Good analysis of the $21 Million of Taxpayer Money Used by GOP Legislators for Political Purposes

[JPZenger]

http://casablancapa.blogspot.com/2011/08/lets-make-deal.html

All of the attention has gone to the "bonusgate" bonuses that were paid to some state workers to reward them for doing political work. However, not enough attention has been paid to the $21 million of PA. tax dollars that were used by Republican legislators for their own partisan political purposes. The news media only mentioned $10 million of illegal taxpayer expenses, much of which went to a massive computer database of voter characteristics that was only available for use by Republican candidates. Corbett as Attorney General waited a couple years before he paid any attention to any of these allegations against Republicans.

Excerpt of the link:

"It's right there on the Grand Jury Report: "This presentment will disclose that a vast array of public expenditures, exceeding twenty million dollars, were spent between 2000 and 2008 by the House Republican Caucus ..."

Let's add it all up:

$9.3 million to GRC & Associates
$1 million in "labor and benefits" from the House Republican Information Technology Department
$6.2 million to Aristotle International, Inc.
$3.8 million to Constituents Direct LLC
$400,000 to Weiss Marketing Group
$100,000 in politically-motivated "junkets"

That's $20.8 million right there, without including the unspecified costs of "miscellaneous uses of public resources for campaign work" and the salaries and benefits of the Office of District Operations - "a taxpayer-funded, wholly owned campaign subsidiary of the House Republican Campaign Committee."