The RNC used $150,000 of the money it raised to help elect Republicans nationwide to buy Sarah Palin and her family clothes, with the governor going on 50 and 70 thousand dollar shopping sprees. The RNC claims the clothes will be donated to charity after the campaign(that excuse is completely ridiculous). Isn't that illegal?
In 1998, Barack Obama PASSED sweeping ethic reforms in Illinois specifically addressing the issue of using campaiign cash for personal use. The bill was not perfect BUT it did help stop this kind of questionable activity of using donated money for personal use by politicians.
"When I was in Illinois, I passed the toughest ethics reform in 25 years there, despite the opposition of Democrats and Republicans," the Democratic presidential candidate told a New Hampshire audience last month.
In fact, Obama was part of an ensemble that negotiated the legislation and built support for it. And the ethics bill passed by lopsided margins of 52-4 in the Senate and 102-3 in the House, although its riskier moments came earlier during those behind-the-scene negotiations that Obama was heavily involved in.
Part of the price for that victory was leaving a major loophole in the law. While new legislators were barred from using campaign money for personal use, those already in office could keep using the campaign money they already had for anything they wanted - Cadillacs, college tuition, whatever.
http://www.pantagraph.com/...