Palin not alone in using campaign cash for clothes

WASHINGTON —  Turns out Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin wasn’t the only candidate with donor-financed duds.

At least five candidates used campaign money for clothing, according to a complaint that a watchdog group filed Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said the campaigns of Democratic Reps. Loretta Sanchez of Garden Grove and Robert E. Andrews of New Jersey, Republican candidates Bill Dew of Utah and Will Breazeale of North Carolina and Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr each spent hundreds of dollars on clothing.

The group says that violates a ban on personal use of campaign money. During the presidential campaign, the organization filed a complaint against the Republican National Committee for buying $150,000 worth of clothing for Palin, who shared the GOP ticket with John McCain. The RNC and Palin have said they did nothing wrong. And the McCain-Palin campaign has said some of the clothing was returned to stores soon after it was purchased.

The RNC has received and inventoried remaining items and they “will be appropriately dispersed to various charities,” spokesman Alex Conant said Tuesday.

The watchdog group’s review of campaign finance reports found that Sanchez’s campaign spent about $189 on “meeting clothing” for the congresswoman, Dew’s campaign spent $1,089 on clothing for him at Men’s Wearhouse, Breazeale’s campaign purchased $1,000 in clothing for him at a men’s store in North Carolina, and Andrews’ campaign bought $954 in clothing after the candidate’s luggage was lost. Barr aide Andrew MacPherson received a $500 clothing allowance from that campaign, a filing with the FEC shows.

In Sanchez’s case, the $189 included $145 for clothing; the rest was for costs of meetings, spokeswoman Paula Negrete said. The clothing was cultural attire that Sanchez wore at various Vietnamese events in her district, an expense that doesn’t fall under the personal use restriction, Negrete said.

Andrews’ luggage was lost by an airline in June 2007, while he was traveling to give a speech, spokesman Fran Tagmire said. The expense for clothing was reimbursed by the airline, Tagmire said.

Dew said that “I don’t remember buying any clothing unless my daughter bought me some ties and charged it to the campaign.” Dew, a former home builder, added that “I used over $500,000 of my own money on this campaign. . . . I don’t see anything wrong with using my own money to use on personal things.” Dew also accepted contributions to his campaign.

Russ Verney, Barr’s campaign manager, said the spending “was an appropriate expense associated with the campaign.”

A spokesperson for Breazeale did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Sanchez and Andrews won reelection last month. Barr, Breazeale and Dew lost their races.