gop officials

As if the news of $340,000 Hawaii getaways at the expense of the RNC isn’t enough, now we have this juicy little tidbit:

The FBI, the IRS and the US Attorney's office in Tallahassee have opened a criminal investigation into the use of credit cards by top GOP officials for personal expenses, according to a report Wednesday.

All three agencies are involved in the probe, which centers on the use of Republican Party-issued American Express cards allegedly used for personal expenses.

A second investigation involving the IRS seeks to determine whether some of the credit card use effectively qualifies as tax evasion, since use for personal expenses should have been declared as income.

The IRS is said to be examining the tax records of at least three top GOP officials, including the Republican contender for one of Florida's US Senate seats. Onetime Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, now running against Florida Gov. Charlie Crist for Senate, is one of the individuals being probed.

So criminal trouble not only for the Florida GOP, but also their chief tea bagger Marco Rubio. I wonder how long before tea baggers start saying that Rubio isn’t the “real tea party candidate”. We’ve seen that numerous times before.

Now reports are saying that 4 years of Rove email may be missing:

A lawyer for the Republican National Committee told congressional staff members yesterday that the RNC is missing at least four years' worth of e-mail from White House senior adviser Karl Rove that is being sought as part of investigations into the Bush administration, according to the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

GOP officials took issue with Rep. Henry Waxman's account of the briefing and said they still hope to find the e-mail as they conduct forensic work on their computer equipment. But they acknowledged that they took action to prevent Rove -- and Rove alone among the two dozen or so White House officials with RNC accounts -- from deleting his e-mails from the RNC server. Waxman (D-Calif.) said he was told the RNC made that move in 2005.

In a letter to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, Waxman said the RNC lawyer, Rob Kelner, also raised the possibility that Rove had personally deleted the missing e-mails, all dating back to before 2005. GOP officials said Kelner was merely speaking hypothetically about why e-mail might be missing for any staffer and not referring to Rove in particular.

That is an awful lot, but the White House feels that they don't even have to turn over emails on RNC accounts, as Think Progress notes:

It looks like the Republicans are revving up for a nasty cycle of political ads:

Republicans are planning to spend the vast majority of their sizable financial war chest over the final 60 days of the campaign attacking Democratic House and Senate candidates over personal issues and local controversies, GOP officials said.

The National Republican Congressional Committee, which this year dispatched a half-dozen operatives to comb through tax, court and other records looking for damaging information on Democratic candidates, plans to spend more than 90 percent of its $50 million-plus advertising budget on what officials described as negative ads.

The hope is that a vigorous effort to "define" opponents, in the parlance of GOP operatives, can help Republicans shift the midterm debate away from Iraq and limit losses this fall. The first round of attacks includes an ad that labeled a Democratic candidate in Wisconsin "Dr. Millionaire" and noted that he has sued 80 patients.

"Opposition research is power," said Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds (N.Y.), the NRCC chairman. "Opposition research is the key to defining untested opponents."

The Republican National Committee, meanwhile, has enlisted veteran party strategist Terry Nelson to run a campaign that will coordinate with Senate Republicans on ads that similarly will rely on the best of the worst that researchers have dug up on Democrats. The first ad run by the new RNC effort criticizes Ohio Rep. Sherrod Brown (D) for voting against proposals designed to toughen border protection and deport illegal immigrants.

People may read my blog and think I am a little hard on Republicans. Well
there is perfect reasons for this. Here is a little piece of news about some of
the Republican leaders in my own county..

From today's

Cincinnati Enquirer

Butler County GOP officials
investigated in bar fight

One of three left his credit behind at Putter's, police say

By Sheila McLaughlin Enquirer staff writer

The investigation into a late-night barroom brawl led police to three
officials of the Butler County Republican Party after one of them left his
credit card behind, police say.

A complaint filed with the Butler County Sheriff's Department said that
central committee Chairman Quentin Nichols, of West Chester; Tim Dearwester
of Hamilton, a member of the central committee; and Sean Maloney of Liberty
Township, a member of the executive committee, allegedly assaulted the
bartender at Putter's Tavern & Grill shortly after midnight Oct. 26.

Adam William told deputies he approached the trio about a plastic
advertising sign being damaged in the men's room. He asked them to leave
after one of the men threatened him with a pool stick and another made
sexual remarks about the bar's owner, the police report said.

The men then jumped on William and punched and hit him with a chair
before the fight moved outside at the Cincinnati-Dayton Road establishment,
resulting in a bench being damaged, William told police.