Day By Day© by Chris Muir.

October 16, 2006

Harry Reid: Used Campaign Money as Christmas Bonuses

Harry Reid sinks deeper into the mire of his own making:

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid has been using campaign donations instead of his personal money to pay Christmas bonuses for the support staff at the Ritz-Carlton where he lives in an upscale condominium. Federal election law bars candidates from converting political donations for personal use.

Questioned about the campaign expenditures by The Associated Press, Reid's office said Monday he was personally reimbursing his campaign for $3,300 in donations he had directed to the staff holiday fund at his residence.

This after the news that he didn't properly report a land deal that netted him $1.1 million.

Of course, he plans on reimbursing the campaign, as well as amending the 2001 report in which he failed to indicate the transfer of the land to an LLC headed by his pal Jay Brown in return for a stake in the LLC.

Reid said the failure to disclose those transactions previously was due to "clerical errors" and they amounted to "two minor matters that were inadvertently left off my original disclosure forms."

How convenient. When a Republican gets caught out in an ethical violation, it's evidence of that famous "culture of corruption." When a Democrat is caught, it's due to a "clerical error."

But where's the shock and outrage that accompanied the downfall of the likes of Randy "Duke" Cunningham, Tom DeLay...not to mention the recently disgraced Mark Foley?

"It depends on your definition of 'ethics violation.'"