Herman Cain campaign may have violated campaign finance laws

   By Laura Clawson    Mon Oct 31, 2011     Daily Kos

Herman Cain's campaign may be raising $5 million per month now, but things weren't always so flush. Back in February and March, Prosperity USA, a nonprofit organization run by top Cain aides Smokin' Mark Block and Linda Hansen, provided start-up funding for Cain's campaign, the Journal Sentinel reports:

A more detailed checking account says the Cain campaign owed nearly $15,000 for an "Atlanta invoice," about $17,000 for chartered flight service and $5,000 for travel and meetings in Iowa, Las Vegas, Houston, Dallas and Louisiana. The document says the Cain campaign had been billed $3,700 for iPads purchased on Jan. 4.

A series of small-ticket items for travel and expenses by Block are listed as "not billed to FOH but due from them."

This would be totally illegal, of course, and, making things worse:

It is not known if Cain's election fund eventually paid back Prosperity USA, which now appears defunct. The candidate's federal election filings make no mention of the debt, and the figures in the documents don't match payments made by the candidate's campaign.

One question implied by the Journal Sentinel report is whether Prosperity USA was in fact founded as the precursor to a Cain campaign: Block founded the organization just last year and in the brief window of time between its founding and when Cain became a candidate, it was paying costs associated with his travel to give speeches to conservative groups and to meet with conservative funders like David Koch.

Though sexual harassment allegations against Cain will dominate today's news cycle, this story is going to be another gift that keeps on giving for Cain's opponents and a media that thrives on scandal.

Originally posted to Laura Clawson on Mon Oct 31, 2011

Also republished by Daily Kos.

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