Junior Florida Republican Party staffer had $1.3 million charged to party credit card

St. Petersburg Times ^ | April 10, 2010 | Adam C. Smith

[Brandonmark]

She was a 25-year-old junior staffer when the Florida Republican Party gave her an American Express card.

Over the next 2½ years, nearly $1.3 million in charges wound up on Melanie Phister's AmEx — $40,000 at a London hotel, and nearly $20,000 in plane tickets for indicted former House Speaker Ray Sansom, his wife and kids, for starters. Statements show thousands spent on jewelry, sporting goods and in one case $15,000 for what's listed as a month-long stay at a posh Miami Beach hotel, but which the party says was a forfeited deposit.

The credit card records, obtained by the St. Petersburg Times and Miami Herald, offer the latest behind-the-scenes look at extravagant and free-wheeling spending by the party touting fiscal restraint. Not only did certain elite legislative leaders have their own party credit cards to spend donors' money with little oversight, but Phister's records show these leaders also liberally used an underling's card — without her knowledge, she says.

"I did not have the sole discretion to initiate credit card spending," Phister said in an e-mail statement. "Over that period of time, there were multiple instances when the card was used to make purchases that I had no knowledge of, and I did not regularly review the monthly credit card statements which I understand were sent directly to the Party's accounting office."

Even after a series of embarrassing revelations over profligate credit card spending by the likes of Republican U.S. Senate frontrunner Marco Rubio, Sansom and incoming House Speaker Dean Cannon — and pending state and federal investigations of party finances — revelations of the huge charges on Phister's card had veteran GOP fundraisers apoplectic.

"Oh my God. I can't believe it,'' said Al Hoffman, a top fundraiser from Fort Myers, when told of the $1.258 million on Phister's

[okie01]

I will not waste my conservative vote on Rubio in the primary....it will go to Bob Smith

Bob Smith? Bob Smith!!!???

Talk about wasting a vote...

[Kellis91789]

Which jewelry ? The commemorative watches given to all the legislators that attended the fund-raising event ? Doesn’t sound so outrageous depending on how many legislators were gifted. Everybody knows it costs money to have fund raising events. The article makes no mention of how much money was raised. If they spent $2M to raise $30M over this 2 1/2 year period, that might still be a great result. I just don’t think there is enough info in the article to tell, but you can be sure that a liberal newspaper is going to take things out of context so these purchases sound as outrageous as possible. This article is obviously a hit-piece trying to get Republicans to shy away from donating to the GOP. It may be accurate in its facts, but the reason it was written is to act as a hit-piece.

[NeoCaveman]

Of possible interest??????

Nah, she's go threw my bank account in about a day :)

[Candor7]

Why do you think my money is going to Sarah Palin?

Its the same with the Republica Cngtress. Constituents are just milk slugs to be stroked and choked.Out with these corrupt country club, progressive , “big tent”pubbies and in with the Conservatives. Problem solved.