Ronna McDaniel Spokesperson Denies Report Alleging Lavish Spending at RNC
“more than $500,000 in private jet expenses, $64,000 at clothing retailers, and $321,000 in floral arrangements”
Late on Wednesday night, Jennifer Van Laar of RedState published a report on spending at the Republican National Committee in recent years that went viral among conservatives. It details massive spending on private jet travel, parties, flowers, alcohol, etc.
This report damaged the current leadership due to the ongoing battle over the RNC chair.
From RedState:
EXCLUSIVE: Analysis of RNC Spending Since 2017 Shows Millions Were Spent on Private Jets, Limousines, Luxury Retreats, Broadway Shows
Back in 2010, RNC Chair Michael Steele was heavily criticized and eventually lost his position because donors were angry about what they believed was luxurious spending on private jets, floral arrangements, chauffeur services, and member meetings in expensive tropical locales. Donors were used to frugality from the RNC under the George W. Bush administration, when “Karl Rove would bitch if there were flowers on the tables” and staff holiday parties were catered by Chick-fil-A.
Despite Joe Biden’s economy and three straight cycles of election losses, the RNC’s big-spending days are back with a vengeance.
Perhaps because of these losses both RNC donors and committee members are intensely interested in the committee’s finances, particularly the spending. Late last week, RedState was provided a report dated October 7, 2022 that examined RNC’s 2021-22 spending. It calculated more than $500,000 in private jet expenses, $64,000 at clothing retailers, and $321,000 in floral arrangements…
It is difficult to accurately categorize all of the expenditures because a significant number of transactions seem to be misclassified. For example, nearly $5,000 spent in 2022 at Lululemon, a luxury athletic apparel brand, was classified as “office expense,” as were two expenditures totaling $9,300 at Madison Square Garden in 2017.
Tucker covered the story last night:
Tucker Carlson blasts RNC chair Ronna McDaniel's lavish spending. pic.twitter.com/9aDSvbt2a6
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) December 16, 2022
Based on the claims in this report, Mark Levin has said that McDaniel should be removed.
Breitbart News reported:
Mark Levin Calls for RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel to Be ‘Removed’
Conservative radio host and litigator Mark Levin called for Republican National Committee (RNC) chair Ronna McDaniel to be replaced during his broadcast Thursday evening. “She needs to go. … She needs to be removed.”
Levin referred to an article Wednesday at RedState that alleged that the RNC had wasted millions of dollars under McDaniel’s tenure, spending on private jets, entertainment, floral arrangements, and other luxuries.
Breitbart includes a statement from a spokesperson for McDaniel denying the report:
A client of Harmeet Dhillon decided to publish a hit piece in the middle of the night without making a serious attempt to engage with the RNC or Chairwoman McDaniel’s team. This blog post is as blatantly false as the lies she has been spreading that RNC members are being bribed for their votes. If critics want to misrepresent and push false narratives about the RNC’s spending this past cycle, they should do the math before realizing it only adds up to 0.8% of the total amount the Chairwoman raised.
This came up last night when Harmeet Dhillon appeared on the Laura Ingraham show:
Thank you @IngrahamAngle for having me tonight to discuss reporting by @jenvanlaar on how the RNC spends precious donor dollars. Bigger issue is hundreds of millions blown on consultants who fail. No one cares about floral excess if you are winning elections. Time for change! 🕰️ pic.twitter.com/hEEVt6LYu5
— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) December 16, 2022
Dhillon makes an excellent point when she suggests that most people wouldn’t care about any of this if Republicans were winning elections.
It’s very easy to understand why a report like this makes people angry.
That is why I wanted to write this story https://t.co/XYUhAZhjKv
— Jennifer Van Laar (@jenvanlaar) December 15, 2022
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Comments
If she wasn’t grifting what was she doing? Sure wasn’t winning. RESIGN already.
My solution for both parties would get my comment removed.
What exactly is there to deny? The money was spent and McDaniel was in charge. Either she was aware and allowed it or was negligent. Neither is a good look and she should step down.
Having said that, I have zero faith the next RNC chair will be receptive to what GOP voters want.
They didn’t even DENY it.
The actual statement ended with, “If critics want to misrepresent and push false narratives about the RNC’s spending this past cycle, they should do the math before realizing it only adds up to 0.8% of the total amount the Chairwoman raised.”
