Campaign committees

UPDATE 3:55 p.m.: An RNC spokesperson confirms that Brown will reimburse the committee for the expenses. The committee says he wasn't working for it in any capacity, which raises questions about how he had access to the account.

The person who expensed a nearly $2,000 meal on the Republican National Committee's (RNC) dime at a risque Los Angeles club has been identified as Erik Brown.

The RNC's Federal Election Commission (FEC) report from February shows an expense for $1,946.25 at Voyeur West Hollywood, a popular club featuring simulated bondage and nudity. Brown's is the name listed alongside the expense.

Brown is a consultant at Dynamic Marketing, Inc., in Orange County, Calif. The firm also has a Washington, D.C. office. It's website is currently under construction.

Reports on Monday pointed to a Twitter page on which Brown mentioned attending a sporting event with RNC Chairman Michael Steele. The Twitter page appears to have been taken down.

A profile of Brown on another website describes him as Chief Executive Officer at DMI. He is actively involved in a number of conservative groups and his church's ministry.

Brown did not immediately comment.

A spokesperson says a non-committee staffer spent the $2,000 and Chairman Michael Steele was not at the club.

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) Chairman Chris Van Hollen is laying out the welcome mat for Sarah Palin.

In an interview with The Hill on Friday, Van Hollen (D-Md.) said he welcomes Palin to campaign for any and every Republican candidate around the country. The head of Democrats’ effort to keep the House said Palin is marginalizing Republicans who associate with her, which will make it easier for him to hold seats in November.

Palin this week announced her 2010 efforts would focus on 20 House districts, and she is in Arizona today campaigning for her former running mate, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

“We will send her an invitation to campaign in every congressional district on her list,” Van Hollen said with a smile.

Former DCCC political director Brian Smoot will run the DSCC's independent expenditure program this cycle.

Smoot, who started a firm with other former DCCC staffers last year, will jump over to the Senate side and be in charge of a program tasked with strategically doling out tens of millions of dollars in top races around the country.

The programs, generally referred to as I.E. programs, spend money independently of the rest of the committee in order to comply with campaign finance limits on the committee's ability to coordinate with campaigns. Much of their spending goes straight into campaign ads.

Democrats have been taking plenty of hits on healthcare, but they are also seeking to play some offense too.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has seized on the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) estimate Thursday that the healthcare bill will cut the deficit by $1.2 trillion over 20 years.

Issuing strategic press releases in a few dozen districts, they are trying to cast the Republicans voting against the healthcare bill as voting against deficit reduction and tax credits for small businesses.

“Representative Michele Bachmann will soon have a chance to back up all of her tough talk about the need to reduce the deficit when the House votes on health insurance reform,” the DCCC says in a release targeting the Minnesota Republican. “Bachmann can either vote for health insurance reform, which will reduce the deficit by more than $1 trillion over 20 years or she can continue protecting the status quo for big insurance companies instead.”

Democrats note that tax credits to small business who offer healthcare are a popular concept, with 75 percent favoring the idea in a February Newsweek poll.

A DCCC release on that topic asks whether the GOP incumbent will “support tax relief 20,000 small businesses in his district” or side with big health insurance companies.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) is spending more than it's raising, again.

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) outraised its Democratic counterpart in February, $5.1 million to $4.4 million.

The NRSC is starting to stock away money for what's looking to be a promising election cycle.

The committee raised a strong $4.6 million in February, compared to $4 million for the DSCC. The NRSC also banked $2.2 million of that, upping its cash on hand to $12.9 million, while the DSCC banked $1.3 million and had $14.3 million cash on hand.

The DSCC also has about $417,000 worth of debt left, meaning the NRSC trails by about $1 million when totals are adjusted for debt.

Totals for the House committees weren't available as of Friday afternoon.

The NRCC has added former Arizona state Sen. Jonathan Paton to its Young Guns program.

Paton, who is challenging Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), has joined the first of three stages of the program -- on the radar.

"Jonathan is an accomplished, independent leader who will fight to put Arizonans back to work," NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions (Texas) said in a statement.

Paton is the second candidate in the primary who has made joined the program. Iraq veteran Jesse Kelly is also at the on-the-radar stage.

Democrats on Thursday called on Republican leaders to clarify that mailers that resembled Census letters were not, in fact, official Census documents.

The call from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) comes on the heels of a 416-0 House vote taken yesterday to ban misleading mailings.

The DCCC alleged that the letters, sent out by Republicans and signed by House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and RNC Chairman Michael Steele, could discourage people from filling out their actual Census forms.

"[Boehner and Steele] have a responsibility to tell every Republican who received their fundraising solicitation that it is not an official U.S. Census form and encourage them to fill out their census form," DCCC spokesman Ryan Rudominer said in a statement.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) issued a "census" letter earlier this year.

The DCCC's counterpart, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) also sent letters titled the "2010 Census of America's Republican Leadership" and asked recipients to fill out information regarding their political leanings. 

The NRCC and RNC have previously denied that the letters were misleading and repeated that stance Thursday.

"The NRCC remains opposed to misleading mailings, which is why we will continue to comply with the law," spokesman Paul Lindsay said in a e-mail.

"Just as the committee has done in the past, the RNC will continue to be in full compliance with the law," RNC spokesman Katie Wright said in an e-mail.

But one Republican staffer said that a Democratic National Committee mailer looks like a government document and called Democrats "pretty hypocritical" for criticizing the GOP.