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Arizona Republican Party Executive Director Brett Mecum seems to think that the $50,000 left off of the organization’s latest spending report is “all good,” but another GOP bigwig is calling for an independent audit of the party’s books.
Yuma County Republican Party Chairman Phil Townsend sent a letter to high-ranking members of the party this week, where he cites several articles published by the Arizona Guardian about fishy financial transactions made by the state Republican Party.
All the fuss stems from $50,000 given to the state GOP by the Republican National Committee to apply toward building grassroots support. According to the Guardian, that money is listed on the RNC’s books as going out but doesn’t appear on the state’s spending report as coming in.
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State party officials, including Chairman Randy Pullen and Mecum, claim the transaction is listed in their internal books but can’t explain why the money never appears on the spending report.
In Townsend’s letter, the Guardian reports, he says he wants to conduct an internal audit before the Federal Elections Commission steps in, jeopardizing the party’s credibility.
Rob Haney, chairman of the Maricopa County Republican Committee, says the whole situation is a political hit-job — compliments of a Senator John McCain — against Pullen, the Maverick’s conservative foe.
“All of this is coming from the McCain cabal,” Haney says “He’s out there trying to take the true conservatives out and bankrupt the party.”
