[Vision2020] Say What?

[Tom Hansen]

"The use of campaign funds for items which most Americans would consider 
to be strictly personal reasons, in my view, erodes public confidence and 
erodes it significantly," 

- John McCain on the Senate floor in May 1993.

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Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002
(aka The McCain–Feingold Act)

http://www.fec.gov/pages/bcra/bcra_update.shtml
 
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Remember back in 2007 and John Edwards' much talked (and joked) about $400 
haircut for which he reimbursed his campaign.

Well . . . that was then.  

This is now . . .

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>From Yahoo News at:

http://tinyurl.com/6fuagx

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GOP spent $150,000 in donations on Palin's look

WASHINGTON – When the Republican Party decided to coordinate expenses with 
John McCain's presidential campaign, who knew it would be color 
coordinated.

The Republican National Committee spent about $150,000 on clothing, hair 
styling, makeup and other "campaign accessories" in September for the 
McCain campaign after Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin joined the ticket as his 
running mate.

The RNC now says the clothes belong to the party committee while the 
McCain campaign says the clothing will go to a "charitable purpose" after 
the campaign.

The expenses include $75,062 spent at Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis and 
$41,850 in St. Louis in early September. The committee also reported 
spending $4,100 for makeup and hair consulting. The expenses were first 
reported by Politico.com.

The RNC also spent $4,902 at Atelier, a stylish men's clothing store in 
New York. Other purchases included a $92 romper and matching hat with ears 
for Palin's baby, Trig, at Pacifier, a baby store in Minneapolis.

Wing Witthuhn, who owns the store with her husband, said a young staffer 
with an RNC credit card purchased the clothes during the Republican 
National Convention in St. Paul. Trig wore the romper the night Palin 
addressed the convention.

"With all of the important issues facing the country right now, it's 
remarkable that we're spending time talking about pantsuits and blouses," 
said McCain spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt, who has been traveling with 
Palin. "It was always the intent that the clothing go to a charitable 
purpose after the campaign."

Most of the expenses were initially incurred by Jeff Larson, a Republican 
consultant who was the CEO of the host committee for the Republican 
National Convention in early September. Federal Election Commission 
records show that the RNC reimbursed Larson for the expenses — a total of 
$132,457.

Larson is a partner with FLS Connect, a firm that has been retained by the 
McCain campaign and the RNC to undertake a phone calling campaign on 
behalf of McCain. Media reports have linked the firm to negative calls 
aimed at Democratic nominee Barack Obama. Larson's previous company worked 
for George W. Bush's 2000 campaign, conducting phone calls in South 
Carolina opposing McCain.

Larson's office referred calls to the RNC. A committee spokesman said only 
that the RNC has acted properly in reimbursing Larson for the costs.

In 2007, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards sparked Internet 
derision and jokes from late-night TV comics after his campaign for the 
party's nomination paid for two $400 haircuts by a stylist from Beverly 
Hills, Calif. His campaign said the bill was paid by the campaign by 
mistake and that Edwards would reimburse the campaign.

The RNC has been helping the McCain campaign financially now that McCain 
is locked into spending only $84 million for the fall campaign under his 
agreement to accept public financing. Barack Obama, the Democratic 
nominee, chose not to participate in the public system and raised a 
whopping $150 million in September.

The RNC is allowed to spend up to $19 million in "coordinated expenses" 
with the campaign. In September, it spent a a total of $4.4 million. The 
clothing and styling was part of that, but most was spent on postage for 
campaign mailings.

So why did the RNC and not McCain's committee pay for the accessories?

The 2002 campaign finance law that bears McCain's name specifically barred 
any funds that "are donated for the purpose of supporting the activities 
of a federal or state office holder" from being used for personal expenses 
including clothing. A quirk in the law does not specifically mention party 
committees, however.

That doesn't mean the expenditure would not be subject to a challenge 
before the Federal Election Commission.

Lawrence M. Noble, former general counsel at the FEC, noted that as a 
coordinated party expense, the clothing purchase could be considered a 
contribution to the campaign.

"And if it was a contribution, then it could not have been used for buying 
clothing," Noble said. "I don't know how the FEC would come out on that 
question." 

"If it is covered (as a personal use expense), the argument that we were 
going to give it to a charity doesn't help," he added. 

Fifteen years ago, McCain himself complained that restrictions on 
political contributions for personal use at that time were too broad and 
he wrote an amendment to tighten the law. 

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
 
"We're a town of about 23,000 with 10,000 college students. The college 
students are not very active in local elections (thank goodness!)."

- Dale Courtney (March 28, 2007)


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