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Crooks Stealing From Crooks

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Anonymous

Guest
Interestingly this crooked GOP accountant was in charge of Montana Rep. Denny Rehberg ’s "Building Our Opportunities Together" committee- along with about a dozen other Congressmens PACs......Looks like Ward thought building his own opportunities came first :wink: :lol: :lol:

F.B.I. Investigates Missing G.O.P. Money


By PHILIP SHENON
Published: March 6, 2008
WASHINGTON — Hundreds of thousands of dollars are missing and presumed stolen from the chief fund-raising arm of House Republicans, according to party officials who described the findings of emergency internal audits.

The financial records of the group, the National Republican Congressional Committee, may also have been falsified for several years, Republican officials said. The campaign committees of several Republican lawmakers may also have been victims of a scam that is now under criminal investigation by the F.B.I.

The audits were ordered after the abrupt departure several weeks ago of Christopher J. Ward, who had been treasurer of the committee. Lawmakers said that Mr. Ward, who served a similar role for dozens of individual members of Congress and their political committees, is the focus of the F.B.I.’s criminal investigation.

The committee has acknowledged publicly that it was aware of “irregularities in our financial audit process” and that it had called in the F.B.I. in February because “these irregularities may include fraud.”

But until now the committee has not acknowledged that any money was missing from its bank accounts or that the financial irregularities might extend beyond the national committee to the campaign funds of individual Republican lawmakers who also worked with Mr. Ward, a longtime party operative.

The Republican officials said they could not discuss the details of their findings on the record because of the continuing criminal investigation.

A lawyer for Mr. Ward, Ronald C. Machen of the Wilmer Hale law firm in Washington, had no comment. A spokeswoman for the F.B.I.’s Washington field office acknowledged that the bureau had opened an investigation at the request of the Republican committee.

The F.B.I. investigation comes at an especially awkward time for House Republicans, who are struggling to raise money for Congressional races in November.

Their job has been made even more difficult by the large number of Republican lawmakers — more than two dozen from the House — who have announced their retirements, and by a series of unrelated criminal and ethics investigations of other Congressional Republicans.

Mr. Ward had been treasurer of the national Republican committee since 2003. He had also been a partner in a private campaign consulting firm, Political Compliance Services, that gained notice in the 2004 presidential campaign because of its work on behalf of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group that ran advertisements that criticized the military record of Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the Democratic presidential nominee.

Committee officials said that bookkeeping irregularities were discovered in January after the chairman of the panel’s auditing committee, Representative Mike Conaway of Texas, a certified public accountant, repeatedly asked to meet with representatives of the audit firm that was supposed to be reviewing the committee’s books.

“I just kept insisting that we meet with the auditors,” Mr. Conaway said in an interview. “It finally came into my head, and as the circumstances unfolded, that no audit had been done.”

He said that Mr. Ward had promised to set up a meeting with the auditors and scheduled the gathering in late January.

But 30 minutes before the scheduled meeting, committee officials said, Mr. Ward sent an e-mail message to colleagues announcing that, in fact, no audit had been done. The officials said the fund-raising committee had since determined that its books had not been audited since 2003 and that Mr. Ward had submitted a series of falsified audits. The committee then called in the F.B.I. It is not clear, lawmakers said, if any fees were paid to audit firms in recent years by the committee, or where that money ended up.

“This was a longtime trusted employee and there were no obvious signs that he was living beyond his means,” Mr. Conaway said.

Mr. Conaway said that the many Republican lawmakers who used Mr. Ward for their campaign funds or for bookkeeping for their political action committees were now hurriedly reviewing their own books for evidence of missing money or other improprieties.

“If you were one of the members who had a relationship with him, you should go back through your records extensively to see if you were caught up,” he said.

Committee officials said that at least two Republican lawmakers who were clients of Mr. Ward’s had reported to the committee in recent weeks that they had also found discrepancies in their campaign accounts.

Representative Rodney Alexander, Republican of Louisiana, said he ended his ties to Mr. Ward in February after learning of the concerns at the national committee. “Until then, we hadn’t seen anything to indicate there was a problem,” Mr. Alexander said, adding that his bookkeepers had found no evidence of missing money or other wrongdoing.

