As if she isn't in enough trouble....The Christine O'Donnell campaign has paid at least $3,500 in consulting fees to a woman who appears to be O'Donnell's mother, FEC filings show.
From the Daily Beast:
The two payments are made out to a Carole O'Donnell, the reported name of the Delaware Senate candidate's mother, and list her address as Moorestown, NJ, where O'Donnell was reportedly raised and graduated from high school. E-mails to two representatives of the O'Donnell campaign for confirmation were not immediately returned.
The first payment, dated February 26, 2010, lists $500 for "bookkeeping and reporting." A second payment, dated July 13, 2010, lists $3,000 for "financial consulting services."
The first payment, dated February 26, 2010, lists $500 for "bookkeeping and reporting." A second payment, dated July 13, 2010, lists $3,000 for "financial consulting services."
O'Donnell’s personal finances drew attacks from her defeated opponent Mike Castle as well. She reportedly was confronted by the IRS over her failure to pay back taxes and said on her website that she did not receive her college degree for over a decade due to unpaid student debt to Fairleigh Dickinson University. O'Donnell has said that her financial struggles hit home with voters struggling in the recession and said on her website that the IRS claim was a "computer error."
In a March interview with Delaware's News Journal, O'Donnell admitted to living in a three-bedroom home with David Hust, a campaign staffer and Christian rock musician and paying half her rent – between $1,645 and $2,020 a month – with campaign donations. Since 1994, Farleigh Dickinson University, in New Jersey, has sued O'Donnell five times for outstanding debts of about $5,000. O'Donnell claims to have graduated from the school 17 years ago -- and claimed to have a degree during her 2006 Senate campaign -- but the school said she did not officially graduate until two weeks ago. In previous interviews, O'Donnell said the school withheld the diploma because of the money. But a school official interviewed by Politco.com said the degree was not conferred because she had not completed her coursework.
http://abcnews.go.com/...
I have this very strange feeling that Christine O'Donnell will not make it to election day. There is so much incriminating evidence to disqualify her as a valid candidate. That said, I sure hope she in fact does makes it to November 2, 2010....shredded and very much damaged by all that she has said and done. Whether Republicans like it or not, Christine O'Donnell has become a lightening rod for Democrats and has suddenly given us the spark we need. O'Donnell is a brilliant showcase of what the Republican party has become, and where it's going if others of her ilk are elected.
Additionally, today Mike Castle refused to endorse O'Donnell:
"There are a lot of personal feelings in all this," Castle said in an interview off the House floor, citing "some of the personal smears" in the bitterly fought campaign. "At this point I have no intention of endorsing."
I wouldn't doubt that Republicans themselves are looking for a way to oust O'Donnell so that they can substitute Mike Castle. Maybe this is the spark they need, but let's all hope that she doesn't budge from the ballot.