Rep. Jeff Flake's PAC Violated Federal Law, Admits to Wasting Money in Campaign

From yesterday's Boston Globe:

The Porkbuster PAC set up by US Representative Jeff Flake violated federal contribution limits and, by its own account, wasted $2,100 to rent Granite State hotel rooms that were never used.

In response to inquiries by the Globe, PAC treasurer Steve Voeller said the excess in-kind contributions were an oversight and notified the McCain campaign, which said it wrote a $1,896.52 check to reimburse the committee for the excess contribution.

Flake, an Arizona Republican, set up the PAC last year, but the campaign of fellow Arizonan McCain is the only beneficiary so far. In reports covering last November and January, the campaign reported in-kind donations of airfare and lodging costs of about $4,200. The expenses were incurred by Flake and aides who campaigned in New Hampshire for McCain, Voeller said. Under federal law, the PAC has a $2,300 limit on in-kind contributions to a candidate. . .

Porkbuster PAC apparently intended to spend even more on behalf of McCain, however. Last Jan. 10, two days after the primary, the PAC reported paying $2,161 in "lodging expenses not utilized" at a hotel in a Manchester, N.H. suburb. Voeller, in an e-mail said: "The $2,161 should not be listed as an in-kind, since nobody stayed in those rooms and the PAC had to eat the charge (lesson learned about buying over the Internet). We checked with the (Federal Election Commission) on that one."

Because of high demand for rooms before the primary, the hotel required a minimum stay of more than one day, but Flake and two staffers did not use the rooms, Voeller said.

Well, as his constituents can attest, our do-nothing, lawbreaking total waste of a congressman doesn't use his heart or his brain much, either.