Repugs stealing from Repugs. There is a god.

"the financial irregularities might extend beyond the national committee to the campaign funds of individual Republican lawmakers"

Medals of Freedom for Everyone! I wonder who'll be on Bush's list of presidential pardons come December?

Nice to see Philip Shenon at the NYT hot on the trail. He did some first-rate stories on the Abramoff scandal.

But something sounds fishy. As a former auditor, I can't understand how Christopher J. Ward could have been acting alone. If the NRCC's auditors came in annually every year before 2003 and then they suddenly stopped coming, someone else in the office noticed.

In 10/06, I questioned a couple of Rep. Tom Reynolds'campaign expenditures in a TPM Cafe blog post. Between 9/05 and 7/06, Reynolds paid $65k to Potomac Company LLC, Miami, FL. The problem is that there is no Potomac Company LLC registered with the FL State Dept.

Maybe I should mention this to Jon Powers, Reynolds' Dem opponent this year. According to the NYT, Powers is already making hay about the NRCC scandal.

As an aside, Christopher J. Ward and Susan Arceneaux, former Dick Armey aide, were partners in Political Compliance Services until January.

Arceneaux, through PCS, handles the books for Swift Boat Vets. She also handles the books for the Admiral Roy F. Hoffmann Foundation. Roy Hoffman is a Swift Boat Vets co-founder and overall nasty person.

In February 2006, Swift Boat Vets ostensibly contributed $100k to the Admiral Hoffmann Foundation, according to its 8872 filed in the first quarter of 2006.

But in its 2006 990, the Admiral Roy F. Hoffmann Foundation failed to report a $100k contribution from Swift Boat Vets.

Maybe someone should ask Susan Arceneaux where the $100k went.

Dear Mrs. Panstreppon,

Haven't seen posts from you for a while & have missed them. Yes, indeed, I'd report these goodies to the FBI & the IRS CID. Doesn't it look like joint FBI-IRS CID task force investigation time here?

I met a guy at the Mall yesterday and eventually asked him what he did for a living;

He said: "Corrupt stuff."

I said: "You should run for political office
in the Republican primary, you're a sure winner."

John McCain embraces the man whose Brain destroyed his chances to be a presidential candidate with the most scurrilous, racist lies in South Carolina during the 2000 primaries.
Theft does pay. Look at the last 7 years. One theft after another. And the GOP got away with it.
Bend over, John and assume the position. George W. Bush is your friend. Fortunately, McCain's association with the anti-Midas can only help whoever ends up running against him.
Plus, rumors of war with Iran, after Ms. Perino hinted that Admiral Fallon, the biggest obstacle to Bush's third war, well, his job may not be all that secure.
If you want to take Bush to the couch with the Jacob Weisberg analysis of the tragic oedipal dynamic that has motivated Junior all his life, Iran would one-up Poppy. Poppy had Panama and Gulf War 1. Never mind that they ended rather quickly.
Does Junior want three before he goes back to the ranch?

Nitpicker1, the one thing I've learned about Republicans is never to set up either/or explanations for wrongdoing and idiocy. There is nothing mutually exclusive about 1, 2, or 3 above! And in fact a combination of all three is most likely.

This is the "business" party?

It is probably the culture of corruption, the need for slipping certain money to certain acounts without notice, that actually ENABLED this guy to pull it off. It's not just crooks getting their just deserts. I'll bet this is a sign of more to come.

A lot of attention is being focused on Rep. Tom Reynolds but no one is asking about NRCC audit committee chairman, Rep. Greg Walden (Ore.).

"The National Republican Congressional Committee apparently stopped conducting independent audits of its finances five years ago, according to Republican sources and Federal Election Commission records.

Per Roll Call via the NY Daily News:

"The NRCC will not confirm its audit history, citing an ongoing investigation into financial irregularities apparently centering on former Treasurer Christopher Ward. But the indication is that the committee did not conduct an independent audit at all during the 2003-2006 tenure of former Chairman Tom Reynolds (N.Y.) and his audit committee chairman, Rep. Greg Walden (Ore.)."

Walden knew that there were no external audits. He never met with any auditors nor did he discuss audit fees or any other matters generally associated with an audit committee's responsibilities.

Who else served on the NRCC audit committee between 2003 and today? The members, at best, were negligent and, at worst, complicit.

G O P Gang of Pirates.

No one could have possibly foreseen that putting crooks in charge of money would lead to illegal behavior.

Fine work as always, Mrs. P,

In addition to teaming up with Arceneaux and Political Compliance Services, Chris Ward also claimes to have had his own consulting company CJ Ward & Company.

Maryland Corporation records do show registration for CJ Ward & Company, but its business incorporation was revoked in 2002.

So how was Mr. Ward cashing his NRCC service payments to CJ Ward & Company if he didn't have a corporate registration?

Were they made out to "cash"?

stealing from the mafia/gop and it has been going on since 2002?
that really doesn't pass the smell test.
deepthroat told Woodward to follow the money. He seemed to know that someone was collecting a slush fund for criminal activity.
or perhaps Woodie was deaf and it was "fool and his money".

Excellent research per usual, Mrs Panstreppon. This failure to adhere to GAAP for such an extended period of time raises several red flags. Man, I miss Sam Ervin!

In light of what we've learned about SAR's and PEP's required reports from banks on transfers of money as little as $3000. Why weren't the irregularities at NRCC identified and investigated through wiretaps and surveillance, the way Spitzer's activities were?
In fact, will all the bank, IRS, Treasury Dept, and FBI scrutiny of money transactions, how is it possible there is so much missing money from government contractors who are transfering funds into and out of Iraq, a terrorist area.
Isn't that why the Patriot Act was established and the banks and federal government got so much authority to surveil American citizens financial transactions? Perhaps media scrutiny on these oversights is overdue.