Joe Lieberman is part of the problem in Washington, D.C.
There's his steadfast support for President Bush's "stay the course" strategy in Iraq coupled with the disengenuous portrayal of his position (he says he wants to bring the troops home in ads... seriously) . There's the pages of his FEC report, stuck together by the perverted dreams of those who profit from war, high gas prices and expensive medicine. There's campaign pledges and promises of years past, come and gone in the pursuit of personal political power.
But now Joe's got a new problem, a "petty cash" problem. I don't know what he bought with nearly $400,000 in petty cash, but it sure purchased increased cynicism in the political process.
Update [2006-10-21 16:22:52 by ttagaris]: This is what happens when an Enron lobbyist is your former Chief of Staff.
That's a
$135,000 disbursement from
Joe Lieberman's latest FEC report. It's not the only one either...
In fact, Lieberman's massive slush fund comprised almost 8 percent of all of his expenditures in the reporting period. That's almost one out of every $12 that Lieberman is effectively hiding. His campaign disbursed $387,000 in unmarked "petty cash" in just 12 days. That's $32,000 every single day, with no accounting at all for how it was spent.
What's worse, it happened right before the primary.
What was Joe Lieberman buying? Who was Joe Lieberman buying? And did he break the law?
The last answer is undoubtedly, yes.
A political committee may maintain a petty cash fund out of which it may make expenditures not in excess of $100 to any person per purchase or transaction. If a petty cash fund is maintained, it shall be the duty of the treasurer of the political committee to keep and maintain a written journal of all disbursements. This written journal shall include the name and address of every person to whom any disbursement is made, as well as the date, amount, and purpose of such disbursement. In addition, if any disbursement is made for a candidate, the journal shall include the name of that candidate and the office (including State and Congressional district) sought by such candidate.
11 CFR 102.11.
HT: Adam B
Other administrative costs on Joe Lieberman's FEC report were accounted for. He paid for gas, food, printing salaries and other "petty" expenditures, and noted those costs on the report.
So where did the money go?
Here are more images of Joe's "petty cash" disbursements.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Ned Lamont's campaign itemized just $500 in petty cash during the reporting period.
As they say, developing ...
Update [2006-10-21 18:57:53 by ttagaris]: For those that don't know, I work for Ned.