Probe of NRCC involves former Buyer campaign treasurer

A potential national political scandal is brewing that might have an Indiana angle.

Top House Republicans were told in recent days that a former employee of their campaign committee may have forged an official audit during the contentious 2006 election cycle and that they should brace for the possibility that an unfolding investigation could uncover financial improprieties stretching back several years, according to GOP sources briefed on the members-only discussions.

. . .

The precise details of the suspected accounting irregularities and their possible fallout are not entirely clear. NRCC officials and top GOP leaders are being tight-lipped in large part because the FBI is investigating the matter. An outside lawyer advising members and staff has warned everyone at the committee to keep quiet.

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The NRCC internal investigation centers on Christopher J. Ward, a former NRCC treasurer who worked at the committee until mid-August of last year, according to those briefed on the matter. From that time until late December, Ward was an outside contractor for the NRCC, according to Federal Election Commission records.

The FBI, which was informed about the matter last week, did not respond to calls for comment.

As treasurer, Ward was in charge of NRCC bookkeeping, tracking tens of millions of dollars in political contributions and expenditures. He has been at the center of NRCC bookkeeping for more than a decade.

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Over the years, Ward has also served as the official treasurer for numerous congressional Republicans, their PACs and other GOP candidates running for Congress.

They include retiring Reps. Jim Saxton of New Jersey, James T. Walsh of New York and Jerry Weller of Illinois, as well as Reps. Steve Buyer of Indiana, Phil English of Pennsylvania and Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, among many others.

He was also listed as the treasurer for incarcerated former Ohio Rep. Bob Ney’s American Liberty PAC.

The Buyer connection is pretty incidental at the moment, but something to keep an eye on. The Bob Ney connection really caught my eye though. Ney was the GOP bigwig brought down by the fine reporting of the Toledo Blade in the Ohio Coingate scandal. Ohio’s Dept. of Labor was apparently investing worker’s compensation money in Ney’s rare coin business. On top of the the eyebrow raising nature of the investment, Ney was apparently misappropriating the money.