Republican Corruption Continues: RNC chief Michael Steele

The Republican Party just plain doesn't get it. In 2006 they lost big because of the massive corruption within their party. Then in 2008 they still maintained their corruption, to the point of actually having a VP candidate who didn't pay her taxes and who was actively under investigation for abuse of power.

Now the Republicans have a new chair of the Republican National Committee, one Michael Steele. Recently it came out that Steele is more than willing to let anti-Semitism be used on his behalf. But now it turns out Steele also is yet another corrupt Republican.

From the Washington Post:

Steele's Campaign Spending Questioned

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...

The recent allegations outlined four specific transactions. In addition to the payment to Steele's sister, Fabian said that the candidate used money from his state campaign improperly; that Steele paid $75,000 from the state campaign to a law firm for work that was never performed; and that he or an aide transferred more than $500,000 in campaign cash from one bank to another without authorization...

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...

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...

It is a violation of federal campaign finance regulations for a candidate to use funds raised for a state campaign to pay for expenses associated with a federal campaign...

Over the years, money trouble has been a persistent problem for Steele. His first race for public office, a 1998 bid for the Republican nomination for state comptroller, ended nearly $35,000 in debt, much of it to his sister. He was fined twice by state officials for missing deadlines to file campaign finance reports and was in debt and had faced foreclosure in 2001, the year before he was selected as Ehrlich's running mate. The state party threw Steele a financial lifeline, awarding him an unusual $30,000 consulting contract.

Typical Republican disregard for the law. And THIS guy, who has shown a persistent difficulty handling money and keeping within the law, was the guy the RNC chose to be their leader.