Estimated haul in the Republicrook embezzling scandal zooms up from $500K to over $800K. Do I hear $1 mil? (It appears that it's anybody's guess!)

"Once considered the gold standard among bookkeepers for Republican political operations -- he was treasurer for at least 83 GOP committees over the past decade -- Ward came under scrutiny in late January when lawmakers demanded to meet outside auditors who had purportedly performed annual audits of the NRCC."

--from Paul Kane and Ben Pershing's report in today's Washington Post,
"House Republicans' Audit Shows Treasurer Stole at Least $800,000"

I know we shouldn't laugh about this, but it's kind of hard to keep a straight face when it comes to Republicrooks stealing from one another. Although Charles J. Ward's reign of pilferage apparently came to an end in October, when he was still on the National Republican Congressional Committee payroll as a consultant, after stepping down as treasurer in the summer, estimates of the size of his haul are still growing.

Just last week, when federal prosecutors filed a civil action aimed at the seizure of Ward's Bethesda home -- into which he was claimed to have funneled chunks of pilfered pelf for mortgage payments plus another $200K for renovations -- they estimated his total take as "more than $500,000." Now, based on on a forensic audit commissioned by the NRCC (the tab for which itself is closing in on $600K, and the committee is reported to have spent another $300K beefing up its security procedures -- or possibly instituting some), the guesstimate has reached $810K and is still climbing.

"We'll never know the full extent," NRCC chairman Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma predicted confidently to reporters.

One person who might have derived some small pleasure from the Ward revelations, but who unfortunately can't because of his position atop the blossoming scandal, is House Minority Leader John "Rhymes With Complainer" Boehner of Ohio [right], who as the House's top GOP-er since the fall of former Speaker "Planet Denny" Hastert (on whose watch most of Ward's creative bookkeeping took place) seems to have turned mahogany with embarrassment. Boehner, alas, appears poorly positioned to derive much comfort from the eclipse of his own office's embezzling scandal:

In 2003, a former campaign staffer for Boehner pleaded guilty to embezzling $617,000, which had been the largest political embezzlement in this decade. A staffer for the late Paul Tsongas (D-Mass.) pleaded guilty in 1993 to stealing $1 million from the former senator's 1992 presidential campaign, an incident believed to mark the biggest political fraud case ever uncovered.

Kane and Pershing have some delicious detail about the nuts and bolts of Ward's funds diversions as he worked his way up the NRCC's accounting hierarchy in his 12 years there. For example, once he became deputy treasurer in 2001 he was able to divert money to his own bank accounts with wire transfers, for which his signature alone was then sufficient. It appears that once he was promoted to NRCC treasurer, he began diverting NRCC funds directly into mortgage payments.

Ironically, the House GOP may also face the wrath of the famously toothless Federal Elections Commission, "which last year issued guidelines telling political committees that lax oversight of treasurers would result in hefty penalties."

Republicans, of course, aren't great believers in oversight, at least oversight of Republicans. Ward's problems came to public attention when he acknowledged in January that he hadn't actually been having outside audits done of NRCC accounts, and had instead been forging his own audits. Even in Republican circles, this falls below what are considered accepted accounting procedures.

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When Republicans steal from other Republicans, isn't the defense obvious? "I was just trying to uphold my party's principles"

"[Christopher J.] Ward first came under scrutiny in late January when, under pressure from House Republicans worried about the NRCC's finances, he admitted that he had forged audits of the committee's books for several years. The NRCC asked the FBI to investigate.

"In mid-March, the NRCC accused Ward of taking at least 'several hundred thousand dollars' dating back to 2004. The government's filing yesterday alleges that the diversion of funds goes back to at least April 2003."

--from a report by Paul Kane and Del Quentin Wilber
in today's Washington Post

So now we're talking about a cool half million smackers, eh?

As a point of fact, Mr. Ward still hasn't been charged with a crime. What the federal prosecutors filed was paperwork for a civil suit, seeking to have the Ward home in Bethesda seized by the government to prevent him from selling it while the legal wheels continue to grind. The papers purport to document mortgage payments of $72K and renovation payments of nearly $200K made with money embezzled from the National Republican Congressional Committee, for which Ward had worked since the '90s.

Former NRCC Treasurer Embezzled $500,000, Court Papers Say

By Paul Kane and Del Quentin Wilber
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, June 7, 2008; A03

The former treasurer of a key Republican campaign committee embezzled more than $500,000 over a five-year period, using it to fund mortgage payments and a six-figure remodeling of his Bethesda home, according to court documents filed yesterday.

The papers were filed by federal prosecutors in an attempt to force the former treasurer, Christopher J. Ward, to forfeit his home to the government.

The government alleges that Ward, who had worked for National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) since the 1990s, made numerous unauthorized diversions of funds from its accounts and joint accounts set up with Senate Republicans. He often shifted money into his personal account just as payments for his mortgage or home remodeling were due, according to the court filing.

Ward, who was fired earlier this year, has not been charged with a crime, but the civil action filed yesterday seeks to seize his home in the 6300 block of Massachusetts Avenue. Such efforts prevent subjects of investigations from selling properties that were allegedly part of their crimes and hiding the proceeds.

Ronald Machen, Ward's lawyer, said yesterday he had not seen the government filing.

Ward first came under scrutiny in late January when, under pressure from House Republicans worried about the NRCC's finances, he admitted that he had forged audits of the committee's books for several years. The NRCC asked the FBI to investigate.

In mid-March, the NRCC accused Ward of taking at least "several hundred thousand dollars" dating back to 2004. The government's filing yesterday alleges that the diversion of funds goes back to at least April 2003.

Ward allegedly targeted fundraising panels set up with the National Republican Senatorial Committee for the annual President's Dinner, the biggest event of the year, according to the court papers.

Investigators said they have pinpointed $198,841 in payments to contractors from Ward's personal accounts that appear to have been made with money taken from the political committees. In a three-month span in 2007, the government charges, Ward transferred $95,000 from the 2006 President's Dinner committee to his own Wachovia Bank account and then made payments to the contractors.

Over the 21 months after April 11, 2003, Ward made $72,000 in mortgage payments with money taken from President's Dinner committees, according to the court document.

We just have to wonder, now that the official motto of the modern Republican Party is "Steal anything you can get your mitts on that isn't nailed down, and even then do what you can do," how they distinguish what Mr. Ward is alleged to have done from standard operating procedures. Is it that he didn't get someone's permission to steal the money? Or that he was stealing from his own people? Or did he just violate another Republicrook principle: Don't get caught!

Maybe when the time comes he'll just throw himself on the mercy of the court, explaining, "I wouldn't've done it if I knew there was, like, a rule or something against it."

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