Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele is probably wishing he’d just gone for some In and Out and called it a night the last time he was in L.A., because he has some serious explaining to do to RNC donors about his expense account.
The Daily Caller reports on the RNC’s newest FEC filings:
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.
RNC trips to other cities produced bills from a long list of chic and costly hotels such as the Venetian and the M Resort in Las Vegas, and the W (for a total of $19,443) in Washington. A midwinter trip to Hawaii cost the RNC $43,828, not including airfare.
Forget the insanely expensive hotels and exclusive vacations — I’m sure donors to the RNC are totally supportive of his lesbian-bondage fetish. Who hasn’t dropped two grand on strippers while on a business trip? It’s not like it’s an election year … oh wait:
A 2009 spending spree has left the Republican National Committee (RNC) with its worst election-year cash flow this decade.
The largest GOP party committee has $8.7 million in the bank heading into an election year with 37 governors’ races, a dozen major Senate contests, dozens more in the House and an all-important redistricting cycle on the horizon.
Said one RNC official: “It is very troubling, and the thing is, most people don’t understand this. But it is really troubling.”
The RNC had $22.8 million in cash and no debt when Michael Steele was elected chairman at the end of January, but has since seen its cash on hand drop to less than $9 million at the end of November.
Just goes to show that fiscal irresponsibility at the top knows no party lines.
UPDATE: The RNC insists it wasn’t Steele running up that tab in the champagne room, but a lowly staffer who is now filing for unemployment. No comment on the other $78,966 of unnecessary spending on luxury accommodations, though.
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Forget the lesbians in bondage. If Steele wants to see hardcore action, he can talk to the hardworking people who donate time and money to the Republican Party. After all, they’re the ones getting screwed.
And then the media wonders why the Tea Party is growing in popularity…
Well at least he has good taste in strip clubs. If I had two grand of other people’s money I’d spend it at Voyeur West Hollywood too.
I need to get into politics.
Is it just me, or have there been way more sex scandals lately?
Or maybe I just think that because I hear about whatever Tiger Woods is doing every single freaking day.
For $1,946.25 he went somewhere, where it’s IMITATED?
Michael Steele is one of the most reliably entertaining figures in party politics.
Understanding him gets a little easier when you find out who’s coaching him:
http://bit.ly/3ppyiu
(Scroll to 0:48 for the answer)
ugh! I knew there was a reason why I did not like or trust this guy. Thank goodness I never donated to the RNC, cause I am already getting screwed other ways by this country’s administration. Tea Party Patriots are not just Republican, a lot of them are Independent. Something that MSM And Obama needs to realize.
No shit Pasta. I use to pay a lot less to watch the real stuff at a yearly party at a friend’s house.
It’s kind of sad that my first reaction to this was ‘well, at least it’s not another closet-case anti-gay Republican again.’ The same type of hypocrasy is there of course (only this time in the even more maddening version of ‘it’s okay when it’s two women…’), but add to it the types of misuse of funds that would make the recently ousted mayor of Baltimore blush. (she stole gift cards for the needy to buy an x-box and other personal items. She also had her invitation to the WH to meet the new Pres. revoked back in early 09… that’s saying something) Being from Maryland myself, it’s hard to believe now that at one time he was part of the LESS corrupt state administration of the past fifteen years.
According to the spin doctors at the RNC, Steele was NOT at Voyeurs. The communications director stated that “somebody” was there and will remburse the money to the RNC.
Alfred E. Newman is looking better and better.
Most Republicans don’t seem to like this guy anyway. Could the surfacing of this kind of stuff force him to step down? Lets watch!
This is why both parties suck. The heads of these parties are part of the political class which is really where the problem is.
Of course I could tell you all of a great time I had in Vegas 10 years ago thanks to an Amex card belonging to one of the presidential candidates at the time. Top floor apartment at the Bellagio, complimentary limo all weekend, VIP at several of the hottest clubs in town and way to much alcohol….good times
I wish there were more viable third party candidates…gah, everywhere else there are like…five parties that have a shot. Here we have two, which always leaves me picking the one that sucks less instead of one I actually like and support.
I’m SO very glad I refused to give the RNC any money when they called last week, although I did tell them I thought Pelosi belonged in jail.
And Pearce, didn’t George Washington warn against a two-party system??
I am a registered Republican and have never given one penney to the RNC, and most havent. The money they raise are from corporations and PAC’s who are basically buying influence. This is nothing new and unless we as citizens get laws passed to outlaw ALL PAC’s then it will continue.
Right now Michael Steele and the RNC do not have control of the majority Republicans in the US. We see them for what they are and that is why Sarah Palin is someone we support and they don’t, she is not tied to them by money or scandel, so they have no control over her.
This is why conservatives and independents no longer trust the GOP. Steele needs to go NOW.
Pearce, up here North of the 49th we have four parties with a shot and a dozen more who get enough votes to get a voice and we’re still voting for the guys who suck less. It’s the state of politics, I’m afraid. They all suck and they’re all trying to bend us over the table with the lube.
Maybe we should quit calling them parties. Parties sound like something that should be FUN!!
How about “blood sucking poop eaters”??
I could be a lot nastier, but I’m feeling nice today.
It was not Steele. Erik Brown, president of the Orange County-based Dynamic Marketing, Inc., was re-imbursed in February for $1,946.25 worth of charges at the nightclub, according to the RNC’s latest filing with the Federal Election Commission.
THe question is why did the RNC reimburse a non-staffer for his night out?
Political parties do hire marketing firms.
The Daily Caller is a pretty good site most of the time, but they messed this one up. These expenses weren’t Steele’s personal expenses (they admitted as much in a later item), but they made it sound like they were. Of course, there is still a story here about the RNC’s spending, and Steele has been a pretty crappy chairman, but he didn’t claim for a visit to a lesbian bondage-themed nightclub.
At least now I know where to go when I’m in L.A. Mann’s Chinese Theater? Disneyworld? Bah! Take me to Voyeur West Hollywood, driver!
Wall St Journal and others say Steele was not involved and the staffer who made the charges was fired.
On the otherhand, I think Steele is a poor RNC chairman and the whole “fight accusations of racism with a black spokesperson” is a flawed strategy.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303410404575152461551782520.html?mod=WSJ_newsreel_us
Mickey Blue Eyes – kind of hard to go to Disney World while you are in LA, seeing that is it in Orland, FL
I would prefer anywhere but some voyeur lesbian club.
Pearce, I get that they do hire marketing firms. The implication seems to have been that Steele himself was spending money at the club.