The Republican Party, which paints itself as being competent in managing money, was a 'victim" of embezzlement by the former treasurer of the RCCC. Although the party investigated Christopher Ward and determined that he pocketed nearly $750,000 in RCCC funds, no criminal complaint has been made and Ward has yet to be charged with any crime.
According to the New York Times, Ward earned $120,000 as RCCC treasurer, overseeing $360 million in donations. Ward also was compensated an additional $10,000 as treasurer for the President'sDinner Committee, the GOP largest annual fund-raiser, wrote reporter Leslie Wayne yesterday.
The thefts are both embarrassing and painful for the committee, which has been struggling to raise money for what is expected to be a tough year for Republican House candidates. According to the most recent federal filings, the Republican committee has only $6.7 million in cash on hand; in contrast, its Democratic counterpart has $45 million.
“We have been deceived and betrayed for a number of years by a highly respected and trusted individual,” said Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma, chairman of the N.R.C.C. Mr. Cole added that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was conducting a criminal investigation into Mr. Ward’s actions.
The audit report covers only money that flowed through the N.R.C.C. and the President’s Dinner Committee. But the N.R.C.C. said it had found during its investigation that $28,000 had been taken from money earmarked from the presidential dinner for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the fund-raising arm of Republican senators.
I don't know about you, but if someone stole even a $1000 from me, I would press charges. Perhaps the GOP doesn't want any of their shady Abrahoff type quidpro-quos with lobbyists and corporations to become public knowledge as they would during the discovery process once charges had been filed.
Campaign committees for Representatives Phil English, James T. Walsh, Vito J. Fossella, Jeb Hensarling, Charlie Dent and others have reported misappropriated funds or unauthorized expenditures during the time when Mr. Ward handled their campaign cash.
The report, which was prepared by Covington & Burling and PricewaterhouseCoopers, said Mr. Ward took money from the campaign committee and passed it through a number of other committees before depositing it in his own bank account. Mr. Ward also prepared fake audit reports that were submitted to the committee and its bankers, according to the report.
Ronald L. Machen, a lawyer for Mr. Ward, said, “We will not have comment at this time.”
In papers filed last Friday in United States District Court for the District of Columbia, federal prosecutors accused Mr. Ward of using the stolen money to remodel and pay the mortgage on his home in Bethesda, Md.
As of this post, no criminal charges have been filed against Ward.
Robert Kelner, the lawyer who wrote the report, said the Republican committee had a $1 million insurance policy covering employee theft.
So Ward "stole" around $750K, but the RCCC has an insurance policy of $1 million. What a novel way to raise money.
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In the wake of the missing money, the N.R.C.C. said it had made changes, including greater accounting oversight, hiring a new treasurer and providing greater administrative support for financial operations.
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And this is the party that says the Democrats are the Tax and Spend party. I suppose that is better than the Tax and Steal Party.
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According to our fearless leader, Markos (via Roll Call):
The committee will need to hire an outside firm to conduct a standard audit of its books for 2007, and until that audit is complete, the NRCC will not be able to take out any bank loans to fund independent expenditure campaigns in late-breaking races [...]
The ability to obtain a line of credit, while standard practice for a national party committee, could be particularly important for the NRCC this fall. The committee had $6.7 million in cash on hand as of April 30 and has 30 open seats to defend and several incumbents being threatened by the cash-flush Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
The DCCC closed April with more than $45 million in the bank.
The audit is only expected to last six weeks once begun (they haven't yet), but NRCC chair doesn't sound too confident about the matter.
When asked if the NRCC would be in a position to borrow money from a bank this fall, committee Chairman Tom Cole (Okla.) said: "I think so, but we’ll just have to now work that through."