HA HA!
Posted on 06/21/2005 6:06:20 PM PDT by wagglebee
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Broke and without enough money in the bank to pay its bills after the end of the month, the Florida Democratic Party has now been slapped with a lien by the Internal Revenue Service for failing to pay payroll and Social Security taxes in 2003.
The state party's budget and finance committee voted Tuesday to ask for a new audit to account for more than $900,000 it believes somehow disappeared from the books during the 2003-2004 calendar years when the party was led by Scott Maddox, who is now seeking its nomination for governor.
Maddox and successor Karen Thurman, who became the party's new chairwoman just last month, did not immediately return phone messages asking for comment on the findings.
While the party owes roughly $200,000 in delinquent payroll and Social Security taxes, the lien was against the remaining $98,000 in their account on Friday, longtime Leon County committeeman Jon Ausman said.
Ausman said it cost about $250,000 a month to pay salaries and overhead for the party operation in Tallahassee and that it had been spending more so far this year than it has raised.
The Democratic Party in Florida has traditionally gone through financial woes, selling its headquarters building in Florida a few years ago to get out of debt.
State vice-chair Diane Glasser of Fort Lauderdale said Tuesday she was confident the party could be able to meet its commitments.
"We've had these problems before," Glasser said. "I think that everything will resolve itself. Karen has already got commitments for money that is going to be coming into the party."
Ausman, who is also a member of the party's budget and finance committee, said the party's 2003 year-end audit showed $609,032 cash on hand. He said it netted $586,986 in 2004 when it raised about $18 million.
"I don't know how you start out with $609,000 and raise a net of $586,000 and end up with $269,000," he said.
Ausman said he was concerned about the audits in 2003 and 2004 done by Carr, Riggs and Ingram of Tallahassee. He said they should be held accountable, certainly for the failure to pay the IRS, if the audit proved to be flawed.
Mark Carr did not immediately return a phone message to his office about the audit.
Last summer, a report filed in July by the party's executive committee to the Federal Election Commission showed it spent $120,000 more than it has taken the first six months of that year, including a $30,000 deficit for June. That report, however, included 2003 carry-over information that skewed the numbers and gave the appearance of far more red ink, Maddox said.
The latest report comes at the front end of fund-raising efforts by candidates readying for the 2006 election cycle when the Democrats' lone statewide elected official, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, faces re-election and there will be no incumbent in the governor's race.
"It's very important that we reassure our donor base and all the Democrats that we're on top of this situation," Ausman said.
The state Republican Party, which operates with a larger staff at its Tallahassee headquarters, has raised close to $5 million already this year and has several million in the bank, a party source said Tuesday.
hee hee
ping
Imagine a Republican running for governor of a state where he was former state chairman and that much cash was missing. I'm sure the MSM would let that one slide...uh huh.
This is the sort of news that's fun to read. Couldn't happen to a better bunch of thieves.
FloraDUH!! No way that could happen their. sarc off
They accidentally gave the money to Pat Buchanan.
What's the big deal? Raise taxes.
This has nothing at all to do with Florida. it's about thieving democrats, which are found in all 50 states
Dems love payin those taxes.
they are such 
This is going to hurt Nelson.
There are so many Dem races in 2006 that the national party won't be able to help him out so much and most of the out of state money (Hollywood, Emily's List, etc) will go to Feinstein, Stabenow, Cantwell, and Clinton, that Nelson's fundraising will be crimped.
He won't even, apparently, be able to rely much on the state party.
Sniff.
They want to count all the votes, but they don't know how to count all the dollars.
I'm having a Schadenfreude attack....
Oh, c'mon, I'm sure the MSM wouldn't mind if the GOP failed to pay payroll and Social Security taxes for a whole year. And lawyer Scott Maddox has such an innocent, boyish face. Lawyer Scott Maddox must not have known about it at all, because complying with labor and tax law is just not something lawyer Scott Maddox would know anything about.
/bitter sarcasm
Boy, I hope you're right. But that traitor was elected to the Senate--he's been a pol for a long time--and he'll be pulling out all the stops, I bet.
And he is a traitor, just like Jake Garn and John Glenn, for stealing flights on the shuttle from American taxpayers.
He still has the lamestream press with hom. Today's Tampa Trib ran poll results showing him significantly ahead of Katherine Harris, with her negatives much higher.
That should be transitory.
Let's assess each Dem voter a proportionate share of the bill, and I bet we will see the number of Dem voter's disclaim interest in the party...It will be paid by the person bringing in the registrations for filing, say $10.00 for each reegistered voter -- would that cut down on the false registrations?
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