The Daily Caller, as we like to say in this business, buried the lede. I mean, so what if higher-ups in the Republican National Committee may or may not have been talking about arranging for a private jet for RNC chair Michael Steele. Who would be surprised? The Tea Partiers? They already think the mainstream GOP is out of touch.
Equally unsurprising but a lot more fun was the revelation of FEC expense reports showing that the RNC had dropped cash on a bondage club where the strippers simulate real live lesbians! And this for the Party of No Gay Sex, of no gay marriage, of no gays in the military, of no sex of any kind outside marriage.
The Caller mentioned it in passing:
Once on the ground, FEC filings suggest, Steele travels in style. A February RNC trip to California, for example, included a $9,099 stop at the Beverly Hills Hotel, $6,596 dropped at the nearby Four Seasons, and $1,620.71 spent [update: the amount is actually $1,946.25] at Voyeur West Hollywood, a bondage-themed nightclub featuring topless women dancers imitating lesbian sex.
Details, man! We need details.
The Daily Beast had a few: “The RNC denies that Steele himself visited the club, saying that it was “a reimbursement made to a non-committee staffer. The RNC is also investigating the claim.”
I’ll bet they’re investigating. In any case, the Beast also mentioned that the expense report was filed by one Erik Brown—who is about to become a little less obscure—for a couple of weeks at least.
The DNC is loving it, according to the Baltimore Sun’s Maryland Politics blog:
The Democratic National Committee is having a field day Monday at the expense of its cross-town rivals at the RNC—or the “Risque National Committee,” as the Dems put it in one of the blizzard of e-mailed releases they are sending out.
The RNC also claimed the Daily Caller piece was “riddled with misleading information and inaccuracies.” But Steele & Co. didn’t deny reimbursing the expense for “meals” at Voyeur West Hollywood. In fact, according to a Washington Post blogger, the RNC now wants its money back.
Follow Michael Mechanic on Twitter.
