Ney’s Defense Fund Hurting

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Ouch. Last night, Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) got 68.38% of the vote against a nobody rival with virtually no campaign money. Not as bad as it could have been – Hotline even seems to think it’s a good sign – but certainly not the overwhelming show of support he’d hoped for.

But it’s gonna be a long, long haul till November, as he tries to fight off his Democratic challenger as well as the Justice Department. We brought you word last month that he spent 40 percent of his campaign money on his lawyer in the first quarter this year. Well, it looks like he’s going to have to keep dipping.

Ney’s defense fund got a whopping eight contributions this year, totalling $40,000. Eight. And more than half of them came from one family – three members of the Boich family gave, in addition to two of their businesses, for a total of $25,000. You can see the fund’s report here. None of the money has been spent yet, possibly because it would soon be gone. Ney’s paid at least $232,000 in campaign funds to his lawyer, Mark Tuohey, over the past year. And the number’s only going to go up as the DoJ’s investigation heats up.

According to Roll Call, Ney’s camp is saying that the dismal showing is because Ney “has not put much effort into raising cash for the legal defense fund.” Right.

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