Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas), a certified public accountant, had pushed for months for an internal audit of the National Republican Congressional Committee, according to GOP members, but the committee’s treasurer at the time was reluctant.If it were anyone except the Republican Party in Congress, this would be beyond belief, but for those guys this is just standard operating procedure.
Finally, at a recent meeting, the now former NRCC treasurer, Christopher J. Ward, relented, giving Conaway what was supposed to be an official internal audit from 2006. That document was a fake, the GOP members said. Even the letterhead on which it was sent was a forgery.
Revelations about the falsified document touched off an unfolding scandal that has rocked the NRCC and spurred a criminal investigation by the FBI into the committee’s accounting procedures.
Fearing the fallout from the discovery, the NRCC informed its principal lender, Wachovia, of potential accounting problems. Wachovia, which declined comment Thursday, had lent the committee $9 million in 2006, according to Federal Election Commission records.
Knowing the bank was required by law to notify federal investigators of any “suspicious activity,” the NRCC also alerted the FBI, Republican insiders confirmed.
At the same time, NRCC officials notified the FEC that the committee may have filed inaccurate disclosure statements.
When every major institution in the Republican Party demands no oversight by anyone and operates entirely in secret, then you know they are crooks rapidly carrying off as much as they can before the light of day catches up to them. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, Bob Ney and Jack Abramoff may soon have a lot of company in the federal penitentiaries. There will never be an adequate accounting of all the criminality of the Republican Party during the Bush 43 years.
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