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DEL.ICIO.USPaul Broun on his fiscal problems: Nothing’s wrong, and it won’t happen again
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue has taken up a shovel to help dig U.S. Rep. Paul Broun out of his financial hole.
The governor will attend a Wednesday barbecue lunch in Augusta for the Republican congressman, Broun’s campaign office announced this morning. Tickets are $25, but the people at the door will certainly take more if offered.
Last week, a congressional report declared that Broun has spent more than 80 percent of his annual office budget. Almost half of his spending went toward mailings to constituents — at the time, the freshman congressman was being outraised by a well-financed Republican challenger.
Broun defeated state Rep. Barry Fleming of Harlem in the July 15 Republican primary.
Broun’s spending totaled $1.139 million through June 30, the AJC has reported. Based on an annual budget of about $1.38 million, that leaves the congressman with just $241,000 to pay essentials — including office rent, salaries, equipment and his travel through December.
Some staffers have already transferred to Broun’s re-election campaign, where they are paid with funds raised from political donors — like the people who will come to Wednesday’s barbecue.
Broun’s general election opponent, Democrat Bobby Saxon, has made the congressman’s financial problems a campaign issue, saying that 10th District voters are being shortchanged.
As for Broun — the congressman now comes close to blaming his former chief of staff Aloysius Hogan for the mess, though not by name. Hogan resigned last month.
On Friday, Broun was on WGAU (1340AM) in Athens. Host Tim Bryant sent this sound clip.
Bryant asked about reports that field offices may be closed, and that consituent services might be trimmed. Broun said:
”All those claims are blatantly false. All the offices are open. They will remain open through the entire year. We have caseworkers there form 9 to 6, Monday through Friday, and they will continue to be there, to continue to serve the public.
“Nobody’s being fired, no office is being closed, no constiuent service is being curtailed in any manner whatsoever. And neither are the legislative services that we’re doing in Washington.
“We’re continuing business as usual and will continue to provide the service to the public that they deserve. Any claims counter to that are just blatantly false. In fact, it’s fear-mongering by the press that’s going on here, and frankly I think that’s irresponsible journalism. It’s not what journalists are supposed to be doing.
“Journalists are supposed to report facts, and not try and put in speculation, and even some speculation where I bought flat-screen TVs and leased Lexus cars and things like that were put in the press. And all of that is irresponsible journalism as far as I’m concerned.”
And how did he get in this fix?
”I’m not a micro-manager. I hire people. I expect them to do the job, I expect them to make good decisions, I expect them to report to me appropriately and let me know exactly what’s going on.
“And sometimes people don’t do that. In this case, that’s what’s happened. I did not know that there was any problem until the article comes out. So we spent a little more money on mail than I would have done if I had made the decision myself.
“But it’s still within the parameters of a budget where we’re going to be able to continue every bit of the services that people deserve. We’re not closing offices, we’re not curtailing services, we’re not cutting anything that makes any difference to any of the constituents.
“We’ve tightened our belts a little bit. There was a decision or two made that I would not have made by my staff. But I’m the captain of the ship, so I take full responsibility for it. I’ve learned from it, and we’ve put in place things that will make sure that this won’t happen again. And it’s actually a mistake I made as a freshman member of Congress.”
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Comments
By cyou299
August 25, 2008 3:38 PM | Link to this
This so called ‘fiscal conservative’ spent over $500,000 of taxpayer’s money on his own campaign. Then he says, quote, “I did not know that there was any problem until the article comes out. ” Then claims he’ll manage the next half year on 1/5 the budget. Obviously, by his own words, he is not on top of the spending of his own people. So how will he know if he even can get through the year? To my mind, fiscal conservative means you watch your taxpayer’s money. Not spend it like you’re on shore leave. So he’ll finance his Washington work the rest of the year with campaign fund-raisers? What do you call it when you give a Congressman money that is not going to be used for his campaign? I guess this is Broun’s ‘brown bag’ barbecue. Normally we hear of these kinds of deals using brown bags in discretion.