Minnesota GOP Endorses Weirdo Senate Candidate Who Spent Campaign Funds On Strip Clubs, Other Sh*t

As if 'campaign finance violations' are even a concern in today's Party of Personal Responsibility.

Egad! Photo by Andrew Umansky on Unsplash

Let’s get this much out of the way right up front: Minnesota’s senior US senator, Amy Klobuchar, is not on anyone’s list of Senate seats Republicans are seriously hoping to flip. She’s got a higher favorability rating with Minnesota voters than President Biden, who is also favored to win the Hot Dish State this fall. Not that any Democrats anywhere should be complacent, because you have to freaking show up and keep Moms for Fascism from taking over your school board, and for all we know the animal control and water districts too.

So in one sense it might not matter too much what sacrificial candidate Minnesota Republicans run against Klobuchar. But as the Daily Beast reports, the guy the party endorsed at its convention last week, one Wayne Royce, appears to be a Herschel Walker-level train wreck, and we say that not only because he’s a former sportsball player (basket-the-ball, whereas Mr. Walker was a foot-the-baller). Like Walker, Mr. White has never held office, although he at least appears to live in the state where he’s running. Also like Walker, White is a fierce abortion foe who has been accused of being a whopping hypocrite who tried to pressure a woman to get an abortion, an accusation he denies.

And then there are the conspiracy theories, a few of which White’s campaign site references in passing, noting that he is unafraid to discuss “taboo topics” like “Gain of Function Research, The Federal Reserve … The Great Reset, Ivermectin, Me Too, etc.” In case you were wondering, that “gain of function” stuff is part of the conspiracy theory blaming Anthony Fauci for inventing COVID in a Chinese lab, very serious congressional stuff. And as the Daily Beast article notes, White also dabbles in antisemitism. If he’s going to be a full on MAGA asshat, how could he not?

But the real sleazy stuff was right there all along in White’s campaign filings from his previous primary run in 2022, when he lost a bid for a seat in the House. At five a.m. the morning after he lost,

his campaign shelled out more than $1,200 in donor funds to a vendor 1,800 miles away not typically associated with political expenses—an all-nude strip club in Miami, Florida, called “Gold Rush Cabaret.”

Oh, there’s so much more, some of it not merely violating Federal Election Commission rules but potentially breaking federal law, as if that’s a bar to success for Republicans at all.

The Daily Beast reviewed White’s 2022 primary campaign reports and found numerous items that boggled legal experts. The unusual expenses include a total of more than $100,000 in mysterious wire transfers and checks reported as paid to the campaign; hefty tabs at spicy nightspots; getaways at posh hotels in at least seven states; thousands of dollars in limousine services; unexplained cash withdrawals; eye-popping purchases from electronics, sporting goods, clothing, and musical instrument retailers; and the DribbleUp smart basketball training app that White himself admitted might be personal use.

In addition, the story notes, White has also acknowledged that he used campaign funds to cover — to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars — the expenses of a “campaign entourage” that accompanied him “during the 2022 season of Ice Cube’s ‘Big3’ three-on-three professional basketball league,” because how is an ex-NBA player supposed to be in a pro league while campaigning without an entourage?

As with the strip club visit, a fair chunk of the big spending happened after White lost the 2022 primary, which should make for some interesting stories about how those were totally cromulent campaign expenses.

The campaign also laid out tens of thousands after the primary on luxury lodging, car service, airline tickets, meals, and other costs across half a dozen states. In all, White’s campaign appears to have spent around $30,000 on hotels, many outside of the state where he was running.

Also concerning are the more than $100,000 in outgoing wire transfers and checks with no stated recipient or purpose. Those payments, all experts said—coupled with multiple unexplained cash withdrawals—raise concerns about whether White or staffers treated campaign donations like personal funds.

The article is a pretty fun read, with all sorts of campaign finance experts explaining exactly how several of the expenses appear to violate laws against using campaign funds for personal use, which is something people still have to leave office for.

Then again, White is a pal and frequent guest of Steve Bannon, which may explain how he won the endorsement of the GOP state convention with two-thirds of the vote. Royce White doesn’t seem especially worried. He insisted to the Daily Beast that “That’s all campaign stuff” and that “Every dollar was spent on the campaign for campaign reasons.”

“If the FEC wants to fine us, that’s completely fine, there are much bigger scams with political campaigns,” White told The Daily Beast on Thursday, emphasizing that he was happy to work with the agency on any questions.

As for Minnesota GOP chair David Hann, does this sound like a party chair who’s bothered by a little illegal campaign spending?

Asked whether he was aware of the outrageous 2022 spending, Minnesota GOP chair David Hann told The Daily Beast on Wednesday that he was not in his office at the moment and could not comment, then hung up.

Fine, maybe a little bothered. This should get interesting. If nothing else, the primary isn’t until August, so there’s still some time for the Minnesota GOP to decide just how aggressively it wants to stand up for its endorsed candidate.

We bet Amy Klobuchar is just terrified.

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[Daily Beast]

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