What Goes On in the DNC Stays in the DNC

FF Exclusive: Despite the media furor over the RNC's "bondage-gate" scandal, Republicans have spent much less on their scandalous events than Democrats.

Both the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee have held events in racy locales. But who gets the biggest bang for their donor buck?

As reported here at FrumForum, the Democrats spent $5,850 on a December evening at Washington, D.C. nightclub Josephine, a venue complete with stripper poles and a “skimpily clothed go-go dancer”. On the other hand, the Republicans spent $1,946.25 on a January after-party at L.A.’s Voyeur West Hollywood.

Presumably, these events were held to thank donors for contributing to the respective national committees. So which political party got the most donor dollars out of their scandalous events?

Taking a look at the FEC filings, FrumForum compared the amount raised in the month of the event to the cost of the event:

Who says RNC Chairman Michael Steele is a poor money-manager? The results show that the Republicans raised more money per dollar spent on the event. For every dollar spent at Voyeur, the RNC raised over $5,000 in the month. For every dollar spent at Josephine, however, the Dems raised a paltry $761.09 in December 2009.

Indeed, the RNC kept spending at their parties under control. As a percentage of overall expenditures in the month in question, the Republicans spent less on their wild night out than Democrats:

As it turns out, the GOP spent 0.022% of their January expenditures on Voyeur, while the Democrats spent a whopping 0.085% of their December expenditures at Josephine.

Obviously, this is not a scientific measure of donor event effectiveness. But best we could tell, the Republican National Committee got far more bang for their nightclub buck, and were more conservative about their spending than the Democrats were.

At the end of the day, if the Republicans and Democrats are both going to embarrass their donors with these sorts of expenses, at least the GOP is more fiscally responsible about it…