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Feds Investigate Steele’s Campaign Expenses

The Washington Post is reporting that federal agents are looking into allegations that RNC chairman Michael Steele's campaign made payments to Steele's sister for services not performed. The article indicates prosecutors were tipped to expenditure irregularities by Alan B. Fabian, who served as former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele's finance chairman when he ran for the U.S. Senate and as co- chairman of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's finance committee. Fabian, who is a convicted conman, made the allegations in an attempt to get a reduced sentence recommendation from federal prosecutors.

Fabian alleged that Steele's campaign paid a defunct company owned by Steele's sister for work that was not performed. The article states "In one of his allegations, Fabian points to a February 2007 payment by Steele's Senate campaign of more than $37,000 to Brown Sugar Unlimited, the company run by Steele's sister, Monica Turner. Campaign finance records list the expense as having been for "catering/web services." Turner filed papers to dissolve the company 11 months before the payment was received."

This is a good example of why opposition researchers need to identify the ownership of any company listed in campaign disclosure forms. Candidates rarely publicly identify vendors owned by relatives or close associates. The only way to find these connections is to learn the ownership of companies receiving payments from the campaign. Expenditures to relatives are usually legitimate. A payment to a printing company owned by a relative for printing services is clearly a legitimate expense. Paying a dog grooming business owned by a relative for web services raises red flags.