Watchdog group: Delaware candidate's spending 'flat-out illegal'

[cal04]

Source: CNN Wire Staff

A watchdog group says it plans to ask authorities in Delaware to investigate Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell's finances.

At issue are more than $20,000 of spending in 2009 and 2010 that Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington claims was illegal.

"It turns out Miss O'Donnell has treated her campaign funds like they are her very own personal piggy bank. She's used that money to pay for things like her rent, for gas, meals and even a bowling outing. And that's just flat-out illegal," said Melanie Sloan, the group's executive director.

In an interview on CNN's "AC360," Sloan said her organization would be sending letters to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Delaware and the Federal Elections Commission on Monday asking them to investigate.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/09/18/odonnell.ethics/index.html

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video at link

[ejpoeta]

1. you mean you can't do that? what is th worst that could happen to her?

could she go to jail or just have to pay that money back?

[Brother Buzz]

6. I'm thinking a strongly worded letter

[Kablooie]

14. The worst is that she might be elected to the Senate.

That would be an inhumane torture for her.

[3waygeek]

19. And for the rest of us. n/t

[Kablooie]

20. Natch. n/t

[Bitwit1234]

2. They'll do nothing cause we know the DOJ has less balls

than the rest of the Democratic congress.

[MadMaddie]

3. No matter how many illegal acts these tea party

candidates are involved in, no matter if this particualr candidate has never held a real job since graduating college the right will support them.

This insanity of not holding these candidates to even a low standard of morality doesn't matter to these particular voters.

This woman is a extreme religious zeolot and is no better than the Taliban. These people threaten the Constitution in every form. The enemy that we need to be aware of is not outside our borders but within our borders.

[DiverDave]

17. Um, she lied about collage

she got to walk the aisle with the other grads, but she was short of credits.
She just finished last year or the year before.
But that didn't stop her from claiming she GRADUATED.

Fuck lying god damned republican.
Is there any other kind?

[COLGATE4]

4. Nothing to see here - move along

That's Holder's DOJ mantra. What a disappointment.

[cognoscere]

5. This is news?

Republicans will lie, cheat, steal, kill, and do anything else they need to do in order to get their way. You can call them liars, cheats, thieves, and murderers or you can use the all encompassing phrase, "Fucking assholes who make the definitive case for retroactive abortion."

[Laurenceofberk]

11. Republicans are not a political party, they are a MAFIA

They steal from the poor, they lie, and they kill - not only in foreign wars but by denying health care at home. And their main source of income is that classic Mafia game, the protection racket for corporations. As long as the corporations keep forking over cash they will be protected from the laws and from the people. RICO ACT anyone?

[Dappleganger]

7. She'd fit in perfectly with the FL GOP.

[tanyev]

8. O'Donnell Campaign Operated Without A Treasurer, Despite FEC Rules

Christine O'Donnell may have broken campaign finance regulations by operating for months at a time without a treasurer, experts say.

Her campaign committee, Friends of Christine O'Donnell, has seen three treasurers quit, and went more than a year without a designated treasurer.

Campaign committees are required by law to have a designated treasurer at all times in order to collect and spend money, according to experts. But, according to records filed with the Federal Elections Commission, she's gone through several periods with no treasurer at all, including one of more than a year.

"This is a very bad situation," said Brett Kappel, a campaign finance lawyer with Arent Fox in Washington, D.C. "It's illegal for a campaign committee to accept contributions or make expenditures unless there is a treasurer in office. ... The O'Donnell campaign reported raising and spending well over $100,000 in the first six months of 2010 alone."


http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/09/odonnell_may_have_broken_fec_law_by_taking_cash_wi.php



I haven't seen this reported anywhere except TPM.

[No Elephants]

9. Delaware? What about the FEC?

[activa8tr]

10. Letters requesting an investigation are going to US DOJ and FEC

Both.

She's going to be busy answering to law enforcement from now on.

Didn't anybody vet this woman before she ran? Or did she just decide to run on her own?

[txlibdem]

12. I thought one could draw a salary from their campaign

A salary equal to the salary you would receive if you win the election.

[TheMadMonk]

23. I don't know whether she can or can't. Regardless, there is a huge difference...

...between drawing a salary, with all the proper records kept, tax withheld, etc. and using a campaign account as a personal drawing account/slush fund.

[McCamy Taylor]

13. John Edwards is under federal indictment for less. If only the DOJ was not so afraid of looking

"partisan."

Nail Dems to a cross, let the GOP get away with murder.

[truthisfreedom]

15. And I was so looking forward to watching her being soundly trounced.

Rats.

[shanti]

16. perhaps

that was the point of this story being brought to the forefront? the pukes know that she will be trounced. of course they would want one of their own...

[otohara]

18. Christine O'Palin

She will lose, she will cash in like her clone in AK.

[unkachuck]

21. "...to pay for things like her rent, for gas, meals and even a bowling outing."

....could it be that the witch is a crook? Are christine and palin members of the same coven?

[AlinPA]

22. Nothing will happen. She will say "everyone else does it".

[SpiralHawk]

24. Republicon Family Values = greed

Verily, RepubliBaggers are the Latter Day Pharisees.