Seventy two pages were added to Claire McCaskill’s past financial reports to account for a slew of “mistakes”, some of which were linked to that infamous private plane of hers (still for sale if you don’t mind being chastised by the president for owning one) which she failed to pay over a quarter million bucks in taxes on. From Politico:
According to the new filings with the Federal Elections Commission, McCaskill’s campaign committee had failed to account for 143 contributions in the ‘06 cycle, totaling nearly $277,000. The committee also missed about $277,000 in disbursements.
Her team seemed to brush the massive amount of changes off.
“These minor updates are simply a matter of tying up loose ends on the in-kind, political use of the plane,” said Missouri Democratic Party spokeswoman Caitlin Legacki…
Hundreds of thousands of dollars of amendments and hundreds of thousands of unpaid taxes, in the real world, doesn’t get filed under the “minor updates” or “loose ends” categories.
The reaction has been harsh.
"For someone who prides herself on being an auditor, lawyer, and government watchdog, Claire McCaskill sure does seem to make a lot of accounting and tax errors,'' said state Republican Party executive director Lloyd Smith. "First it was her use of taxpayer dollars for political trips; then it was her failure to pay $320,000 in back taxes on her private plane; now it is her failure to disclose thousands of dollars in campaign activities. It begs the question: what else are we going to learn about McCaskill’s plane, her tax problems, and the way she does business?"
"Claire McCaskill promised Missourians they had seen the last of her ethics problems after she cheated on her taxes and improperly billed taxpayers for campaign travel on her private plane, but now she’s changing her story yet again," said National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokesman Chris Bond. "Can Missourians trust a word McCaskill says?"
This Senate race is going to be a heated one, and Claire McCaskill is providing ample ammunition to her opposition.
But it's not her fault. It's not like she's an auditor or anything...
- B.H.
lets face it, the republicans are HOT to defeat McCaskill and turn that Democratic senate seat to the elephant's home team.
She's been under attack for some time... but I think Missouri voters will think this is old news...and MISSOURIANS are the ones who elect senators!
The plane deal? snoozer. Money things? Boring. The trouble is Claire makes a lot of sense in most things. And she can say it well.
Keep digging though.
Posted by: radiomankc | July 19, 2011 at 07:05 PM
And if it were a Republican Senator in the same situation you can bet that they would be raked over the coals and have an investigative committee holding hearings and finding out how they could bring charges against them. What scam artists and hypocrits the Democrats are.
Posted by: Nancy | July 20, 2011 at 04:11 PM
She was an auditor? Really? Can't prove it by the way these "loose ends" keep popping up. Typical demonrat, one set of standards for her and another set for those who are of the opposition.
Bye, Claire.
Posted by: J. Guidry, Battlefield, MO. | July 20, 2011 at 08:22 PM