Yup, politics is ONE BIG PARTY, huh?
And the Repugs are no better:
"Golf and tennis fees were paid, whitewater rafting and trout fishing guides were contracted, and limo drivers and photographers were hired. Flowers worth about $1,300 decorated tables filled with food.... RNC’s expenditures for office supplies during the same period topped $773,000... including jelly beans for Steele’s office and thousands of dollars’ worth of liquor and wine"
Like I said, a PARTY -- literally!!!!
Related: RNC Caught With Its Shirt Off
Now you know where that campaign contribution is going.
"Review finds lush spending by parties
WASHINGTON — Both the national Democratic and Republican party committees spend roughly two-thirds of the money they take in on the care and comfort of committee staffs and on efforts to raise more funds, with lavish spending on limousines, expensive hotels, meals, and tips, an analysis of the latest financial disclosure data shows.
Monthly committee spending reports, like those that were released early yesterday, illustrate cultures in which vast sums are consumed with limited accountability, a Washington Post review demonstrates. Neither committee appears to have clear internal spending guidelines, and their reports do not explain hefty expenditures in categories such as “office supplies’’ and “tips’’ that consume tax-exempt party funds.
The two parties assert that to raise money, they must spend it, and both have long used donated funds to court and pamper prospective donors with luxurious getaways and gifts.
However, the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics, in an analysis done at the request of the Post, calculated that administrative and fund-raising expenses consumed roughly $59 million of Democratic revenue in this cycle through the end of February, or 59 percent of total revenue of about $100 million. For Republicans, the amount exceeded $74 million, or 68 percent of $109 million in revenue.
Yeah, the REPUGS are EVEN WORSE!!!
Sheila Krumholz, the center’s executive director, said the controversy last month over the Republican National Committee’s expenditure of $1,946 for meals at a bondage-themed nightclub had convinced her that “there is inadequate budget oversight within the parties.’’
“There is a class of [political] donors who expect to be wined and dined and who expect to have gala receptions as part and parcel of giving a donation,’’ said Anthony Corrado, a Colby College professor specializing in campaign finance. But he said many current expenditures “are not the type that are going to translate into a large financial boon . . . such as spending on charter flights, limousines, entertainment, food, and beverages at party headquarters.’’
The two political committees are not typical nonprofit organizations and such high spending for overhead is almost unheard of in the nonprofit world. A rule of thumb among nonprofits is administrative and fund-raising costs should consume no more than 20 to 25 percent of income.
Ken Berger, who runs Charity Navigator, a New Jersey group that monitors nonprofits across the country, said that “the most critical measure is effectiveness.’’ He said his advice for prospective donors to any nonprofit group that spends as much as 60 to 70 percent of revenue on overhead, including fund-raising, would be to “run away.’’
And look at what you are getting for a "return," America.
Spending reports at the Federal Election Commission offer vivid illustrations of luxurious tastes. When Michael Steele, RNC chairman, and colleagues took several dozen party donors on a retreat last August in Jackson Hole, Wyo., for example, golf and tennis fees were paid, whitewater rafting and trout fishing guides were contracted, and limo drivers and photographers were hired. Flowers worth about $1,300 decorated tables filled with food from three caterers.
Including rooms at the Four Seasons Resort, which promotes itself as offering “pampered adventures,’’ the event appears to have soaked up more than $170,000 from party coffers, the data show.
The Democratic Party racked up a similar bill — $176,000 — to cover 14 months of catering at party events at the Washington Hilton.
The RNC’s expenditures for office supplies during the same period topped $773,000, according to a Post tally, including jelly beans for Steele’s office and thousands of dollars’ worth of liquor and wine....
That would explain all the sickening and perverted sex shit.
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And they think this will soothe our rage?
"Senate votes to forgo its automatic pay raise
WASHINGTON — Yielding to election-year reality, the Senate approved a bill yesterday to deny members of Congress a built-in pay raise next year.
Russ Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat, engineered the surprise passage of the legislation, which would deny senators and members of the House an automatic pay raise of about $1,600 next year. Members of Congress make $174,000 a year.
That's still too much.
The Senate passed the measure unanimously without a roll call vote. The House has yet to act on it but probably will go along, given election-year pressures....
With high unemployment nationally and with Congress suffering from abysmal approval ratings, it was a politically easy decision to decline the pay hike....
Most members, however, privately support the pay raise as a means of retaining experienced lawmakers and of making sure that Congress is not simply dominated by wealthy people. What an insulting sentence.
They really do think you are 'too-pid, 'murka!
Many lawmakers maintain homes both in the expensive Washington housing market and back in their districts.
And here you are having trouble holding on to one house, Americans.
On most days, they meet with lobbyists making far more than they do.
So that justifies the looting of the public till?
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, makes $223,500 and minority leader John Boehner, Republican of Ohio, makes $193,400. President Obama makes $400,000.
How are you doing, taxpayers?
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Update:
"House rejects cost-of-living raise
WASHINGTON — House lawmakers have agreed that there is no way they can give themselves a pay increase in an election year when the unemployment rate hovers near 10 percent.
The House voted overwhelmingly to reject an automatic cost-of-living raise that would have boosted their salaries about $1,600 above their current pay of $174,000 a year for rank-and-file members. The Senate took identical action last week.
Congress also applied a pay freeze last year, during the depths of the recession.
Members of Congress saw their salaries double in the two decades from 1989, when lawmakers decided that an automatic cost-of-living adjustment would take place every year unless they voted to block it.
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