McHenry Spending Habits 'Not Conservative'...

April  29, 2009

How is it that a man who advertises himself as “conservative” can look so “liberal” in his own spending? It’s well-documented that 10th District Rep. Patrick McHenry has issued emails, newspaper columns and phone calls recently to convince everyday constituents to help him with some $265,500 in campaign debt.

Letters-to-editors chastise him for being so brash in asking for help with his debt, but has anyone really bothered to look at how he got into this pickle? For a real conservative, a cardinal rule is, “You don’t spend money you don’t have for things you don’t need.” McHenry forgot when he moved to DC.

Here’s a man who raised over $1.3 million for his campaign last year yet spent over $1.6 million! He’s a member of the House Banking and Financial Services Committee, so would it surprise you that much of that cash came from every big bank around (opensecrets.org)? It seems, too, that his biggest contributions come from outside the 10th District, sending the message to lobbyists everywhere that his vote, indeed, is “for sale.”

Where are these big banks now? Looking for “bailout billions” from the U.S. Treasury? And now, McHenry, too, is asking citizens in his district to bail him out.

McHenry’s predecessor in office, T. Cass Ballenger, never, ever asked constituents to pay his old campaign debts. He never had any.

Appropriately enough, one of McHenry’s campaign donations was $2,100 from J.V. Huffman, who’s sitting in jail now in Newton awaiting prosecution on charges that he bilked millions locally in fraudulent schemes ala ponzi guru Bernie Madoff.

The unemployment rate in most of McHenry’s 10 counties has soared to double-digits, yet, he’s doing his best impression of a big-spending liberal. While times are tough, his 2008 spending (opensecrets.org) includes partying with his closeted friends at lavish hotels and resorts: The Capitol Hill Club, Washington, DC, $15,246; The Mansion on Forsyth, Savannah, GA, $14,585; Caves Valley Golf Club, Owings Mill, MD, $9,519; Johnny’s Half Shell, Washington, DC, $6,403; Sonoma Restaurant and Wine Bar, Washington, DC, $4,846; The Grove Park Inn, Asheville, $3,232.

Again, Ballenger never flushed money down the toilet like this. McHenry has run for Congress three times on a promise of “working hard” for jobs in this district. But his spending makes the case that he’s “working hard” for jobs everywhere else!

Besides splurging and boozing at fancy bistros, McHenry’s campaign spent $410,000 altogether on “administrative expenses,” including a $400 weekly check to his sister, plus $3,000 for Christmas cards (I didn’t get one; did you?).

Again, Ballenger never did this.

The most serious McHenry money, of course, went to lawyers. What kind of trouble would the good conservative congressman be in that he spent $70,000 with the Washington law firm of Wiley, Rein & Fielding, which specializes in campaign finance issues? He also pays a puzzling monthly retainer of $3,000 to this firm, but he won’t tell you why.

Another matter was the $20,000 he paid former employee and roommate Michael Aaron Lay to cover Lay’s legal bill for his 2007 conviction in Gaston County for voter fraud.

In 18 years in Congress, Ballenger never did anything like this, either.

I hope the “tea parties” across the country April 15 won’t be the end of non-partisan, grass-roots rage over the way Congress does business. Many, many speakers that day called for throwing out every incumbent, regardless of party, and starting all over. Ever the political hypocrite, McHenry even attended the “tea party” in Morganton.

If you or someone you know gave McHenry money for his 2008 campaign, you were trying to get him elected, right? Or, did you want him to use your donation for parties, legal bills for his ethically challenged pals, his own secret legal expenses or payments to his sister? A life-long Republican, I am flabbergasted that we can’t come up with an ethical candidate in the “most Republican” district in North Carolina, where a Republican hasn’t lost in almost 50 years.

One tea party speaker on TV said the federal government needs “an enema.” I’d suggest that the 10th District is just the place to stick it in.