Newly elected RNC chairman Michael Steele has been in the news lately for his "victory" in the recent race to be the leader of the republican party who will oversee their next round of losses in 2010 and 2012.
However, the Washington Post reports, in relatively lengthy article, that Steele's 2006 senate campaign may have made a few illegal expenditures, including one to his sister (it's always a close family member) for services she was supposed to have rendered.
Michael S. Steele, the newly elected chairman of the Republican National Committee, arranged for his 2006 Senate campaign to pay a defunct company run by his sister for services that were never performed, his finance chairman from that campaign has told federal prosecutors.
Federal election laws allow a candidate to pay a relative for services that are actually performed at a fair market price but...
In one of his allegations, Fabian points to a February 2007 payment by Steele's Senate campaign of more than $37,000 to Brown Sugar Unlimited, the company run by Steele's sister, Monica Turner. Campaign finance records list the expense as having been for "catering/web services." Turner filed papers to dissolve the company 11 months before the payment was received.
Sounds like a prima facie case of fraud to me. Similar to check fraud when a defendant pays for goods with a check written on a closed account.
Turner, a doctor and the former wife of Mike Tyson, declined yesterday to describe any services she provided to the campaign. "Ah, it's the 'sabotage Michael Steele' story," she told a reporter before closing the door of her home in Potomac. "No, I'm not with that program. . . . I'm not going to do this."
Good move, she doesn't want to say anything incriminating that can be used against her at trial.
More possible illegality is an alleged payment Steele from his Maryland lieutenant governor account to pay for debts owed by his U.S. senate campaign. Such action is prohibited.
In another allegation, Fabian claimed that payments to two vendors in 2006 for work on the Senate campaign were made from Steele's state account rather than from his federal coffers. Campaign finance reports show that printers billed the Senate campaign late in 2006. The state campaign paid the bills early the next year -- nearly $30,000 to GOP Shoppe and almost $8,000 to Form Masters.
The man making these allegations is Alan Fabian who was the Steele's finance chairman for the 2006 senate campaign. Fabian is currently serving a nine-year sentence for defrauding 40 million dollars from businesses and banks. He snitched on Steele hoping to get some leniency in sentencing. Looks like the RNC chairman pals around with criminals. In 2008 the GOP set the bar low regarding what loose connections to a criminal can be imputed to a candidate.
With all the criticism of the RNC mishandling money regarding Sara Palin's wardrobe, is this really who the RNC needs as a chairman? Oh well, not our problem. Steele doesn't hold a public office, he's the head of a private organization now. But he better not go on Fox news and criticize Obama's nominees for their tax problems.