His defense is that no one was stepping up to pay the bill so he had to do it.
Lie. He spent $1300 in “house cash” at the VIP Club which is something you pay for before you run up your tab, not after.
More interesting in the story (we already knew he was lying), is this line:
Smith’s political campaign also reimbursed the tabs with a check on Feb. 15.
Some of the charges were for political events and meetings, made during election season, Smith said. He admitted that the amount of personal charges made on the card could be considered over the top, but said none of the credit card statements were ever questioned before ? the village finance department would invoice him each month and he would cut a check to the village for the personal charges.
I tend to think the strip club spending is hysterical, but not illegal if he reimbursed. If, however, he was using town resources for campaigning or political events that’s a whole different story even if he did reimburse the town.
It is illegal. Pekin Mayor Lyn Howard was charged with and convicted for felony official misconduct (a state law) for using his city’s credit card at a casino, even though he paid it back. That happened just last fall. The last thing we need is for all the government employees in this state to think it’s ok to use their government credit cards for personal things as long as they pay it back. Not acceptable.