Questions raised about NRSC spending irregularities

[GALeftist]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/19/gop-senate-rescue-midterms/

The NRSC’s retreat came after months of touting record fundraising, topping $173 million so far this election cycle, according to Federal Election Commission disclosures. But the committee has burned through nearly all of it, with the NRSC’s cash on hand dwindling to $28.4 million by the end of June.

As of that month, the committee disclosed spending just $23 million on ads, with more than $21 million going into text messages and more than $12 million to American Express credit card payments, whose ultimate purpose isn’t clear from the filings. The committee also spent at least $13 million on consultants, $9 million on debt payments and more than $7.9 million renting mailing lists, campaign finance data show.

This is deeply shocking news for me, personally. Historically, when Rick Scott has been put in charge of large sums of other people's money, everything's been on the straight and narrow. Really out of left field.

[S019]

The fact that it isn't even discussed what the credit card funds were for is pretty suspicious. Also spending $9 million on debt payments is quite ridiculous.

[Nyvin]

The cancellations were particularly brutal since once they're cancelled the GOP loses the cheaper pricing and has to pay more to get the ad space re-filed.   It's like they'd be getting a much smaller bang for their buck going forward.

What's really crazy though is how much they spent earlier on in the cycle,  that seems like a new thing to do because usually the vast majority of campaign spending is after Labor Day. 

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

The fact that it isn't even discussed what the credit card funds were for is pretty suspicious. Also spending $9 million on debt payments is quite ridiculous.

Maybe this is a normal amount of money they get but they just borrowed heavily for 2018 and 2020, thinking they could easily sweep to a win in 2022?

[wbrocks67]

This caught my eye as well:

The Senate Leadership Fund, which typically expands spending in the final stretch after Labor Day, finished June with more than $100 million in the bank. Starting in September, the PAC has reserved $14.4 million in Arizona, $37.1 million in Georgia, $15.1 million in Nevada, $27.6 million in North Carolina, $15.2 million in Wisconsin and $7.4 million in Alaska.

The SLF is reserving nearly $30 MILLION in North Carolina alone? To me, that makes the idea that NC-SEN is competitive all the more realistic. Though Budd is also a terrible fundraiser like the rest so it might also be to cover him that way.

But also... why is the SLF wasting $7.4M in Alaska?!

[politicallefty]

This caught my eye as well:

The Senate Leadership Fund, which typically expands spending in the final stretch after Labor Day, finished June with more than $100 million in the bank. Starting in September, the PAC has reserved $14.4 million in Arizona, $37.1 million in Georgia, $15.1 million in Nevada, $27.6 million in North Carolina, $15.2 million in Wisconsin and $7.4 million in Alaska.

The SLF is reserving nearly $30 MILLION in North Carolina alone? To me, that makes the idea that NC-SEN is competitive all the more realistic. Though Budd is also a terrible fundraiser like the rest so it might also be to cover him that way.

But also... why is the SLF wasting $7.4M in Alaska?!

I thought the SLF was under McConnell's direct control (unlike the NRSC, which is more delegated). They must be very nervous about NC and OH. Georgia is probably too racially polarized for Warnock to run away with the race even if he is running strong.

I wonder if the spending in Alaska is Murkowski's price to remain a mostly loyal Republican.

[Progressive Pessimist]

The fact that it isn't even discussed what the credit card funds were for is pretty suspicious. Also spending $9 million on debt payments is quite ridiculous.

Maybe this is a normal amount of money they get but they just borrowed heavily for 2018 and 2020, thinking they could easily sweep to a win in 2022?

I think a lot of the Republican missteps we've seen this year are the cause of this arrogance. Republicans figured all they need is historical precedent and didn't need to actually put the effort in. Perhaps it could still be all they need, but recent fundamental environmental changes and trends are making that much more difficult for them, and they don't seem to be adapting very well.

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

The fact that it isn't even discussed what the credit card funds were for is pretty suspicious. Also spending $9 million on debt payments is quite ridiculous.

Maybe this is a normal amount of money they get but they just borrowed heavily for 2018 and 2020, thinking they could easily sweep to a win in 2022?

I think a lot of the Republican missteps we've seen this year are the cause of this arrogance. Republicans figured all they need is historical precedent and didn't need to actually put the effort in. Perhaps it could still be all they need, but recent fundamental environmental changes and trends are making that much more difficult for them, and they don't seem to be adapting very well.

I was wondering if they took out a lot of loans in 2020 thinking Biden was going to win and they'd sweep back in 2022. I mean they gave Joni Ernst $40 Million like it was nothing two years ago and now, a year when they should be more energized, they are pulling ad buys for a quarter of that amount from states they need to win.

[Adam Griffin]

The SLF is reserving nearly $30 MILLION in North Carolina alone? To me, that makes the idea that NC-SEN is competitive all the more realistic. Though Budd is also a terrible fundraiser like the rest so it might also be to cover him that way.

Despite its supposed focus solely on the Senate, there is one reason I can think of why Republicans at-large would spend a ton of money on voter turnout and outreach in NC: