The Daily Caller has a report about the lavish, and inappropriate, spending habits of RNC Chairman Michael Steele. Citing SEC filings, It says:
Steele travels in style. A February RNC trip to California, for example, included a $9,099 stop at the Beverly Hills Hotel, $6,596 dropped at the nearby Four Seasons, and $1,620.71 spent [update: the amount is actually $1,946.25] at Voyeur West Hollywood, a bondage-themed nightclub featuring topless women dancers imitating lesbian sex.
Steele apparently will not comment on these and other such reports. However, according to the Daily Caller, “his defenders point out that luxurious accommodations are sometimes necessary to attract big-time donors, especially since Republicans remain in the minority in Washington.”
I’m hoping that this defense does not apply to the “bondage-themed night club.”
UPDATE: Kathryn Lopez asked an RNC spokesman for a response. As to the night club, he told her:
We are investigating the expenditure in question. The story willfully and erroneously suggests that the expenditure in question was one belonging to the chairman. This was a reimbursement made to a non-committee staffer. The chairman was never at the location in question, he had no knowledge of the expenditure, nor does he find the use of committee funds at such a location at all acceptable. Good reporting would make that distinction crystal clear. The committee has requested that the monies be returned to the committee and that the story be corrected so that it is accurate.
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