THEY’RE ADMITTING THAT ITS TRUE.
This Romney spawn must go, now.
One must not reflexively condemn this before a thorough audit is conducted. For example, if an event is thrown for high roller contributors, it would be mean and counterproductive to not have flowers. I would have to know more about the logistics of the travel. But, any purchase of women’s personal apparel seems akin to theft unless proved otherwise.
Howard,
No audit is necessary. The spokesman’s alleged denial was them admitting they spent the money and complaining that people are making a big deal about it because it was such a small amount of the total. They are not denying they spent the amounts claimed.
In fact, as pointed out, there’s an awful lot of spending that seems intentionally mislabeled to avoid this exact scrutiny.
And their response is to say that people should stop making a big deal about it because it wasn’t that much money.
Which is a classic grifter thief’s response, by the way, say that they have so much money its not really that big a deal that they wasted/stole such a small amount.
Bottom line: she lived large and did little.
Resign.
She is beginning to remind me of that fat pillbug, Randi Weingarten of the teacher’s unions.
Repulsive as she is as a person, at least Weingarten is effective at her job – which is to grift as much as possible for the lazy teachers that make up her union.
Her job IS NOT, as a lot of naive people seem to believe, to do jack shit for any child. Her JOB is to take as much as she possibly can for the teachers and the union.
And again, while she is a horrible person, she is very good at her job.
Romney McDaniel is a horrible person, and worse, SHE SUCKS AT HER JOB.
America is so screwed.
A politician can be incompetent, communist, no-show, an ignoramus, or effectively brain-dead, and all criticism just flows under the bridge.
Then shock, outrage, and demands for resignation if they misgender the pizza delivery pxrson or pat an employee on the back.
Narcissistic entitled bitch.
She’s pissing away money on luxuries like the GOP was winning.
Seriously, just READ the spokesman’s response – ‘oh it’s only 0.8% of the total’.
SO YOU’RE ADMITTING ITS TRUE.
As long as you are winning, there’s a lot less scrutiny on how you are spending money, because after all, you’re WINNING and doing your job.
When you lose the most winnable election in years, yeah, people are going to start questioning why you pissed away $17 MILLION on ‘donor mementos’ instead of funding candidates that lost close races.
And their weak and pathetic response to this just further demonstrates how arrogant and entitled they are.
And as Tucker points out, the DNC is raising MORE MONEY, and yet SPENDING LESS on crap like this.
McDaniel needs to be gone, yesterday.
Narcissistic entitled bitch.
Only on her best days.
I haven’t donated to the RNC in decades. Nor any of the various leadership PACs. They are all run by the insider DC establishment largely for the benefit of jamming through candidates who support the Chamber of Commerce; visa waivers to import what are essentially indentured servants to displace US Citizens.
Sending your contributions directly to particular candidates you decide will represent your beliefs and push for legislation to implement those policies is far more effective and focused. It works to minimize the strings the insiders use to control individual members.
“Dhillon makes an excellent point when she suggests that most people wouldn’t care about any of this if Republicans were winning elections.”
Well, that, and acting in Congress like actual conservatives.
I don’t care about “lavish spending” I care about lavish losing.
Karl Rove demanded Chic-Fil-A? Finally something I can commend that swamp dweller for.
Rona needs to go after the dismal showings the Repubs have made under her watch. The stupid spending is just icing on the cake.
Now, granting everything above; a) what are the chances that the GOPe digs in its heels and keeps her to rub the Deplorables’ faces in it, and b) that they collaborate openly with the Democrats in the new session for the same reason?
Subotai Bahadur
I’m actually going to give the GOP a half-pass on this. We are talking about expenses over a year, spread out over fifty states, in an environment where big-money donors are schmoozed for big dollars, and the *admitted* mischaracterization of several of the elements that we know about (and probably many that we don’t). The GOP has a tendency to eat its own.
If their accounting and labeling of expenses was straightforward then maybe you could make a stronger case. Had the RNC been transparent in response then maybe a partial pass could be extended. Their responses so far have been to attack the folks doing the reporting and those directing criticism.
Within their response is more distortion instead of clarity. The RNC continues to attempt to suppress the extent of their spending. Instead of listening to criticism and being voluntarily forthcoming they are seeking to change the story to one of sour grapes. Instead of promising to develop and implement better accounting and spending controls they brazenly pretend there’s nothing to see.