Sunken War Chest

In even more news about the inevitable Republican wave that will crash over Congress this fall:

The Republican National Committee failed to report more than $7 million in debt to the Federal Election Commission in recent months - a move that made its bottom line appear healthier than it is heading into the midterm elections and that also raises the prospect of a hefty fine.

In a memo to RNC budget committee members, RNC Treasurer Randy Pullen on Tuesday accused Chairman Michael S. Steele and his chief of staff, Michael Leavitt, of trying to conceal the information from him by ordering staff not to communicate with the treasurer - a charge RNC officials deny.

Mr. Pullen told the members that he had discovered $3.3 million in debt from April and $3.8 million from May, which he said had led him to file erroneous reports with the FEC. He amended the FEC filings Tuesday.

Campaign-finance analysts said that simply misreporting fundraising numbers to the FEC can lead to millions of dollars in fines and that criminal charges can be levied if the actions are suspected to be intentional.

"This is significant because the civil penalties could mean big fines that take a significant bite out of the RNC's finances close to the November congressional elections, when state parties need the RNC's financial help for their 'victory' programs," said former FEC Commissioner Hans A. von Spakovsky.

Of course it's kind of a moot point because the shadow RNC is making tons more money than the real one. Incidentally, the head of the shadow RNC is t also the head of the real one, but whatever. Point is, the X-Files version doesn't have Micheal Steele as a figurehead. And I bet they STILL don't fire him. Hey, it's only 7 million! Who doesn't make bookkeeping errors that size now and then?

As a sign that the right really really REALLY wishes they would fire Steele, this story is coming from the Washington Times, perhaps the most right-leaning dead-tree news source in the country.