Mr. Ward was named treasurer of the national Republican committee five years ago by Representative Thomas M. Reynolds of New York, who stepped down as the committee’s chairman last year. Mr. Reynolds has found himself under attack on the campaign trail at home because of the reports of financial irregularities at the committee.

“Does Tom Reynolds ever accept responsibility for his poor leadership or does he just pass the buck?” asked John Gerken, campaign manager for Jon Powers, a Democrat who is challenging Mr. Reynolds.

Mr. Reynolds said in a statement that he and the national Republican committee were possible victims of “an elaborate scheme resulting in financial irregularities” by a “long-serving professional staff member,” a reference to Mr. Ward. “At no time were there any red flags raised,” the lawmaker said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/06/washington/06gop.html?_r=2&ex=1362546000&en=7a88dcd2f2742a49&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
 

fff

Well-known member
Sure makes you want to pull out the checkbook and donate to the NRCC, doesn't it?

I read that money is so tight at the NRCC, they're only trying to recruit rich candidates who'll be able to finance their own campaigns. That will be an uphill battle. I think they've got 27 open House seats to defend?
 

Goodpasture

Well-known member
The quintessential Republican......he should be a hero to all of them.

Took money from what is essentially a group that supports self enrichment with no moral compass and enriched himself. What a great great Republican..........
 

Mike

Well-known member
At least Republicans are willing to "Investigate" themselves and the workers/aids by turning over the search for impropriety to the FBI. :roll:
____________________________________________________________

House Republicans Contact FBI Over Financial Irregularities
By Paul Kane
The FBI has been notified and asked to investigate allegations of financial fraud at a fund-raising arm of the House Republicans, capping a week of bad news for the beleaguered minority party.

In a statement today, Rep. Tom Cole (Okla.), the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said he contacted law enforcement after an internal audit revealed that a former employee of the committee had been involved in the "irregularities."

"Since these irregularities may include fraud, we have notified appropriate law enforcement authorities. We are aggressively and thoroughly investigating the matter," Cole said.

Sources confirmed that the FBI was the agency contacted to investigate the allegations. Aides at the Federal Election Commission said they were not aware of any complaint or request for an investigation by the NRCC.

NRCC staff were tight lipped about the case, declining to say how much money was involved or the nature of the fraud. The former employee, whose name was not revealed, had left the NRCC and had been working this past year as an outside vendor, until this week's revelations.

Fraud and embezzlement from political committees is an increasingly common occurrence. In the past decade Sens. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) and Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), former senator Trent Lott (R-Miss.), House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) all have had their political committees raided by rogue aides.

The news of fraud at the NRCC finished a very bad stretch for House Republicans. Beginning last Thursday, five veteran GOP incumbents announced they were retiring at the end of this year, opening up two or three very ripe seats for the Democrats to eye in the fall elections. In addition, the NRCC's year-end financial report showed it had $5 million in its campaign accounts, as of Dec. 31, while the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee held $35 million.

Here's the full statement from Cole:

"As part of our ongoing efforts to institute and strengthen financial controls at the National Republican Congressional Committee, we learned earlier this week of irregularities in our financial audit process. Since these irregularities may include fraud, we have notified appropriate law enforcement authorities. We are aggressively and thoroughly investigating the matter and, while we determine the details, have terminated our relationship with a former employee who had been engaged as an outside vendor."

Posted at 7:01 PM ET on Feb 1, 2008
 

Goodpasture

Well-known member
Mike said:
Goodpasture said:
Everyone "cooperates" once they're caught..........

Even if you catch yourself? :lol:
Especially if you catch yourself.

About 20 years ago dozens of Oklahoma active and retired County Commissioners were sent to prison for taking bribes. One of the people who was on the bribe "payroll" was a secretary in one of the key state offices. When she retired, realizing the IRS would wonder where she got her assets, turned herself in. By cooperating fully, she not only got off, but enabled the FBI and the OSBI to set up a sting where Commissioners were caught on tape and ended up in prison. so yes.......cooperation when you turn yourself in is common.
 

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