RNC orders independent review of spending practices

The move came after Illinois GOP Chairman Pat Brady, a former federal prosecutor in the Justice Department’s fraud section, helped conduct a confidential review of party spending at the request of national Chairman Michael S. Steele. Brady’s review concluded that while the party’s internal controls are good, its policies for approving expenditures warrant a deeper look, RNC officials said.

Brady and Utah businessman Bruce R. Hough, who co-chaired the review, said the independent assessment by an accounting firm will not focus on committee expenditures that have generated recent controversies, including a payment for entertainment of a Young Republicans group at a bondage-themed West Hollywood nightclub. Hough said the review will look at “what is currently happening and how to improve on it.” RNC spokesman Doug Heye said, “It is not an audit.”