Cindy McCain claims that her recent trip to South East Asia was a humanitarian trip, not a campaign activity. Yet, suspicious expenses have cropped up in the McCain Campaign’s financial disclosures, Narco News reports. 
Disbursements in early July include $7,335.42 to Air Singapore, and $1418.91 the Raffles hotel in Singapore.
The filings don’t specify who took the trips but the dates correspond to Cindy and Meghan McCain’s trip to South East Asia.
Campaign finance law prohibits using campaign funds for non-campaign-related activities.
The McCain campaign did not respond to requests for comment from Narco News or TPM Muckraker.
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Gee, I thought Cindy was bankrolling John’s campaign. Now the campaign is paying for her trips? Will the conflicts of interest never cease?
Love Cindy’s Village of the Damned eyes, don’t you?
“Her hair is Harlowe gold
Her lips sweet surprise
Her hands are never cold
She’s got Bette Davis eyes”
Wow, never thought I’d quote THAT song.
I suppose they could say they were doing research for the campaign or representing the candidate on foreign policy matters. My guess is that it might not be such a big deal or even unlawful.
The key would be prior documentation of the intent of the trip and the source of the authorization; their itinerary and calendar of events, meetings, and attendees; and whether they delivered a report or debriefing after returning to the states. Phone calls back home could be revealing.
If they went shopping or dining it’s no red flag, necessarily, since business travelers make a point of shopping and dining and sight seeing.
More proof that residents of Richistan hate to spend their own money on anything, ever. Hope those RNC and McCain donors are happy they paid for Cindy and Meghan to travel abroad, which is clearly illegal.
Of course, the McCain campaign long ago showed their contempt for FEC regulations. Just more violations to sweep under the rug.
Vote Nader, please.
Well, it’s the publics money…not even fat cat Republican donors…so why not? Except that he may run out of it in his campaign. Wouldn’t be funny if they end up about 20K short of winning a key state with enough electoral votes to bring him across in first….cause I don’t think he can actually run the campaign into debt and pay it back later. THAT violates the agreement.
I wish he actually had to worry about that…but I suspect it’s gonna be a landslide.
So maybe McCain and the RNC are gonna violate every possible rule in the McCain-Feingold Law that they can’t actually circumambulate around. What do desperate people care. Win first…and Bush and his Judiciary will simply ignore prosecution until he gets in.
Gotta be a landslide, IMO.
I think that she could argue she’s meeting either “American voters abroad” or maybe explaining the nuances of McCain’s financial policies to the executives of Tiger Beer (while throwing a little inconsequential personal business in since she is already there)
BTW It’s “Singapore Airlines”. And the Raffles Hotel is swank, but also a bit of a tourist attraction. It’s not a place to really do much other than tourism there. And knocking back some “Singapore Slings” in the long-bar. No big conference rooms or lecture halls.