Rep. Jon Porter (R-NV) has finally released his schedule and phone records in response to allegations from a former aide that Porter illegally made campaign fundraising calls from his Washington and district offices.
Funny thing is the records don’t exactly disprove the allegation. If anything, they seem to support the allegations, at least in part:
The records show that on one day, Porter made calls to donors and others at a time when his schedule says he was in his district office.
But Porter said he wasn’t actually at the office the entire time. At times, he would step out of the office to make the calls or leave to go to lunch or for other reasons, he said. He provided a receipt from a restaurant called Sweet Tomatoes where he said he and his chief of staff, Mike Hesse, had lunch during the hours in question.
. . .
The call time on April 18 is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Porter’s call records indicate he called seven people during those hours, including his daughter, his brother and several friends and donors. He said fundraising may have been discussed in some of those calls but, if so, he was not in the office; it was that day he says he dined at Sweet Tomatoes.
The Sweet Tomatoes defense? A new addition to the political scandal lexicon.
