Candidates Can't Spend Campaign Money On Clothes: FEC

[lindisfarne]

Source: AP/Huffington Post

Candidates can't use campaign money to improve their wardrobes, the Federal Election Commission said Thursday in a ruling that nonetheless dismissed a complaint against four congressional candidates who did just that.

The FEC said candidates cannot use campaign money for expenses they would have had whether they were running for office or not, such as clothes. The commission said it decided against punishing the four because the amounts spent were modest and the candidates reimbursed their campaigns.

...
Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin made news last year after the Republican National Committee spent more than $150,000 on designer clothing and accessories for her and her family. The RNC and Palin have said many of the items were returned to stores and the rest would be given to charity.

The commission earlier this year dismissed a CREW complaint over the Palin purchases, saying the ban on use of donations to buy clothing doesn't apply to party money. The commission has asked Congress to add political party funds to the ban.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/16/candidates-cant-spend-cam_n_236661.html

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skipped 2 paragraphs in middle with details on 4 cases involving relatively small cases (Palin was not part of this particular ruling as indicated above).

[DURHAM D]

1. Guess this includes John Edward's haircuts. nt

[No Elephants]

5. He said that was a mistake and he reimbursed with his own funds.

Not saying it was really a mistake. Not saying it wasn't really a mistake. just repeating.

[TheCowsCameHome]

2. Just great. Naked republican wannabes running wild in the streets.

Ack.

[Odin2005]

6. LOL, DUzy!

:rofl:

[NewAgeThinker]

3. Wow!

Shouldn't they focus more on ensuring only $2300 gets donated and not more
and also study trends like if a company donates alot do they later get "paybacks" in the form of legislature or legal immunity?

[ingac70]

4. McCain/Feingold violation n/t

[No Elephants]

7. Shoot me, but I think candidates should be able to use donations to buy clothes that they

wear on the campaign trail or on TV during the campaign.

Often, they are not even in a given town long enough to leave something at the dry cleaner.So what are they supposed to do, buy all wash and wear crap and go to the laundromat when they hit Springfield and again when they hit Chicago, and so on? And yes, super duper hair cuts, too.

Appearance counts for a lot. Maybe too much, but that's the way it is. Candidates without millions of their own (or their spouse's) are at enough of a disadvantge as it is.

I have donated to candidates and I would want them to use my money for whatever they and their advisors believe might get them that extra edge--haircut, stylist, speech coach, whatever.

If it's federal funds, rather than donations, that's different. The feds have a right to say what it gets used for, I guess. But, even at that, I don't know why the candidate and his or her advisors don't get to say where the funds would be most helpful.

Sarah overdid it, maybe. So maybe the answer is transparency, so that everyone can see how big a bill the humble, careful spending "hockey mom" ran up at Barney's and factor that into an assessment of her.