC, worthy of the attitude of the Soviet Nomeklatura or the PRC elites or some Araby Sheikhs.
Wouldn’t be half bad if they weren’t pretending to actually care about elections and policy and whatnot.
Let’s ask Dick Chaney’s daughter!
This is why I’m not giving money to the RNC. They call almost everyday now.”
I hope they call me. I can’t wait to say, “yes, absolutely, put me down for $1,000,000 for the Michael Steele Party Fund!”
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