NRCC’s fraud touched local election
by Walker Lindley
It was uncovered recently that Christopher Ward, the former treasurer of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), embezzled nearly $1 million dollors from the NRCC. As more and more information comes out about this scandal, it becomes clear that it wasn’t just a problem with oneman, but it was caused by a concerted effort to relax the rules about how money was spent and handled. The latest twist, though, is that Ward falsified audits and other financial records to make the NRCC qualify for an $8 million loan in the final days of the 2006. Furthermore, the NRCC reported spending $2.3 million to help Reichert in his race against Burner in 2006.
Let me first be clear: the NRCC spent $2.3 million on attack ads
against Burner without consulting Reichert’s campaign (at least in
theory), so it’s not fair to accuse Reichert of Ward’s fraud. However,
Reichert clearly benefited substantially from large amount of money
spent on his behalf and, given the razor-thin margin
of 7,000 votes, it is certainly possible that these expenditures were
what put him over the top. Furthermore, Reichert hasn’t even denounced
the fraudulent money that was used to help him win. While I have no
doubt that he does not support Ward’s fraud or embezzlement, he has
failed to take this opportunity to take a strong stand against the
fraud of the NRCC and the fiscal irresponsibility of Bush and the
Republican Congress that supported him. If Reichert has any hope of
beating Burner this cycle (a prospect that is looking increasing grim
for him given the $150,000 lead
that Burner has in cash on hand), he needs distance himself from the
Republican party. However, given his voting record of voting with Bush
almost 90% of the time.
