RNC: The DNC’s blowing millions on hotels and limos too, you know

Politico has the full list of DNC expenses, including more than $2 million for hotels and caterers, but I’ll excerpt a bit here to give you a taste.

The DNC Spent At Least $262,000 For Other Events, Including:

The DNC Spent Over $24,000 For Event(s) At The Kennedy Center. (Federal Elections Commission, www.fec.gov, Accessed: 3/31/10)

The DNC Spent Over $26,000 For Tickets And Catering At Fenway Park. (Federal Elections Commission, www.fec.gov, Accessed: 3/31/10)

The DNC Spent Over $16,000 At DC Nightclub Josephine. (Federal Elections Commission, www.fec.gov, Accessed: 3/31/10)

In October, The DNC Spent At Least $63,953.00 At The Standard Club. (Federal Elections Commission, www.fec.gov, Accessed: 3/31/10)

In January 2009, The DNC Spent At Least $12,293 At Boss Bar In Chicago. (Federal Elections Commission, www.fec.gov, Accessed: 3/31/10)

The DNC Has Spent At Least $39,802 On Gifts And Trinkets. (Federal Elections Commission, www.fec.gov, Accessed: 3/31/10)

In December, The DNC Paid The Dallas Cowboys Organization $17,125. (Federal Elections Commission, www.fec.gov, Accessed: 3/31/10)

In December, The DNC Spent At Least $31,036 At The Mount Vernon Inn Restaurant. (Federal Elections Commission, www.fec.gov, Accessed: 3/31/10)

In January 2009, The DNC Spent At Least Spent $13,316 At Lucky Strike In Washington, DC. (Federal Elections Commission, www.fec.gov, Accessed: 3/31/10)

In April, The DNC Spent At Least $11,476 At The St. Louis Club. (Federal Elections Commission, www.fec.gov, Accessed: 3/31/10)

In August, The DNC Spent At Least $4,557 At The Triple Door Concert Venue In Seattle. (Federal Elections Commission, www.fec.gov, Accessed: 3/31/10)

In August, The DNC Paid At Least $1,500 At To The Washington Nationals. (Federal Elections Commission, www.fec.gov, Accessed: 3/31/10)

In December, The DNC Spent At Least At $6,110 The Metropolitan Club In Washington, DC. (Federal Elections Commission, www.fec.gov, Accessed: 3/31/10)

In January 2010, The DNC Spent At Least Spent $2,782 At Petterino’s In Chicago. (Federal Elections Commission, www.fec.gov, Accessed: 3/31/10)

Duly noted, but the charm of hearing that “the Democrats spend just as irresponsibly as we do!” has worn awfully thin for conservatives. Besides, it’d be one thing if the GOP was rolling in dough vis-a-vis the opposition. As it is, behold:

Subtract debts from cash on hand and you’ll see that the RNC’s doing better than the DNC is. But note: The DNC’s almost $5 million in the black over the past year while the RNC’s more than $5 million in the red. When Steele took over as chairman, they had $22 million in cash on hand compared to $9.5 million now; that $13 million difference is almost precisely equal to the combined advantage currently enjoyed by the three Democratic fundraising committees over their Republican counterparts. What’s that the fiscal conservatives are always telling me — when times are tough, you tighten your belt? Well, where’s the belt-tightening? In fact, according to the Daily Caller, the now infamous “Voyeur” reimbursement had to be approved by both the RNC’s finance director and its chief administrative officer. Quote:

“There’s no adult supervision,” said the Republican very familiar with the RNC financial process, when questioned on the current financial structure. Asked about prior RNC administrations, the Republican said, “everything was scrutinized.”

If Democrats are happy with the DNC crapping away their donations on luxury hotels, good for them, but the tu quoque is underwhelming given our financial position. And another thing that’s underwhelming: The criticism of the Daily Caller for breaking this story. I understand it insofar that the DC is self-styled as a right-wing answer to the Huffington Post and yet this right-wing scandal is the biggest story they’ve broken so far, but would you rather not know that the RNC has a spending problem? The more heat they get from grassroots conservatives now, the tighter they’ll have to run the ship leading up to the midterms, and the more money there’ll be available at crunch time for GOP candidates who need it. Or so the theory goes. Who knows anymore if they’re capable of self-correction.

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